The ‘ProSocial’ approach is an evidence-informed method designed to help groups, teams, and communities work together more effectively. Rather than focusing on individual motivation, personality, or skill deficits, ProSocial examines how groups are designed, how behaviour is shaped by context, and how cooperation can be intentionally supported within complex systems.
At its core, ProSocial addresses a fundamental challenge faced by many groups:
How do we create conditions that support cooperation, shared purpose, and collective wellbeing over time, particularly when resources are stretched, stakes are high, or values are deeply held?
What is ProSocial?
ProSocial refers to patterns of behaviour that support mutual benefit and collective functioning, including cooperation, trust, fairness, shared responsibility, and coordinated action.
From a behavioural and evolutionary perspective, ProSocial behaviour does not arise simply because individuals are well-intentioned. Instead, it emerges when systems are structured in ways that support cooperation and reduce unnecessary threat. When group conditions undermine trust, clarity, or fairness, even highly motivated individuals can find themselves pulled into unhelpful patterns.
ProSocial provides a practical framework for examining and reshaping these conditions at the level of the group.
How ProSocial sits with ACT
ProSocial and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) are related but distinct approaches that operate at different levels. ProSocial focuses on how groups and systems can be shaped to support cooperation, shared purpose, and sustainable collective action. ACT is a clinical and behavioural model focused on developing psychological flexibility at the level of individuals.
Although ProSocial did not develop from ACT, both sit within a contextual view of behaviour, where patterns are shaped by the environment, history, and consequences, rather than explained mainly by traits or motivation. Both also place strong emphasis on values, not just as personal preferences, but as guiding principles that support meaningful action, especially under pressure.
In practice, these approaches often complement each other. ProSocial provides a framework for designing healthier group conditions, such as clarity, fairness, participation, feedback, and constructive ways of handling conflict. ACT processes can then support the human side of that work, helping people notice threat reactions, unhook from unhelpful stories, tolerate discomfort, and stay engaged with what matters while doing difficult group conversations. ProSocial and ACT can be used independently, but together they offer a coherent way to support both individual flexibility and cooperative group functioning.
Who developed ProSocial?
The ProSocial framework was developed by Paul Atkins and David Sloan Wilson, in collaboration with an interdisciplinary network of researchers and practitioners.
David Sloan Wilson’s work in evolutionary biology and cultural evolution focuses on how cooperation emerges and is sustained within groups over time. Paul Atkins’ work centres on translating behavioural and evolutionary science into applied, usable processes for organisations and communities.
Together, they developed ProSocial as a way of bridging robust theory and real-world practice, offering groups a structured way to apply scientific insights about cooperation, behaviour, and systems to everyday challenges. The approach is now stewarded and further developed through ProSocial World, which supports international research, training, and applied projects.
The science behind ProSocial
Elinor Ostrom and the foundations of ProSocial
A major influence on ProSocial is the work of political economist Elinor Ostrom, who won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for her research on how communities successfully manage shared resources. Ostrom’s work challenged the assumption that groups inevitably collapse into competition or “free-riding” when resources are limited. Instead, she showed that cooperation can be stable and sustainable when groups develop clear shared boundaries, fair expectations, inclusive decision-making, and workable ways of monitoring and responding to problems. ProSocial builds directly on these insights by translating what makes cooperative groups work into practical design principles that teams and communities can apply in real-world settings.
ProSocial draws on findings from multiple disciplines, including:
- Evolutionary science and multilevel selection
- Behavioural psychology
- Cultural evolution
- Organisational science
- Systems theory
A central insight from this body of research is that successful groups share common design features, regardless of context. Groups that struggle tend to lack clarity, fairness, feedback, or effective ways of responding to difficulty. Importantly, ProSocial shifts attention away from individual blame and towards how group structures, norms, and feedback loops shape behaviour.
Core design principles for effective groups
ProSocial is grounded in a set of core design principles identified in research on groups that cooperate effectively over time. While the language used may differ across settings, these principles consistently emphasise:
- Clear shared purpose and group identity
- Fairness and proportionality in roles and rewards
- Inclusive and transparent decision-making
- Agreed expectations for behaviour
- Effective ways of responding to difficulties and conflict
- Accountability that supports learning rather than punishment
ProSocial work helps groups move beyond abstract agreement with these ideas and instead translate them into lived practices that guide everyday behaviour.
ProSocial as an ongoing process
Prosocial is not a fixed programme or manualised intervention. It is a flexible, iterative process that groups adapt to their context, size, and purpose.
Typical elements of ProSocial group work include:
- Clarifying shared purpose: Groups explore why they exist, what matters about their work, and what they are collectively trying to protect or create.
- Making patterns visible: Attention is given to recurring group behaviours, particularly those that undermine cooperation, without personalising or blaming.
- Establishing shared agreements: Groups co-create clear behavioural agreements that reflect their values and guide how members interact, especially under pressure.
- Supporting coordinated action: ProSocial emphasises follow-through, responsibility, and feedback, supporting trust and reliability within the group.
- Reflection and adaptation: Groups regularly review what is working, what is not, and how they want to adjust in response to changing conditions.
This process supports resilience and flexibility rather than rigid adherence to rules.
Working with difficulty in groups
ProSocial explicitly recognises that difficulty is inevitable in group life. Disagreement, conflict, avoidance, and power dynamics are not treated as failures but as signals that the system needs attention.
Rather than trying to eliminate tension, ProSocial helps groups develop ways to:
- Address problems early and constructively
- Reduce blame and defensiveness
- Stay connected to shared purpose during disagreement
- Respond at a systems level rather than targeting individuals
This makes the approach particularly well suited to complex, high-pressure, or values-driven environments.
Where ProSocial is commonly applied
ProSocial has been successfully applied across a wide range of contexts, including:
- Organisations and leadership teams
- Community and voluntary groups
- Education and training settings
- Health and social care systems, including NHS settings
- Multidisciplinary and cross-agency teams
Because the focus is on how groups function, rather than what they do, the framework adapts well across sectors and cultures.
Why ProSocial matters
Many group difficulties are framed as communication problems, motivation issues, or individual shortcomings. Prosocial offers a different lens: when cooperation breaks down, it is usually the system, not the people, that needs attention.
By helping groups intentionally shape their structures, norms, and shared direction, ProSocial supports more ethical, sustainable, and effective collective action. It offers a way of working with complexity that respects both human behaviour and the systems within which it occurs.
