Prosocial Behavior And Social Behavior

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Prosocial Behaviors
Prosocial behavior has been used as a term since the 1970s and is the antonym of antisocial behavior. Prosocial behavior builds relationships and helps the society function effectively. For this assignment I will define prosocial behavior, go over the different theories and motives of prosocial behavior, elaborate on conditions in which diffusion of responsibility might occur and elaborate on the steps an individual must go through when deciding to help a stranger.
According to Eisenberg and Mussen (1988), prosocial behavior can be defined as voluntary actions that are intended to help or benefit another individual or group of individuals (p.3). Why do some people behave pro socially when others do not? Many social psychologists …show more content…

He theorized that recurrent situations may have arisen during evolutionary history in which non-kin who forged mutually beneficial long-term exchange relationships could have helped one another, facilitating everyone’s survival and reproductive output. Kin Selection; is another type of natural selection which proposes that we exhibit preferences for helping blood relatives. We are likely to help those who are blood relatives because it will increase the odds that the survival of shared genes. Genetic determinism; we help those that are like ourselves; we are more likely to help those whom we perceive as genetically like ourselves, because we have inherited our ancestors’ assumption that this would be the most effective guarantee that similar genes would survive (Clarke, 2003, p.16).
Prosocial behavior is also learned through observation and direct reinforcement, the learning explanation (Nurture): Social Learning Theory, argued that prosocial behavior is learned in the same way as any other behavior and can be achieved in three ways: 1) for parents and others to reward prosocial acts with praise; 2) for parents to act as prosocial models themselves; 3) to expose children to other models who behave in prosocial ways (Clarke, 2003,

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