Vertical Transmission of Prosociality: Basic Human Values and the Context of Intergenerational Transmission in Indonesia

Prosocial behavior is essential for human species such that it is expected in every culture. One way to sustain this positive behavior is through successful transfer where the later generation maintains prosociality as cultural information relevant to prosocial behavior. Informed by the cultural dynamics perspective, the current study focused on the microlevel phenomena and examined the mechanism of vertical transmission of prosociality from parent to children. A total of 208 Indonesian parent-young adult dyads completed the survey designed to examine the five models of vertical transmission focusing on values as the context of transmission of prosociality in Indonesia. Statistically significant support was found for the model that prosociality was transferred from parents to their young adult children moderated through the zeitgeist values (i.e., value climate that the mainstream society constructed). Specifically, the transmission of prosociality from Indonesian parents to their young adult children was more likely to occur in the presence of stronger zeitgeist values in social focus (i.e., universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity, and security-societal) and lower zeitgeist values in personal focus (i.e., self-direction, stimulation, hedonism, achievement, power, and security-personal). This finding contributes to our understanding of cultural transmission through the lens of cultural dynamics, particularly from the non-Western perspective, which is currently underexplored.