Why People Decide To Help

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Recommended: Prosocial behaviour with personal example

Helping other people is seen as a generous act especially when the person helping is going out of their way or putting themselves at risk of harm. This behavior is commonly referred to as prosocial behavior. Prosocial behavior is generally highly looked upon however, there are many who doubt that all persons engaging in prosocial behavior are truly acting out of the goodness of their heart or rather are acting out of the goodness of their heart to feel good. This research paper will divulge into the different aspects of prosocial behavior such as why individuals decide to help, or to not help, and how to know if the person helping is doing it for selfish or selfless reasons. To explore the different aspects of this complex topic and gain a …show more content…

If they are helping a person in need or in an emergency many do not question their motives because, they themselves are just happy to have someone around who is willing to help them. Although, people on the outside looking at prosocial situations wonder where the motive is rooted for the person who decide to helped. Many agree that if it is to gain personal attention or a reward that it is not a genuine act of kindness and was done to satisfy a selfish need. The controversial aspect of prosocial actions comes in when a person helping does so and then feels good after. It is thought that a person who engages in prosocial behavior and feels good about it is gaining feelings that feel good and by feeding into those feelings their helpful act was actually selfish in nature. (Barasch, Levine, Berman, Small, …show more content…

Many people have been taught to mind their own business or stay out of things that did not concern them because it could get them into trouble. This is a common phenomenon in today's time as well as during the Holocaust. During the Holocaust people feared getting involved because they themselves did not want to end up getting associated with the Jews and then disappear as the Jews did. They also feared for their family's wellbeing because if they were associated then their family was associated by default. In today's world people commonly stay out of things for similar reasons. They do not want to be associated with whatever is going on or they do not want to get in to trouble as well. It is thought that many people do not trust the law and therefore do not call on them when they are in need of help. They would rather mind their own business than alert a police officer because they fear that the officer could make things worse or get them involved and into trouble. (Bar-On,

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