Although helping and cooperation are found in every culture, they are subject to many sociocultural influences. This review shows how cultures vary in the occurrence of prosocial behaviors, in the likelihood of asking and receiving help, and in the factors that promote or prevent helping. Independent and interdependent cultures differ in how much people offer help to ingroup members versus outgroup members, how much people seek help, and the relationship and self-worth concerns they have about receiving help. In this regard, differences also exist, depending on whether a particular culture follows a person-centric or a normative-contextual model of help. Future research should expand its scope by examining helping that does not involve apparent behaviors and that is invisible to the recipient. Future research should also consider the interchangeability of the provider and the recipient to better reflect the complexity of helping behaviors that seem more prevalent in interdependent cultures.
