Prosocial behaviors are actions taken to help and benefit other individuals. Examples of prosocial behaviors include helping an elderly woman cross a busy street, baking cookies for someone, or even buying a stranger a cup of coffee. Prosocial behavior is an act of kindness that everyone should be aware of for the sake of helping others around them progress mentally and physically. After spending the past week practicing more prosocial behavior to friends, family, and strangers, I have learned that prosocial behavior not only makes others feel good but it is also self-rewarding. Monday evening was my first act of prosocial behavior of the week. As a military dependent that lives a base, I thought it would be a nice gesture to do something for active duty military members in reason to thank members for serving our country. In contribution to prosocial behavior, I made dozens chocolate covered strawberries and delivered them to the building my father works in. While I delivering strawberries, I looked at several Navy sailors and thanked them for their service. I was surprised at how thankful some people were in reaction to my delivery. It made me happy to see that the smallest things can bring people such joy. In that same evening of going to the store for chocolate covered strawberry ingredience, I complimented three strangers. The three strangers I complimented were two women that were out shopping as well and the cashier I checked out with. The first woman I complimented her purse. She really appreciated my compliment and it put a smile on her face for the rest of the time I saw her in the store. The next woman I saw, I complimented the interesting mix of colors she used on her tie-dye shirt however her reaction was vague, becau... ... middle of paper ... ... to the ocean to relax, socialize, and enjoy food and drinks on me. At the end of the night, everyone I had brought together was very thankful that I organized the trip because we had the chance to enjoy everyone’s company given that we do not all get to do that very often. Contributing to prosocial behavior is something that everyone should make an effort at doing especially given that the United States has such an individualist culture. In all five of the situations, I learned that the smallest things like a compliment can make someone’s day which I think is mentally beneficial on both ends. I enjoyed giving out positive energy and I even made friends out of my behaviors. It was very self-rewarding knowing that I made a difference in someone’s day. Works Cited Kassin, S., Fein, S., & Markus, H. R. (2014). Social psychology (9th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Davis, S. F., & Palladino, J. J. (2003). Psychology. (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Prosocial Behavior is exhibited through actions that are directed towards the promotion of another’s well-being. Examples of these behaviors are helping, comforting, sharing, and cooperation. The term was coined in the 1970s and introduced as an antonym for “antisocial behavior.” Extensive study on prosocial behavior was conducted after an incident involving a young girl named Kitty Genovese, wherein she was murdered on her way home from work; she cried for help and although many heard her, none came to her aid until it was far too late (Cherry, 2005). This study aims to determine the students of De La Salle University who display and possess prosocial behavior as well as the reasons as to why they behave prosocially. The researchers conducted
Gall, S. B., Beins, B., & Feldman, A. (2001). The gale encyclopedia of psychology. (2nd ed.). Detroit, MI: Gale Group.
Prosocial Behavior is known as the voluntary effort to benefit others. There are many causes of prosocial behavior and underlying reasons why people choose to help co workers in the workplace. Some seek instant gratification while others just believe in good karma. The reasons are vast in number.
My attention was also drawn to several questions in this podcast, which made me eager to find the answers to these questions. For example, one interesting question I heard was “when you do see generosity how do you know it’s really generous” (Levy, 2010). This question stood out to me because it is one particular question I don’t think about often and made me wonder whether people help someone out because they see it as a duty. However, I believe the best answer to this question is the portrayal of the concept of norm of reciprocity, which indicates “the expectation that helping others will increase the likelihood that they will help us in the future” (Akert, Aronson, & Wilson, 2013, p.303). This is true because “generosity” happens when both persons are nice to each other and if an individual helps another person then it’s easy to assume that the person who was
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 13, 279-301.
Prosociality can be defined as a wide umbrella of behaviors and attitudes that are generally positive towards other people. Prosociality fits into the “Big Five” set of traits under agreeableness. This is still a broad term, but it is broken up into two major categories, which are politeness and compassion. Politeness is more like the tendency to respect people, conform to social norms, and ignore aggressive impulses. However, generosity tends to fit under compassion better. Compassion is the tendency to have concern for others and the urge to help them. A series of games were created in order to point out the differences in generosity and reciprocity. A major outcome that was found in this study is that humans care for the needs of others and have the want to help them. A study was created to find new social preferences, find differences in these preferences, and address limitations. The results show that social preferences for someone who is tolerant and forgiving, therefore portraying
Gall, S. B., Beins, B., & Feldman, A. (2001). The gale encyclopedia of psychology. (2nd ed., pp. 271-273). Detroit, MI: Gale Group.
Retrieved December 7, 2013. Gilovich, T., & Gilovich, T. (2013). Chapter 12 / Groups /. Social psychology in the United States. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.
Kassin, S., Fein, S., & Markus, H. R. (2010). Social psychology with study guide. (8th ed.). Mason: Cengage Learning.
Before a case can be made for the causes of altruism, altruism itself must first be defined. Most leading psychologists agree that the definition of altruism is “a motivational state with the ultimate goal of increasing another’s welfare.” (Batson, 1981). The only way for a person to be truly altruistic is if their intent is to help the community before themselves. However, the only thing humans can see is the actions themselves, and so, selfish intent may seem the same as altruistic intent. Alas, the only way that altruism can be judged is if the intent is obvious. Through that, we must conclude that only certain intents can be defined as altruistic, and as intent stemming from nature benefits the group while other intent benefits yourself, only actions caused by nature are truly altruistic.
Crisp, R, J. Turner, R, N. (2007). Essential Social Psychology. Sage Publications Limited. London. (UK). First Edition.
... middle of paper ... ... Journal of Applied Psychology 92 (2007): 1332–356. Print. The.
Small acts kindness can change someone's perspective. By changing someone's perspective I mean, making them see that strangers aren’t so bad. For example someone may be having a bad day and they just want to go to McDonald’s, get their food, and go home. Then someone buys your food for you anonymously and that can really make your day. You may not think five dollars for a meal can change someone's perspective on others, but it can.
According to Altruists International (2014), the idea of altruism came from Auguste Comte. This new concept sent the scholars and great thinkers of the time back to the proper examination of major moral and religious ideologies. At this stage, the two major ideologies that were reigning were that of benevolence and self-interest. The concept of altruism gained ground in the 1850s, raising many philosophical and scientific questions. Altruism contains three major ideas. These are the intentions, actions, and the ideology itself. In this regard, altruism takes forms like psychological, behavioral, and ethical. Behavioral altruism refers to consequences that result from actions. These consequences are essentially, the benefits that others derive from the agent acting (A...