Unveiling the Human Heart: The Psychology of Helping and Prosocial Behavior

"Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others."

Kindness and helping others are like the strings that tie together a caring and supportive community. From lending a hand to a stranger in need to participating in acts of kindness, these actions play a significant role in our daily lives. Help can be done in many ways like helping a old/blind person crossing the road to helping fellow mates in solving his/her personal issues. In this blog we will discuss the psychology of helping and prosocial behavior, exploring various factors that influence when, why we should provide the assistance.

When Do People Help?

People intend to help when they perceive person in need. Factors like empathy, relationship between the helper and the person in need also influence whether assistance is offered or not. Helping often arises from a genuine concern for others. Helping also majorly depends on by-stander's effect like what are other people doing to the person in need. In the figure, the people may be helping the old man due to the case of empathy.

Defining the Situation: The Role of Pluralistic Ignorance

The decision to help is not a simple yes/no proposition. Pluralistic ignorance occurs when individuals in a group do not take action because they falsely believe others do not find the situation problematic. It can also stop one from offering the help to person in need. There may be many questions in the mind why others are not helping.

Do I Have to Be the One to Help?: Diffusion of Responsibility

The diffusion of responsibility occurs when individuals feel 

less obligated to help in a group setting. In situations in which help is needed, the presence or absence of others may affect whether a bystander will assume personal responsibility to give the assistance. If the bystander is alone, personal responsibility to help falls solely on the shoulders of that person. Overcoming this requires understanding that personal responsibility should not be diluted in group settings.

The costs and rewards of helping

Helping isn't always selfless; it often involves weighing the costs and rewards. If the needed help is of relatively low cost in terms of time, money, resources, or risk, then help is more likely to be given.  Lending a classmate a pencil is easy; confronting someone who is bullying your friend is an entirely different matter.

Who Helps?

Do you know someone who always seems to be ready, willing, and able to help? Do you know someone who never helps out? Demographic factors, such as age, gender, and personality, influence who is more likely to help.

 Who Are More Helpful—Men or Women?

Studies on gender and prosocial behavior have shown that there are some small but significant differences between men and women in terms of their willingness to help others. In general, women tend to be more likely to help others in situations that involve emotional intimacy or caregiving, while men are more likely to help in situations that involve physical strength or risk-taking.

 

A Trait for Being Helpful: Agreeableness

Agreeable people are kind, generous, and forgiving. They try to get along with others and are generally well-liked. The personality trait of agreeableness plays a significant role in determining one's willingness to help. Agreeable people seem to expect that others will be similarly cooperative and generous in interpersonal relations.

Searching for the Prosocial Personality

There are 2 major characteristic of prosocial personality and prosocial behavior:-

• Other-oriented empathy: People high on this dimension have a strong sense of social responsibility, feel connected to those in need, and have a heightened sense of moral obligation to be helpful. This factor is similar to the trait of agreeableness.
• Helpfulness: People high on this factor have a history of being helpful and believe they can be effective with the help they give. This makes them more likely to be helpful in the future.

Why Help?

Finally, the questions arises why people help, what is the motivation of that behavior?

• Humans may be naturally inclined to help others because of how humans have evolved (evolutionary forces)
• egoistic concerns may determine if and when help will be given.
• selfless, altruistic motives may also promote helping in some cases.

Evolutionary roots for prosocial behavior

Humans are naturally inclined to help others for two main reasons:

1. Kin selection:-  We are more likely to help our relatives because it helps to ensure that our DNA is passed on to future generations.
2. Reciprocal altruism:- We are also more likely to help others because it increases the chance they will also help in return when needed.

Egoistic motivation for helping

People often help others for egoistic or selfish reasons. Two main theories explain this:

• Negative state relief model: People help to improve their own mood and feel better about themselves.
• Arousal: cost–reward model: People help to reduce the unpleasant feelings they experience when they see someone in need.

 Altruistic Help

Although many researchers believe that egoism is the only motivation for helping, others suggest that altruism—helping that has as its ultimate goal the improvement of another’s welfare—may also be a motivation for helping under the right circumstances. Altruistic help is rooted in the pure desire to aid others without any expectation of personal gain. It represents the epitome of prosocial behavior, driven solely by the well-being

 of others.

Conclusion

Helping and prosocial behavior are vital elements of a 
compassionate and interconnected society. Helping feels
good to the one who helps and the one who is being 
helped. We also discussed help is dependent on multiple
factors like empathy, relationship, cost-benefit analysis. 
We have found that men and women tend to help in 
different ways—men are more impulsive and physically
active, while women are more nurturing and supportive.

Personality characteristics such as agreeableness and the prosocial personality orientation also affect people’s likelihood of giving assistance to others. Finally, in addition to evolutionary forces, altruism and selfness are also the motivation for offering the help.