Explaining prosocial
behavior: Why do people
help?
Michał Wartoń
Prosocial behavior

It is a helpful action
that benefits other
people without
necessarily providing
any direct benefits to
the person performing
the act, and may even
involve a risk for the
person who helps.
Motives for prosocial behavior:

1.
2.
3.
Unselfish motives
„It was the right thing
to do”
„That was the way my
parents rised me”
„The Lord put me
there for a reason”

1.
2.
Selfish motives
Hope for a reward
Prospect of being
rewarded by spending
all eternity in heaven
FOUR MAJOR THEORIES
that attempt to explain prosocial motivation
Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis
 Negative-State Relief Model
 Empathic Joy Hypothesis


Genetic Determinism Model
Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis
Person observes
emergency
Empathy
is aroused
Person provides help simply
because victim needs help
and because it feels good to
provide help
It is the proposal that prosocial behavior is
motivated solely by the desire to help
someone in need (Batson & Oleson,
1991).
Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis





„It feels good to do good”
Motivated solely by unselfish desire
Willing to engage in unpleasant, dangerous,
and even life-threating activity
Truly value
Experimental procedure by Batson and his
collegues
1.
2.
Low empathy
High empathy
Empathy avoidance


Most individuals seek
to avoid empathy
aroused, thus
avoiding the need to
engage in something
difficult
Shaw, Batson & Todd’
s research (1994)
Empathy and selective altruism


A person with resources can be motivated by:
egoism („First you take care of number one”)
empathy (directed at a single group member –
selective altruism for an individual who arouses
person’s emotions).
Negative-State Relief Model
Person
observes
emergency
Negative affect is aroused
by the emergency situation,
or person is experiencing
negative affect based on
something else
Peron provides help
in order to reduce
own negative affect
and make the helper
feel better
It is the proposal that prosocial behavior is
motivated by the bystander’s desire to
reduce his or her own uncomfortable
negative emotions (Cialdini, Baumann &
Kenrick, 1981).
Emphatic Joy Hypothesis
Person
observes
emergency
Situation leads to
desire to act and to
have positive effect
on the victim
Person provides help In
order to engage in an
activity that has successful
outcome making the helper
feel good
It is the proposal that prosocial behavior is
motivated by the positive emotion a helper
anticipates experiencing as the result of
having a beneficial impact on the life of
someone in need (Smith, Keating &
Stotland, 1989).
Short summary:





Based on emotions
Affective state as a
crucial element
Increase affect &
decrease negative affect
Feeling good & feeling
less bad
Helper’s high
Depending on the specific
circumstances, each of
the three models can
make accurate
predictions about how
people will respond.
Genetic Determinism Model
Person
observes
emergency
Unconscious desire to
help occurs if the
person perceives the
victim to be genetically
similar to himself or
herself
Person provides help in
order to maximize the
chances of survival of
genes that are like those of
the observer
It is the proposal that behavior is driven by
genetic attributes that evolved because
they enhanced the probability of
transmitting one’s genes to subsequent
generations (Pinker, 1998)
Genetic Determinism Model
We simply do so because we are built that way
Human is programmed with respect to:


•
•
•
•



Help
Prejudice
Attraction
Mate selection
Clutton- Brock explanation to selective perception
Both empathy and prosocial acts depend on the
similarity between victim and bystander
No evidence of a gene that determines prosocial
behavior
Summarizing
We respond to the needs
of others on the basis of a
variety of motives.
Regardless of the
underlying reason for any
specific prosocial
response, it can be
agreed that one very
positive aspect of human
behavior is that we
frequently are willing to
help those in need.
Thank You