CHAPTER 9 – SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Source: Social Psychology (10th Edition) by Saul Kassin (Author), Steven Fein
(Author), Hazel Rose Markus
Chapter 9
Prosocial Behaviour: Helping Others
• Prosocial behaviour: Actions by individuals that help others with no immediate
benefit to the helper
Why People Help: Motives for Prosocial Behaviour
Empathy-Altruism: It Feels Good to Help Others
• Empathy: emotional reactions that are focused on/oriented towards other
people and include feelings of compassion, sympathy and concern.
- This is unselfish because it leads us to offer help for no extrinsic reason, but
it is also selfish since the behaviour of assisting others helps us too, e.g. it
can make us feel better
• Empathy-altruism hypothesis: the suggestion that some prosocial acts are
motivated solely by the desire to help some1 in need.
✓ Such motivation can be sufficiently strong that the helper is willing to engage in
unpleasant, dangerous and even life-threatening activities
Empathy consists of 3 distinct components:
✓ Emotional empathy – sharing the feelings and emotions of others (emotional
aspect).
✓ Empathic accuracy – perceiving others' thoughts and feelings accurately
(cognitive component).
✓ Empathic concern – feelings of concern for another's well-being.
, - Recent research indicates that empathic accuracy – the ability to understand
others' feelings accurately and thoughts (sometimes termed "everyday mind-
reading") plays a vital role in social adjustment.
✓ Adolescents who are high in this skill have more friends and greater acceptance
from their peers and are victimised less by others than adolescents who are low
in this skill.
✓ In contrast, those low in empathic accuracy tend to develop social adjustment
problems.
Is empathy declining? And if so, why?
- The declines are small but significant for two aspects:
▪ Empathetic concern- Concern for the feelings and well-being of others.
▪ Empathetic perspective taking- Being able to take the perspective of
others.
- Can be due to reduced face-to-face contact.
Negative-State Relief: Helping Sometimes Reduces Unpleasant Feelings
• Negative-state relief model: The proposal that prosocial behaviour is
motivated by the bystander's desire to reduce his/her uncomfortable negative
emotions/feelings.
- Person observes emergency, e.g. accident
✓ Negative affect induced, e.g. sadness
✓ Elicit helping behaviours/other mood-elevating behaviours to reduce own
negative affect and make helper feel better.
Empathetic Joy: Helping as an Accomplishment
• Empathetic joy hypothesis: The view that helpers respond to the needs of a
victim because they want to accomplish something and doing so is rewarding in
and of itself.
Source: Social Psychology (10th Edition) by Saul Kassin (Author), Steven Fein
(Author), Hazel Rose Markus
Chapter 9
Prosocial Behaviour: Helping Others
• Prosocial behaviour: Actions by individuals that help others with no immediate
benefit to the helper
Why People Help: Motives for Prosocial Behaviour
Empathy-Altruism: It Feels Good to Help Others
• Empathy: emotional reactions that are focused on/oriented towards other
people and include feelings of compassion, sympathy and concern.
- This is unselfish because it leads us to offer help for no extrinsic reason, but
it is also selfish since the behaviour of assisting others helps us too, e.g. it
can make us feel better
• Empathy-altruism hypothesis: the suggestion that some prosocial acts are
motivated solely by the desire to help some1 in need.
✓ Such motivation can be sufficiently strong that the helper is willing to engage in
unpleasant, dangerous and even life-threatening activities
Empathy consists of 3 distinct components:
✓ Emotional empathy – sharing the feelings and emotions of others (emotional
aspect).
✓ Empathic accuracy – perceiving others' thoughts and feelings accurately
(cognitive component).
✓ Empathic concern – feelings of concern for another's well-being.
, - Recent research indicates that empathic accuracy – the ability to understand
others' feelings accurately and thoughts (sometimes termed "everyday mind-
reading") plays a vital role in social adjustment.
✓ Adolescents who are high in this skill have more friends and greater acceptance
from their peers and are victimised less by others than adolescents who are low
in this skill.
✓ In contrast, those low in empathic accuracy tend to develop social adjustment
problems.
Is empathy declining? And if so, why?
- The declines are small but significant for two aspects:
▪ Empathetic concern- Concern for the feelings and well-being of others.
▪ Empathetic perspective taking- Being able to take the perspective of
others.
- Can be due to reduced face-to-face contact.
Negative-State Relief: Helping Sometimes Reduces Unpleasant Feelings
• Negative-state relief model: The proposal that prosocial behaviour is
motivated by the bystander's desire to reduce his/her uncomfortable negative
emotions/feelings.
- Person observes emergency, e.g. accident
✓ Negative affect induced, e.g. sadness
✓ Elicit helping behaviours/other mood-elevating behaviours to reduce own
negative affect and make helper feel better.
Empathetic Joy: Helping as an Accomplishment
• Empathetic joy hypothesis: The view that helpers respond to the needs of a
victim because they want to accomplish something and doing so is rewarding in
and of itself.
