Sign up to access the complete lesson and track your progress!
Unlock This CourseProsocial behaviour is any action intended to help or benefit another person or group of people. But why do some people seem naturally more helpful than others? The answer lies in individual factors - the personal characteristics, traits and states that make each of us unique. Understanding these factors helps explain why your mate might always volunteer to help with homework whilst another friend rarely offers assistance.
These individual differences aren't just random - they're influenced by our personality, current mood, personal experiences and even our age and gender. By studying these factors, we can better understand human nature and perhaps even encourage more helping behaviour in ourselves and others.
Key Definitions:
Some people are naturally more helpful due to their personality traits. Research shows that individuals who score high on agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness to experience are more likely to engage in prosocial behaviour. These "helper personalities" tend to be more trusting, cooperative and concerned about others' wellbeing.
Your current emotional state plays a huge role in whether you'll help someone in need. This might seem obvious - when you're in a good mood, you're more likely to be kind to others. But the psychology behind this is more complex than you might think.
When we're feeling happy, several psychological processes make us more likely to help others. The "feel-good, do-good" effect suggests that positive emotions broaden our attention and make us more aware of others' needs. Happy people also tend to have more optimistic expectations about helping - they believe their efforts will be successful and appreciated.
Increases attention to others' needs, creates optimistic expectations and enhances feelings of connection with others.
Can either increase helping (to improve mood) or decrease it (due to self-focus and reduced resources).
Helping behaviour depends more on situational factors and individual personality traits.
Researchers conducted an experiment where they had confederates drop papers near shoppers. They found that people who had just received a free sample or small gift were significantly more likely to help pick up the papers. This demonstrates how even small positive experiences can increase prosocial behaviour. The study showed that 84% of people in a good mood helped, compared to only 58% in the control group.
Empathy is perhaps the most important individual factor in prosocial behaviour. It's the bridge that connects us to others' experiences and motivates us to help. But empathy isn't just one thing - psychologists identify different types that work in various ways.
Cognitive empathy involves understanding what another person is thinking or feeling, whilst affective empathy means actually sharing those emotions. Both types can lead to helping behaviour, but through different pathways.
This is like being a detective of emotions - you can work out what someone else is feeling even if you don't feel it yourself. People with high cognitive empathy are good at reading facial expressions, body language and social cues. They help because they understand the other person needs assistance.
This is when you actually feel what others are feeling - their pain becomes your pain, their joy becomes your joy. It's like having an emotional mirror. People with high affective empathy help because they're motivated to reduce their own distress, which comes from seeing others suffer.
What we believe about right and wrong and what we value in life, significantly influences our helping behaviour. These moral foundations develop throughout childhood and adolescence, shaped by family, culture, religion and personal experiences.
People with strong moral convictions about helping others are more likely to engage in prosocial behaviour, even when it's costly or inconvenient. This includes religious beliefs, humanistic values and personal ethical codes.
Darley and Batson studied seminary students (training to be priests) to see if religious commitment affected helping behaviour. Participants were asked to give a talk, with some assigned to speak about the parable of the Good Samaritan. On their way to give the talk, they encountered a person slumped in a doorway, apparently in need of help. Surprisingly, the topic of their talk didn't matter much - but how rushed they were did. Only 10% of students in a hurry helped, compared to 63% of those with plenty of time. This shows that situational factors can override even strong personal values.
Our capacity and motivation for prosocial behaviour changes as we develop from children to adults. Understanding these developmental patterns helps explain why helping behaviour varies across age groups.
Very young children (ages 2-3) show spontaneous helping behaviour, but it's often motivated by personal interest rather than genuine concern for others. As children develop better perspective-taking abilities and emotional regulation, their helping becomes more sophisticated and genuinely altruistic.
Children help when it's easy and doesn't conflict with their own interests. They're learning basic social rules about kindness and sharing, often through rewards and punishments from adults.
Children develop better understanding of others' perspectives and begin to help based on fairness and reciprocity. They understand that helping others is "the right thing to do" and start to feel good about helping.
Research consistently shows differences in how males and females engage in prosocial behaviour, though these differences are more complex than simple stereotypes suggest.
Males and females tend to help in different ways, reflecting both biological differences and social expectations. Understanding these patterns helps us recognise that prosocial behaviour takes many forms.
More likely to help strangers in emergency situations, especially when physical strength or risk-taking is involved. Often help in public, heroic situations.
More likely to provide emotional support, care for family members and engage in long-term helping relationships. Often help in private, nurturing situations.
Both genders show equal levels of empathy and concern for others, but express it differently based on social roles and expectations.
Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, researchers studied volunteer behaviour and found interesting gender patterns. Women were more likely to volunteer for long-term recovery efforts, childcare and emotional support roles. Men were more likely to volunteer for immediate rescue operations, construction work and physical labour. Both types of help were equally valuable, showing that prosocial behaviour isn't one-size-fits-all.
Self-efficacy - our belief in our ability to successfully complete tasks - plays a crucial role in prosocial behaviour. People who believe they can effectively help others are much more likely to try, whilst those who doubt their abilities often avoid helping situations altogether.
Self-efficacy for helping can be developed through practice, training and positive experiences. This is why first aid courses, volunteer programmes and community service can create lasting increases in prosocial behaviour - they build people's confidence in their ability to help effectively.
Individual factors in prosocial behaviour show us that helping others isn't just about being a "good person" - it's influenced by a complex mix of personality traits, emotional states, developmental factors and personal beliefs. Understanding these factors helps us appreciate why people help in different ways and situations.
Most importantly, many of these factors can be developed and strengthened. Empathy can be practised, positive moods can be cultivated and helping skills can be learned. This means that whilst we might have natural tendencies towards or away from helping behaviour, we all have the potential to become more prosocial through conscious effort and practice.