A Rapid Review of the Interrelations Between Spirituality, Self-Transcendence, and Prosociality

Abstract It is increasingly acknowledged that spirituality often exists outside of religious frameworks, and the number of individuals identifying as spiritual but not religious is increasing around the world. Moreover, spirituality has been associated with a variety of positive intrapersonal and interpersonal effects rooted in self-transcendence. However, unlike religiosity, there have been few attempts to synthesize the literature on the relations between nonreligious spirituality, self-transcendence, and prosociality. This rapid review analyzes 53 studies related to these variables, revealing a consistent association between self-transcendence and prosociality. The review also identifies spiritual antecedents for prosocial behaviors across a broad range of ages and cultures, however, associations between these variables and spirituality remain uncleardue to an overabundance of conceptualizations and associated measures. Consensus on the assessment of spirituality has not been reached due to insufficient research beyond cross-sectional methods and samples from 'WEIRD' countries. Furthermore, the review highlights the positive impacts of prosocial behavior and its drivers on well-being.