ProSocial Essentials — Partner Kit
Section 1

About the course

A quick summary you can refer back to as you write or adapt copy for your own audience.

What is ProSocial Essentials?

ProSocial Essentials: Cooperation by Design is a new self-paced online course from ProSocial World. It's a practical introduction to why cooperation breaks down in groups — and what to do about it.

Most attempts to fix group problems focus on the people: better communication, clearer expectations, more effort. Those things matter. But they often don't hold, because the conditions people are operating in keep shaping behavior in ways nobody is quite seeing. The course teaches you to see those conditions clearly, and to start working with them.

It draws on two bodies of research: Elinor Ostrom's Nobel Prize-winning work on cooperation and the commons, and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT). Four short modules, each building on the last. Ends with a concrete experiment participants can try in their own context.

Developed by Paul Atkins (ProSocial World co-founder, researcher, and facilitator) and the ProSocial World team.

Self-paced · online ~2 hours $75 USD Certificate included courses.prosocial.world/course/essentials

Who it's for

Anyone who works with groups — team leaders and managers, facilitators, community organisers, coaches, therapists, and nonprofit professionals. No prior knowledge of ProSocial methods is required.


Section 2

Email to share

Ready to send to your list, adapted to your voice. Choose whichever subject line fits.

A note on voice: This email is written in ProSocial World's tone, but please make it yours. Change the opening, swap in an example from your own work, or trim it down. The most effective version will be the one that sounds like you.
Subject & preview — choose one pair
Option A
Subject: The conditions we're in
Preview: A new course on why the same patterns keep coming back
Option B
Subject: Something worth two hours of your time
Preview: A new ProSocial World course on cooperation, conditions, and what actually changes groups
Option C
Subject: A course I wanted to share with you
Preview: ProSocial Essentials — why cooperation breaks down, and what to do about it

Email body

Hi [First Name],

I wanted to share something from the team at ProSocial World — a new self-paced course called ProSocial Essentials: Cooperation by Design.

Most of us have experienced groups that struggle despite everyone's best efforts. We improve communication, run a workshop, try to get everyone on the same page. Sometimes it works. But often, the same patterns come back. That's because what's usually missing isn't effort or goodwill, but an understanding of the conditions people are operating in.

Groups shape behavior in ways we often don't see. They make certain responses feel easier, safer, or more rewarding than others. Over time, those patterns become self-reinforcing. ProSocial Essentials teaches you to see those patterns clearly, and empowers you to begin working with them.

It's about two hours, self-paced, and draws on Elinor Ostrom's Nobel Prize-winning research and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy. You'll finish with something concrete — a small experiment you can try in your own context.

It's designed for anyone who works with groups: team leaders, facilitators, community organisers, coaches, therapists, nonprofit professionals. No prior knowledge of ProSocial methods required.

Find out more and enrol here — $75, certificate included →

[Your sign-off]


Section 3

Social posts

Adapt these to your own voice — a personal sentence at the start often makes them land better than posting as-is.

LinkedIn

Sharing this because I think it's genuinely useful for anyone who works with groups.

ProSocial World just launched a new self-paced course — ProSocial Essentials: Cooperation by Design. It's a 2-hour introduction to why cooperation breaks down, grounded in Elinor Ostrom's Nobel Prize-winning research and ACT.

The core idea: most group problems aren't people problems. They're conditions problems. The course gives you a practical way to see that distinction — and do something with it.

$75, certificate included. courses.prosocial.world/course/essentials

#Cooperation #GroupDynamics #ProSocial #Facilitation #Leadership

Instagram / Facebook

Worth sharing: ProSocial World just launched a new course — ProSocial Essentials: Cooperation by Design.

Two hours, self-paced, grounded in real science. It's about why groups keep struggling even when everyone's trying — and what's actually possible when you understand the conditions shaping things.

$75, certificate included. Link in bio or: courses.prosocial.world/course/essentials

X / Twitter

@ProSocialWorld just launched a new self-paced course: ProSocial Essentials: Cooperation by Design.

2 hours. Grounded in Ostrom's Nobel Prize research + ACT. Practical from the first module. Worth your time if you work with groups. $75.

courses.prosocial.world/course/essentials


Section 4

Short blurb

For newsletters, event programs, podcast show notes, or anywhere you need a brief description.

2–3 sentence version

ProSocial Essentials: Cooperation by Design is a new self-paced course from ProSocial World on why cooperation breaks down — and what to do about it. It draws on Elinor Ostrom's Nobel Prize-winning research and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy to give you a practical way to see and shift the conditions shaping your group. Two hours, $75, certificate included. courses.prosocial.world/course/essentials

Paragraph version

ProSocial World has just launched ProSocial Essentials: Cooperation by Design — a self-paced online course for anyone who works with groups. Most group problems persist not because of who's in the group, but because of the conditions that have formed around them: the invisible pressures that make certain behaviors easier, safer, or more rewarding than others. The course, developed by researcher and facilitator Paul Atkins, teaches you to see those conditions and begin working with them. It draws on Elinor Ostrom's Nobel Prize-winning research and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, takes about two hours to complete, and ends with a concrete experiment you can try in your own context. Self-paced · $75 · Certificate included · courses.prosocial.world/course/essentials


Section 5

Images

Right-click any image and "Save image as" to download, or use the URLs directly in your posts and emails.

Course images

Images coming soon.


Section 6

FAQ

For when people in your network have questions. These are honest answers — feel free to share them directly.

"I've tried things like this before. Why would this be different?"
Most approaches start with the people — their mindset, their communication, their willingness to change. ProSocial Essentials starts with the situation. It asks what the environment is making likely, before asking what people should do differently. That shift tends to open up different options — ones that hold, because they change what the situation is rewarding.
"I'm not in a leadership role. Is this still for me?"
Yes. You don't need authority over a group to benefit from understanding what's shaping it. Seeing the conditions clearly changes how you participate — what feels possible, what conversations you can start, how you interpret what's happening.
"Two hours doesn't seem like much."
It's an introduction, not a practitioner training. The goal is a shift in how you see, and a concrete first experiment — both of which are achievable in two hours. If you want to go deeper, there are longer courses and the ProSocial Action Lab. But this is a genuine starting point, not a taster session.
"Is this just for workplace teams?"
No. The conditions that shape group behavior are present in any group — a community organisation, a family, a neighbourhood committee, an online community. The framework doesn't require a professional context.
"I already know ACT / ProSocial. Is this for beginners?"
It's designed as an entry point, so concepts are introduced from the ground up. But the integration of ACT and Ostrom's work is specific to this course and worth exploring even if the individual pieces are familiar. It's also an easy thing to recommend to people in your network who aren't ready for the full training.