Table 1 Summary of all variables included in the cross-cultural analysis examining relationships between information access and prosocial values. The table presents variable names, descriptions, data sources and coverage years. The independent variables are two indicators approximating how much people in a country can observe information about out-groups. The World Press Freedom Index score is represented by the average of scores from 2013 to 2021, as these editions used a consistent evaluation method (for results with the variable Freedom on the Net, see Supplementary Information). The dependent variables are indicators representing various types of prosocial values. Data from Wave 6 (2010–2014) and Wave 7 (2017–2022) of the World Values Survey were used (averaged if multiple Waves’ data were available). Control variables include a binary variable indicating the country’s polity status and an indicator of the level of confidence in the quality of societal rules, including police and courts. In the analysis, standardized scores were used for all variables except for the binary polity variable.

From: Empirical evidence for the spread of Cooperation through copying successful groups