Social Psychology : Prosocial Behavior

1. PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR
- ASHISH BUDHWAR

2. PRO-SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
 Pro-social behavior are the acts that are positively valued by the
society.
 Lauren Wispé (1972) defined pro-social behavior as behavior that
has positive social consequences, and contributes to the physical or
psychological well-being of another person.
 It is voluntary and has the intention to benefit others.
 Pro-social behavior is independent of reinforcement.
 Being pro-social includes both being helpful and altruistic.
 It also embraces acts of charity, cooperation, friendship, rescue,
sacrifice, sharing, sympathy and trust.
 What is thought to be pro-social is defined by a society’s norms.

3. HELPING BEHAVIOR
 Helping behavior is a subcategory of pro-social behavior.
 Helping is intentional & benefits another person or a group of
society.
 If a person accidently drops a Rs100 note & someone picks it
up & spends it, that is not helping behavior but giving
someone money in time of need is a helping behavior.
 Also making large public donations & donations in temple is
not a helping behavior because most donations are done with
a view to gain publicity, look generous, or other long
term goals.
 Helping is when someone actually needs help or lacks
access or knowledge of it. Helping is also when sharing is
done to accomplish large goals as a team.
 Helping can also be anti-social, for example over-helping
someone to make them look inferior.

4. ANTI-SOCIAL HELPING
 Helping can be anti-social when the
aim of the helper is a cheap or false
motive. Examples are –
1. Helping someone to make them
feel inferior.
2. Showing that they are helping but
indeed the helper is not doing
anything.
3. Helping in a useless task & not
helping in at crucial times. To
pose as a helper or even a friend.
4. Using the helper’s aid &
distributing it to a common public
under own name.

5. DETERMINANTS OF HELPING BEHAVIOR
 Few views that explain why people help others are -
1. Empathy-Altruism - Helping others makes us feel good.
2. Negative-State relief – Helping others reduces negative
feelings.
3. Empathetic-Joy - Making others smile, seeing them
happy gives joy. Making a positive impact on others.
4. Competitive-Altruism
5. Kin-Selection - Helping those who share our genes in
order to help ourselves.
6. Defensive-Helping - Helping out-groups in order to
reduce their threat to in-group.

6. DETERMINANTS OF HELPING BEHAVIOR
 Empathy-Altruism : Empathy is the
capacity to be able to experience other’s
emotional states, take their perspective &
show some sympathy. Empathy-Altruism
suggests that people help others because
they feel empathetic towards those in need
& feel happy to be able to do something
good for them without any reward
expectancy.
 Negative-State Relief : This states that a
person may help others because the distress
of those in need may invoke negative
feelings in the person & to overcome which
he helps those in need.

7. DETERMINANTS OF HELPING BEHAVIOR
 Empathetic-Joy : A helper may help others just because he
enjoys the positive reactions shown by those who are helped.
It is crucial for the helper to know that his actions had a +ve
impact on the victim.
 Competitive-Altruism : This view suggests that one reason
why people help others is that doing so boosts their own
status & reputation.
Some people are greeted as celebrities as they donate large
amounts of money to help others. eg - Successful alumni of a
college donate for development of the college, celebrities like
Rajnikanth, Amitabh Bachhan have huge reputation in the
common public because of their helping behavior.

8. DETERMINANTS OF HELPING BEHAVIOR
 Kin-Selection : This theory predicts that people tend
more to help those who are in their close relation. This is
explained why in an emergency situation, we choose our
relatives, because we believe they are more likely to help
us.
 Defensive-Helping : Helping an out-group in times of
need makes us immune to their superiority in future.
Major diplomacies are based on it. eg helping an
earthquake struck nation may make us their ally. Also the
example of China funding Pakistan in many projects like
OBOR initiative makes Pakistan incompetent & unable to
ever raise voice against China.

9. DECIDING WHETHER TO HELP OR NOT
 5 crucial steps in deciding whether to help or not.
1. Noticing or failing to notice that
something wrong is going on. (people
gathered around, suspicious behavior, weapons).
2. Correctly interpreting the situation as an
emergency or not. (Please be sane enough not
to knock out a sikh for carrying a kirpan?)
3. Deciding that it is your responsibility to
act. (A sensible person would let the officer in
charge do the job).
4. Deciding whether you have the skills or
not. (Please avoid attempting a surgery of a
victim on the road unless you are a doctor).
5. Making the final decision to help.

10. LEARNING TO BE HELPFUL
 Several ways in which helpful behavior can be learnt is
1. Giving instructions – simply guiding children to help
others is effective. But preaching about helping is of
doubtful value. Also “do as I say not as I do” never really
teaches helpful behavior.
2. Using Reinforcement – Reinforcement can be
physiological (reward, award) or psychological (praise,
giving example, even a smile works).
3. Modeling – it is even more effective than reinforcement.
Watching someone helping impacts the learning of a
child (lead by example).
4. Playing Video Games – playing pro-social video games
increases helping behavior as like violent games increase
aggression.

11. EXTERNAL FACTORS IN HELPING
 Helping the people we LIKE – people are more likely to
help if the victim is an in-group member, shares same
height, religion, nationality, or simply if she is
attractive.
 Darkness – Researches show that pro-social acts
decrease in darkness. People are less likely to help at
night.
 Attribution Process - People are less
likely to help if the victim himself is
responsible for the situation he is
in. If we see a passed out person on
the footpath with a liquor bottle
beside him/her or a person in a suit
with bruises on his face, whom are
we more likely to help?

12. GRATITUDE : THANK YOU
 Everyone wants to be appreciated, and where helping
others is concerned, that often implies that the recipient
of the help says “Thank you!” in no uncertain terms.
While some people who engage in pro-social behavior
prefer to remain anonymous, most want to be
thanked for their help publicly and graciously.
 2 possibilities how gratitude increases helping behavior
are -
1. First, being thanked adds to the sense of self-efficacy.
Helpers feel capable and competent, and to have acted
effectively (and in good ways).
2. Second, it may add to helpers’ feelings of self-worth,
their belief that they are valued by others.

13. IS PRO-SOCIAL BEHAVIOR DECLINING?
 Yes maybe & the reason is clear.
 Some who receive help, take it for granted, they show
no gratitude. They forget as soon as the need is over.
They use your help in order to help others
 Conning the helpers.