The costs of ideological prosociality: Analyses of the European Social Survey from 2002 to 2018 find negative relationships between endorsing universalistic values and well‐being and social capital

Traditionally, prosociality has been conceptualized in terms of the interpersonal domain, for example, helping behavior. Nevertheless, people can be prosocial in terms of ideological domains, for example, social policies they support. The present study examined the utility of distinguishing interpersonal and ideological prosocial values as predictors of well‐being and social capital. Data from nine European Social Surveys were combined. The Universalism and Benevolence values of Schwartz's basic human values were treated as measures of ideological and interpersonal prosocial values. Relationships between Universalism and Benevolence and well‐being and social capital were examined with multilevel models, persons nested with rounds, rounds nested within countries. Respondent sex, age, and education were included as covariates. These analyses found that Benevolence was positively related to satisfaction with life and happiness, whereas Universalism was negatively related to satisfaction with life and happiness. Although endorsing both values was positively related to attitudinal measures of social capital (e.g., people can be trusted), Universalism was negatively related to self‐reports of social activity, whereas Benevolence was either positively related or unrelated to self‐reports of social activity. Being ideologically prosocial appears to be associated with reduced well‐being. Future research is needed to explain the mechanisms responsible for this relationship.