Altruism and prosocial behaviour

Psychology

Home » Psychology » Altruism and prosocial behaviour

Following the Second World war, much social psychology focused on understanding what social forces influence ordinary people to behave in anti-social and violent ways. For the most part, however, people behave in peaceful and cooperative ways towards each other and our social institutions depend upon cooperation and prosocial behaviors as much as the obligations to conform and obey.

For evolutionary psychologists, pro-social behavior is hardwired. Other social psychologists propose a social exchange theory—the costs and benefits of our actions are carefully considered, and that apparent altruistic behavior is rarely more than what is ultimately self-beneficial. Not everyone agreed with this cynical interpretation of pro-social behavior. C. Daniel Batson believed that we are capable of genuinely altruistic behavior, stemming from our ability to empathize with others. Empathy motivates us to act kindly toward others.

Connect

Latest posts:

Mind and brain

In many cultures around this world, there is the view that humans have a soul that exists independently of the physical body. For Greek philosophers, the soul was also viewed as the seat of our reasoning abilities - what we would call our minds today. While Aristotle...

Precursors of psychology

The natural sciences (physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, and geology) developed out of philosophical speculations about the nature of reality. However, it wasn’t till the late nineteenth century that a systematic study of human thought emerged. One reason for...

Neuroscience

Around the middle of the nineteenth century, medical science turned its attention to disorders of the central nervous system. Early neuroscientists, including Jean-Martin Charcot, examined and documented conditions, such as multiple scleroses, prompting research into...

Medical conditions

Throughout history, mental health issues have been treated with suspicion, sometimes leading to fear. Some conditions, including depression and schizophrenia, have been blamed on supernatural forces; others, such as anxiety, have been associated with certain bodily...

Hypnosis

In the late eighteenth century, Austrian doctor Franz Anton Mesmer developed an approach to treating illness based on the idea that disease could be caused by a disturbance in the body's natural energy flow and cured by restoring the correct flow. He believed he could...



Free Semiology Course


Check it out!

Free Course in Semiology

 

A completely and truly free course on Semiology (Semiotics). Learn about the meaning of signs, how and why did the field emerged. What is the relationship between the street signs and the signs that we use every day - words.

 

Learn Semiology