KUSHAGRA PRASAD

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR (SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY)

DBRANLU, SONEPAT

PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
Actions by individuals that help others but with no immediate benefit to the helper.

In such times when the going gets tough (COVID19), the topic of Prosocial Behaviour seems to be much
more relevant than ever. The behaviour of helping others is referred to as Prosocial behaviour although
we know for the fact that there won’t be any gains associated with it for the one who is helping.
Prosocial behaviour is characterized by a concern for the rights, feelings, and welfare of other people.
Behaviours that can be described as prosocial include feeling empathy and concern for others and
behaving in ways to help or benefit other people.
In The Handbook of Social Psychology, C. Daniel Batson explains that prosocial behaviours refer to "a
broad range of actions intended to benefit one or more people other than oneself—behaviours such as
helping, comforting, sharing and cooperation."

The term prosocial behaviour originated during the 1970s and was introduced by social scientists as an
antonym for the term antisocial behaviour.

Examples of prosocial behaviour might include:

 A person donating money to charity, even though he/she receives no tangible benefit
from doing so
 Stopping to help a stranded motorist etc.

Origins of Prosocial Behavior

Humans are not the only animals to demonstrate prosocial behaviour, indicating that altruistic
behaviour has an earlier evolutionary origin and may help a species or individual survive. Some
scientists have theorized that animals–including people–are more likely to exhibit prosocial
behaviour to those to whom they are closely related, such as children and cousins, as these
people can carry on the person’s genetic lineage. Other scientists emphasize the role of
reciprocal altruism, which occurs when someone behaves in a prosocial way in the hope that they
will later be rewarded. A monkey who grooms a hurt companion might do so knowing that his or
her companion will be more likely to return the favour if he/she is ever hurt. However, there are
numerous reports of apparently unselfish behaviour in the animal kingdom, wherein an animal
helps an unrelated animal who cannot return the favour.
Parents often model prosocial behaviour to their children, and much of early development is
focused on helping children develop the ethical and social attitudes appropriate to their cultures.
While all cultures establish rules about appropriate treatment of others, what constitutes
prosocial behaviour in one culture might not in another. In the United States, for example, people
are generally expected to shake hands and make eye contact with new acquaintances, while in
other areas of the world this behaviour might be perceived as aggressive.

RESPONDING TO AN EMERGENCY: WILL BYSTANDERS HELP?

 The following topic will take into account various examples and through those
examples, you will be able to make a sense of what exactly is Bystanders Effect.
 Suppose you are walking down a lane and trip and you injure your knee and elbow.
The pain is so much that you can’t get back on your feet.
 Now think of 2 scenarios associated with it. 1.) The street is deserted and there is
only one person out there 2.) The street is full of dozens of people.
 In which situation do you think help will be provided to you? Normally, we may
argue that more the people, more would be the chances of getting any kind of help
because at least one of dozens of people will come forward and help.
 Using this hypothesis, we can conclude that chances of getting help when there isa
good number of people are more.
 Darley-Latane Study on famous murder in NYC. Kitty Genovese’ murder case. A man
assaulted the woman on the street and a good number of people looked out of their
windows and no one rushed to help or call the police.
 Diffusion of Responsibility- A principle suggesting that the greater the number of
witness to an emergency the less likely victims are to receive help. This is because
each bystander assumes that someone else will do it.
 Example of Student having a seizure, beginning to choke and in need of help. The
greater the number of witnesses to a staged emergency where the student had a
seizure, the less likely they were to help the apparent victim. Illustrating Diffusion of
Responsibility in such situations.
 Other factors also influence why we tend to help others. Studies have pointed to the
fact that race and ethnicity of the victim and the helper may play a role when it
comes to demonstrating any kind of prosocial behaviour.

UNDERSTANDING THE BYSTANDER’S EFFECT

 The applicability of the Bystander’s effect- Five crucial steps/factors in determining if

you would help or not.
  NOTICING/FAILING TO NOTICE- Happens when we are sleeping/deep in some
thought/concentrating too much etc and simply fail to notice that something
unusual is happening.
 CORRECTLY INTERPRETING AN EVEN AS AN EMERGENCY- We fail to gauge the
event of an emergency. When there is any kind of ambiguity, people tend to take
no action in that situation. Pluralistic Ignorance- Refers to the fact that because
none of the bystanders responds to an emergency, no one knows for sure what is
happening and each depends on the others to interpret the situation.
 DECIDING THAT IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO PROVIDE HELP- If responsibility is
no clear, people assume that anyone in a leadership role must take responsibility.
 DECIDING THAT YOU HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE AND/OR SKILLS TO ACT- Even if the
person goes till first 3 steps and assumes responsibility he still can’t act unless he
knows how to be helpful.
 MAKING THE FINAL DECISION TO PROVIDE HELP- Helping someone in need has the
last step- to work on “cognitive algebra” and engage in positive or negative
consequences of helping someone.

FACTORS THAT INCREASE OR DECREASE THE TENDENCY TO HELP

 We are more likely to help the ones who are similar to us. This leads to lower
tendencies to help people outside our own social groups.
 We tend to help those who were not responsible for their current need for help.
(example- drunkard vs Someone wearing three piece and lying brutally injured).
 Helping is increased by exposure to prosocial; models, it can also be increased by
playing prosocial video games. Priming of the thoughts and prosocial behaviour
related to it.
 Gratitude- Feeling of self-worth over here.
 Exposure to the live prosocial models- if you see someone putting money in dan-
patr
, you would be doing the same thing as well.