1. W
E
L
C
O
M
E

2. MOTIVATION
FOR
PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR
By,
SREEJA GANGADHARAN P

3. Topics Under Discussion
• Pro-social Behavior
• Empathy-Altruism
• Negative State Relief
• Empathetic Joy
• Genetic Determinism

4. Prosocial Behavior
• Prosocial Behavior—helpful
action that benefits other people
without necessarily providing
any direct benefits to the person
performing the act, and may
even involve a risk for the
person who helps

5. Type of
Behavior
Defining Prosocial Behavior
Prosocial
Behavior
Benevolence
Pure Altruism
Definition Example
Any action
intended to
benefit
another
(regardless
of motive)
Giving a
large tip to a
waiter to
impress your
boss with
your
generosity

6. Type of
Behavior
Prosocial
Behavior
Benevolence
Pure Altruism
Definition Example
Benefits
another
intentionally
for no
external
reward
Sending $20
to a charity
to make
yourself feel
good inside

7. Type of
Behavior
Defining Prosocial Behavior
Prosocial
Behavior
Benevolence
Pure Altruism
Definition Example
Benefits
another
intentionally
for no
external or
internal
reward
Jumping on
a railroad
track to help
a stranger
who has
fallen

8. Empathy-Altruism
–Empathy-Altruism: It feels good to help
others
• Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis (Batson
et al., 1981)—prosocial behavior is
motivated solely by the desire to help
someone in need
–People are more likely to help others
for whom they feel much empathy.

9. A2 PSYCHOLOGY LANA CROSBIE 9
The Empathy –Altruism
Hypothesis.
• There are two main emotional reactions that
occur when we observe someone in distress
• Empathetic Concern- focus upon the other persons
needs and motivated to reduce it.
• Personal Distress- Concern with ones own
discomfort added with the motivation to reduce
it.

10. She might still be alive today…

11. Negative-State Relief
–Negative-State Relief: Helping makes one
feel better
•Negative-State Relief Model (Cialdini
et al., 1981)—prosocial behavior is
motivated by the bystander’s desire to
reduce his or her own uncomfortable
negative emotions

12. Empathic Joy
–Empathic Joy: Helping as an accomplishment
• Empathic Joy Hypothesis (Smith et al.,
1989)—prosocial behavior is motivated by
the positive emotion a helper anticipates
experiencing as the result of having a
beneficial impact on the life of someone in
need
–Feedback about the impact of the act
needs to be given.

13. Genetic Determinism
–Genetic Determinism: Helping as an
Adaptive Response
•Genetic Determinism Model (Pinker,
1998)—behavior is driven by genetic
attributes that evolved because they
enhanced the probability of
transmitting one’s genes to future
generations

14. –Reciprocal Altruism—cooperative
behavior among unrelated individuals
that benefits both individuals because
when A helps B, B is motivated to
reciprocate at some point by helping
A, which also benefits the larger
group to which both A and B belong

15. Evolutionary Factors in Helping:
The “Selfish Gene”
• What is important is survival of the
individual’s genes, not survival of the
fittest individual
• Kinship selection is the tendency to help
genetic relatives
–Strongest when biological stakes are
particularly high

16. 80
60
2
0
0
High
(parents
,
siblings,
children
)
Cunningham et al. (1995)
Percentage
Volunteering
to Help
40
Degree of Relatedness
Mod.
(grand-
parents
)
Low
(first
cousins
)
None
(attracti
ve
stranger
s)

18. CONCLUSION
• People engage in many prosocial behavior
and this behavior is based , in part of
selfish and in part on unselfish motives.
There are many hypothesis which tries to
explain such behavior like Empathy-
Altruism,Negative State Relief Empathetic
Joy and Genetic Determinism

19. Keywords
• Pro-social Behavior
• Empathy-Altruism
• Negative State Relief
• Empathetic Joy
• Genetic Determinism
• Inclusive Fitness
• Selfish Gene
• Benevolance

20. Reference
• Baron R. A, Byrans Combe N.R. (2009). Social
Psychoogy 11th Edison, New Delhi, Prentice
Hall.
• Elliot Aronson, Timothy D. Wilson, and Robin
M Akert, (2010). Social Psychology, 7th edison,
Pearson Publishing.
• Myers D.G (2006). Social Psychology. New
Dehi. Tata McGraw Hill Publishing.

21. ANK U