Prosocial Behavior and Conformity in Greek Life

Undergraduate students are inevitably exposed to opportunities for social influence as a result of their collegiate enrollment. One avenue for which this frequently occurs includes college students who are involved in Greek Life: that is, sorority and fraternity members. This study is interested in examining how sorority and fraternity affiliation may impact individual behavior. Specifically, this study explores the degree to which Greek students engage in prosocial behaviors and conformity as a result of their affiliation as well as the potential motives that drive both. Prosocial behavior is defined as actions completed by individuals to help others with no immediate benefit to the helper. Conformity to Greek life culture in this study is defined as a change in thoughts, behaviors, and actions as a result of one’s Greek affiliation and Greek environment. We hypothesize that (1) more involved Greek students will feel higher pressure to conform to Greek life culture compared to less involved Greek students, (2) older Greek students will feel more pressure to conform to Greek life compared to younger Greek students, (3) college students involved in Greek life will be more likely to engage in prosocial behavior as a result of their Greek affiliation, and (4) individual explanations for these behaviors will be due to a gendered difference in motivation between fraternity and sorority members. Linear regression will be used to examine these relationships, and data collection is ongoing with 65 responses so far. Results will be discussed during Scholar’s Week. Keywords: Prosocial Behavior, Conformity, Motivation, Greek Life Involvement, College Student