Teaching and learning guide for intergroup prosociality

Many of the challenges confronting humanity in the 21stcentury require the concerted efforts of large numbers ofpeople. Overcoming the poverty and preventable disease experienced by people in developing nations, challengingstigma and prejudice towards ethnic and sexual minority groups, and promoting equality between men and women:Tackling these challenges will necessitate action amongst people who do not themselves experience the disadvan-tage. In this teaching and learning activity, we consider the diversity of ways that one group of people can support,help, stand with, and act for another group to promote greater social justice and/or equality (i.e., intergroupprosociality). Moreover, we consider the idea that intergroup prosocial action can be differentiated into several dif-ferent forms, or subtypes, of action. People can act politically to stand“in solidarity”with members of disadvantaged,stigmatised, or oppressed groups (expressed as activism or allyship). People can also act to express their care andcompassion for disadvantaged people directly either through acts of charitable support, volunteerism, and/orsupportive contact (benevolence). These discrete forms of prosocial action may differ in their patterns of motivationand associated belief systems and produce qualitatively distinct intergroup dynamics.