SOCPSY 1Z03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Egotism
14 Mar 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Actions that are considered to be beneficial to others and have positive outcomes: helping, philanthropy, altruism, volunteering. Alturism: the belief and well-been of others is equal to or greater than your own, selfless acts that put the welfare of others before yourself. What motivates us to help: egoism, altruism and empathetic concern, evolutionary perspectives. Egoism: self-serving motives, cost-benefit of helping others. Altruism and empathetic concern: people as generous, unselfish, empathy drives our need to help. Evolutionary perspectives: prosocial behaviour as beneficial for survival, genetic trait passed down from generation to generation. Characteristics of those we help: a number of factors, we know the person, like the person, similarity to me, deserving of help - whether the problem is their fault or not. A number of factors determine whether we intervene: notice the situation, interpreted the situation as an emergency, feeling of personal responsibility to help, belief that you can actually provide help, the decision to act.
