Psychology 2070A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 12: Distant Relatives, Inclusive Fitness, Social Psychology
17 Dec 2015
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Helping: behaviour that is intended to assist another person: the recipient may or may not have required assistance, but the helper perceives that aid is needed. Prosocial behaviour: any action that provides benefit to others: encompasses helping, but also includes actions that are not necessarily intended to assist others, such as following the rules in a game. Casual helping and emergency helping typically involve strangers, whereas substantial personal helping and emotional helping typically involve family or friends. Two basic explanations have been proposed to account for helping behaviours. One consequence of helping others it that it makes you feel good too. It does not take long for us to learn that helping is associated with rewards and other positive outcomes, and that not helping is associated with punishments and other negative outcomes or avoid punishments. Egotistic motivation: a motive for helping in order to obtain rewards: the helper"s true motivation is to gain some benefit for the self.
