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Unlock This CourseThe prefrontal cortex is like the CEO of your brain - it's the part that makes executive decisions, controls impulses and helps you think about others. When it comes to prosocial behaviour (actions that benefit others), this brain region plays a starring role. Scientists have discovered that people with damage to their prefrontal cortex often struggle with empathy, moral reasoning and making decisions that help others.
Understanding how the prefrontal cortex influences prosocial behaviour gives us fascinating insights into why humans are naturally inclined to help each other, share resources and cooperate in groups.
Key Definitions:
The prefrontal cortex sits right behind your forehead and is divided into several key areas. The medial prefrontal cortex helps with understanding others' thoughts and feelings, whilst the orbitofrontal cortex is crucial for making moral decisions. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex controls impulses and helps you think before acting - essential for prosocial behaviour!
The prefrontal cortex acts like a sophisticated control centre that coordinates several mental processes essential for prosocial behaviour. It helps us understand others' emotions, control our selfish impulses and make decisions that benefit the group rather than just ourselves.
One of the most important functions of the prefrontal cortex is enabling "theory of mind" - the ability to understand that other people have thoughts, feelings and beliefs different from our own. This is fundamental to prosocial behaviour because you can't truly help someone unless you understand what they need.
This area lights up when we think about others' mental states. It helps us understand what someone else might be thinking or feeling, which is crucial for empathy and appropriate helping behaviour.
Working with the prefrontal cortex, this region helps us take another person's perspective. It's particularly active when we're trying to understand someone else's beliefs or intentions.
This area processes emotional empathy - actually feeling what others feel. It connects to the prefrontal cortex to turn empathic feelings into prosocial actions.
In 1848, railway worker Phineas Gage survived a horrific accident where an iron rod pierced through his prefrontal cortex. Before the accident, Gage was described as responsible, kind and well-liked. After the damage, he became impulsive, rude and showed little concern for others' feelings. His case was one of the first to demonstrate how prefrontal cortex damage can dramatically reduce prosocial behaviour, providing early evidence for the biological basis of moral and social behaviour.
The prefrontal cortex acts like a brake pedal for our impulses. When you see someone drop their wallet, your first instinct might be to keep it (immediate reward), but your prefrontal cortex helps you override this selfish impulse and return it instead (prosocial behaviour).
You might know about the famous marshmallow test where children had to wait to get a second marshmallow. This test actually measures prefrontal cortex function! Children who could wait (showing good impulse control) were more likely to show prosocial behaviours later in life, demonstrating how this brain region supports both self-control and helping others.
The prefrontal cortex can stop us from acting on selfish impulses. When you want to cut in line but don't, that's your prefrontal cortex working to maintain social cooperation and fairness.
Modern brain scanning techniques like fMRI have revolutionised our understanding of how the prefrontal cortex supports prosocial behaviour. These studies show real-time brain activity as people make decisions about helping others.
Researchers have used brain imaging to study people whilst they play economic games involving sharing money or helping others. The results consistently show increased activity in the prefrontal cortex when people choose to act prosocially.
When people reject unfair offers (even at personal cost), their prefrontal cortex shows high activity. This suggests the brain region helps us maintain fairness and social cooperation.
Brain scans during charitable giving show activation in reward areas AND the prefrontal cortex, suggesting that helping others feels good but also requires executive control.
When people watch others in pain, their prefrontal cortex activates alongside pain centres, showing how this region helps translate empathy into potential helping behaviour.
Patients with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (like patient EVR studied by Antonio Damasio) often perform normally on intelligence tests but show severe impairments in social and moral reasoning. They make decisions that harm relationships and show reduced empathy, despite understanding social rules intellectually. This demonstrates how specific prefrontal regions are crucial for translating moral knowledge into prosocial action.
The prefrontal cortex is the last brain region to fully mature, not completing development until around age 25. This explains why teenagers often struggle with impulse control and why prosocial behaviour tends to increase with age.
As the prefrontal cortex develops, children become better at sharing, helping and considering others' needs. Young children might help others but often in simple, direct ways. As their prefrontal cortex matures, they can engage in more complex prosocial behaviours requiring planning and moral reasoning.
People vary in their prefrontal cortex structure and function, which may explain why some individuals are naturally more prosocial than others. Factors like genetics, early experiences and brain development all influence these differences.
Whilst the prefrontal cortex clearly plays a crucial role in prosocial behaviour, it's important to remember that biology isn't the whole story. Social, cultural and environmental factors also significantly influence how we behave towards others.
The biological explanation provides valuable insights but has both strengths and limitations that psychology students should understand.
Provides objective, scientific evidence using brain imaging. Explains individual differences in prosocial behaviour. Offers potential for understanding and treating antisocial behaviour.
Doesn't explain cultural differences in prosocial behaviour. Brain activity doesn't always predict actual behaviour. Oversimplifies complex social interactions.
Best understood alongside social and cognitive explanations. Biology provides the capacity for prosocial behaviour, but environment shapes how it's expressed.
Understanding the prefrontal cortex's role in prosocial behaviour has practical implications. It helps explain why rehabilitation programmes for antisocial behaviour often focus on developing executive functions and emotional regulation. It also informs educational approaches that support the development of empathy and moral reasoning in young people, recognising that these capacities depend on ongoing brain development.