PSYC 215 Chapter Notes - Chapter 14: Empathic Concern, Personal Distress, Pluralistic Ignorance
Document Summary
Altruism = unselfish behavior that benefits others without regard to consequences for the self. Sometimes inhibited by self-preservation and fear of embarrassment. Social rewards motive = benefits like praise, positive attention, tangible rewards, honors, and gratitude that may be gained from helping others. Personal distress motive = people are motivated to help others in need to reduce own distress. We respond to other people"s distress with our own distress from an early age. We feel the pain of others and try to reduce own distress by helping them. Empathic concern motivation= feeling people experience when identifying with the person in need, accompanied by the intention to enhance the other person"s welfare. But this experiment is flawed - people that feel might be in general more helpful for some other reason and they may have done it for a reward motive because wanted to impress researcher.