APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

MANSI SENGAR

ASSIGNMENT 18/0015

Define prosocial behaviour. Describe in detail factors influencing prosocial behaviour.

In The Handbook of Social Psychology, C. Daniel Batson explains that prosocial behaviors
refer to "a broad range of actions intended to benefit one or more people other than oneself—
behaviors such as helping, comforting, sharing and cooperation." The term prosocial behavior
originated during the 1970s and was introduced by social scientists as an antonym for the
term antisocial behavior.

Examples of humans engaging in helping behaviors are found in early, recorded history and
prehistory. In North America, Native peoples had very strong communal cultures, with group
survival relying on helping and giving practices.

In order to better understand factors influencing pr-social behaviour, one must first look at
some of the explanations. A few of them are represented as follows:

Motives Description
Empathy-Altruism Batson, Duncan, Ackerman, Buckley, and Birch (1981) offered the
Hypothesis empathy-altruism hypothesis, which suggests that at least some pro-
social acts are motivated solely by the desire to help someone in need.
Empathy consists of three distinct components:
 Emotional empathy, which involves sharing the feelings and
emotions of others
 Empathic accuracy which involves perceiving others’ thoughts
and feelings accurately
 Empathic concern which involves feelings of concern for
another’s well-being.
Negative-State Relief Model Given by Cialdini, Baumann and Kendrick (1981) it describes how one
situational factor— sadness—relates to the willingness to help others.
Research indicates that it doesn’t matter whether the bystander’s negative
emotions were aroused by something unrelated to the emergency or by the
emergency itself their unhappiness leads to prosocial behaviour.
Empathic Joy Hypothesis According to Smith, Keating, & Stotland (1989) helpers enjoy the
positive reactions shown by others whom they help. As per research as it
is crucial for the person who helps to know that his or her actions had a
positive impact on the victim. If helping were based entirely on emotional
empathy or empathic concern, feedback about its effects would be
irrelevant since we know that we “did well” and that should be enough.
Therefore, it provides a counter point on Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis.
Competitive altruism This view suggests that one important reason why people help
others is that doing so boosts their own status and reputation and, in this
way, ultimately brings them large benefits, ones that more than offset the
costs of engaging in prosocial actions.
Kinship-Selection Theory It suggests that the goal of getting our genes into the next generation
enables individuals to help others who share their genes. (Cialdini,
Brown, Lewis, Luce, & Neuberg, 1997). Burnstein, Crandall, and
Kitayama (1994) conducted a series of studies in which participants were
asked whom they would choose to help in an emergency. As predicted on
the basis of genetic similarity, participants were more likely to say they
would help a close relative than either a distant relative or a nonrelative.
Defensive Helping It refers to reducing the threat posed by outgroups to one’s own ingroup.
Actions are performed not primarily to help the recipients, but rather to
“put them down” in subtle ways and so reduce their threat to the ingroup’s
status. In such cases, helping does not stem from empathy, positive
reactions to the joy or happiness it induces among recipients, but, rather,
from a more selfish motive: protecting the distinctiveness and status of
one’s own group.

FACTORS INFLUENCING PRO-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

Some factors that tend to increase pro-social behaviour could be gratitude in others, video
games showing pro-social behaviour, other people around engaging in pro-social behaviour
(modelling), etc.
  Similarity

Research by Hodges and colleagues (2010) suggests that similarity to others increases our
empathic concern for them, and our understanding of what they are experiencing. Similarity
to the person influences empathic concern, but does not significantly influence empathic
accuracy. So although similarity is an important factor influencing empathy, it seems to
primarily influence the emotional component of empathy, not the cognitive component (i.e.,
empathic accuracy).

 Responsibility

Moreover, we are less likely to act if we believe that the victim is to blame (Higgins & Shaw,
1999; Weiner, 1980). One would examine a situation first and make attributions. According
to a research by Schwartz and David (2016) People help a victim they may have harmed:
most if s/he implies they are to blame, less if s/he attributes his/her plight to chance, and still
less if s/he blames himself/herself.

 Exposure to Pro-Social Models

The bystander effect occurs when the presence of others discourages an individual from
intervening in an emergency situation. However, it is found that that the presence of a helpful
bystander provides a strong social model, and the result is an increase in helping behaviour
among the remaining bystanders. Even the symbolic presence of one or more helping models
can increase prosocial behavior. This factor is often used in order to gather donations for
welfare funds from constumers in a restaurant or visitors in a museum.

 Playing Prosocial Video Games

Recent research indicates that playing prosocial video games in which characters help and
support each other (e.g., Gentile et al., 2009) can increase the tendency to engage in prosocial
actions. Repeated exposure to such games might, over time, generate attitudes favourable to
prosocial actions, emotions consistent with them (e.g., positive feelings associated with
helping others), and other lasting changes in the ways in which individuals think that,
together, could facilitate prosocial actions. Such effects appear to be lasting rather than
merely short-term in nature. In contrast, playing aggressive video games (e.g., Crash
Twinsanity) tends to reduce prosocial actions and increase aggressive ones.
  Receiving Gratitude

According to Grant and Gino (2010) this could be important for people for two different
reasons. First, being thanked may add to the sense of self-efficacy—helpers feel that they are
capable and competent, and have acted effectively (and in good ways). Second, it may add to
helpers’ feelings of self-worth, their belief that they are valued by others. However, they
found more support for the latter one rather the former. This could be seen in actions
implying the helpers’ want to be thanked ceremoniously, having schools, hospitals, etc.
mention them in engravings.

 Internal Factors – Personality Traits

Examining the big five factors of personality, pro-social behaviour are more characteristic of
people who are high on
 Agreeableness
 Extraversion
 Conscientiousness
 Being Altruistic vs. Ego-centric

In this perspective altruism stands on empathic foundation which the ego-centric thinking
lacks. Egocentrism refers to someone's inability to understand that another person's view
or opinion may be different than their own. It represents a cognitive bias, in that someone
would assume that others share the same perspective as they do, unable to imagine that
other people would have a perception of their own. On the other way, Altruism refers to a
motive for helping behavior that is primarily intended to relieve another person's distress,
with little or no regard for the helper's self-interest. Altruistic help is voluntary,
deliberate, and motivated by concern for another person's welfare.
 Applying knowledge of factors to use: How can parents help develop Pro-Social
Behaviour in their children?

Notice and label when the child engages in prosocial behavior. One can
Gratitude
use phrases like, “You were being helpful…,” “You were kind to….”

Supervising the games played and shows watched by children

Video games

Avoid programs and content endorsing violent or anti-social behavior

The child watches the parent constantly and the relationship offers
many opportunities to “show” children how to act and make choices.
Pro-social models The voluntary nature of prosocial behavior requires a child to have
consistent models and experiences to learn and internalize the
importance and benefits of these actions.

To inculcate responsibility in oneself, children should be assigned age-

appropriate chores . This develops a sense of responsibiity, makes
Responsibility
contributing a part of one's nature and promote a motivation to
volunteer.

This refers to providing an environment to nurture empathy in the child.

Research has pointed to the connection between a secure parent-child
attachment and prosocial behavior as well as empathy in early
childhood.

Being Altruistic

Read books about friendship and relationships. These provide

characters as positive role characters to learn pro-social behaviour from.