Prosocial behavior
refers to “voluntary actions that are intended to help or benefit another individual or group of individuals” (Eisenberg and Mussen 1989, 3). This definition refers to consequences of a doer’s actions rather than the motivations behind those actions.
I will argue that within the general domain of prosocial behavior, other-oriented actions can be categorized into three distinct types (
helping, sharing, and comforting
) that reflect responses to three distinct negative states (instrumental need, unmet material desire, and emotional distress).
Prosocial behavior is behavior that deliberately benefits another, rather than helping another person by accident or proxy. What is Prosocial Behavior? … Examples of prosocial behavior might include:
A person donating money to charity
, even though he/she receives no tangible benefit from doing so.
Prosocial behaviors are
those intended to help other people
. … Behaviors that can be described as prosocial include feeling empathy and concern for others. Prosocial behavior includes a wide range of actions such as helping, sharing, comforting, and cooperating.
For one, helping others feels good: it often leads to a positive mood and reduced stress. Over time, prosocial behavior is associated with
greater psychological well-being
, better social relationships, and better physical health, including greater longevity.
- Step 1: Recognizing the Problem. …
- Step 2: Interpreting the Problem as an Emergency. …
- Step 3: Deciding Whether One Has a Responsibility to Act. …
- Steps 4 and 5: Deciding How to Assist and How to Act. …
- References:
Sharing, cooperating and helping are some of the forms prosocial behaviour can take.
Skills such as perspective taking, empathy, and self-regulation
contribute to the development of prosocial behaviour.
- Paying for someone’s bus fare.
- Bringing vegetables from your garden and sharing them at work.
- Making cookies and sharing with a friend.
- Sharing your best ideas online for free.
- Letting someone borrow your books, games, or videos.
Prosocial behavior covers the broad range of actions intended to benefit one or more people other than oneself—actions such as helping, comforting, sharing, and cooperation. Altruism is
motivation to increase another person’s welfare
; it is contrasted to egoism, the motivation to increase one’s own welfare.
How can we improve our Behaviour?
- Encourage prosocial/helping behavior.
- Increase and optimize the 5 Decision Making Steps.
- Reduce inhibiting factors (pluralistic ignorance, conformity, …
- Increase identification of risk factors.
- Make “in-group” more inclusive.
- Practice perspective taking.
- Increase knowledge, skills, and confidence.
philanthropy altruism | good works helping hand | prosocial behaviour UK selflessness | humanity self-denial | self-sacrifice |
---|
Naturally, developmental psychologists and other social scientists point to the animal world as proof that prosocial behavior is a
preprogrammed biological function of humanity
rather than solely nurtured or learned actions.
Social and situational factors that can influence prosocial behaviors include
the interpretation of others’ needs, the relationship to others
, the reciprocal altruism, the number of bystanders, the normative pressure to help, and the evaluation of the cost to help (Batson, 1998).
It is generally believed that empathy shapes the landscape of our social lives by
motivating prosocial and caregiving behaviours
, inhibiting aggression, and facilitating cooperation between members of a similar social group.
Spending money on others – often called prosocial spending – is associated with higher levels of well-being. Evidence for this relationship comes from various sources. …
Individuals randomly assigned to spend money on others
(vs. themselves) reported significantly higher levels of happiness.
Who is more likely to help?
Researchers suggest that people are
most likely to help others in certain circumstances
: They have just seen others offering help. They are not in a hurry. They share some similarities with the person needing help.