Prosocial behavior is when people act for the benefit of others without selfish expectations. There are five perspectives on this behavior, including parental selection theory, negative state relief model, empathy-altruism, mutual aid behavior, and social exchange theory.
Helping behavior, also called prosocial behavior, is a theory in social psychology. This theory describes actions that people do for the benefit of others. These actions are a pattern of activity that is generally not based on motivations but on how those actions affect others.
Prosocial behavior is classified as altruistic helping behavior. A person engages in specific actions, such as sharing, helping, and comforting, without selfish expectations. The person does these actions solely for the purpose of helping other people. There are five different perspectives on this behavior.
Parental selection theory is a perspective on aiding behavior. In this theory, helping the psychology of behavior may be due to evolution. Natural selection contributes to the idea of survival and human beings are excluded from the process of evolution if they lack the ability to adapt to environmental changes. To survive among groups of people with a similar genetic makeup, desirable behaviors are maintained.
A second perspective is called the Negative State Relief Model Helping Behavior. Social psychology researchers use this perspective to explain how helping actions are selfish. He states that helping actions are carried out by people in an attempt to reduce their own personal stress in similar situations. People help others in situations they may be dealing with on their own, but may avoid helping others who are experiencing situations that are not the same.
Empathy-altruism is the theory that helping behavior is triggered by empathy, the ability to identify with a person and understand what they are experiencing and feeling. Research sees a relationship between empathy and helping actions. According to this theory, the idea is that empathetic people are moved to act by their empathy.
Mutual aid behavior is a fourth perspective. In general, people help others without thinking about the personal benefits that could result from it. This theory states that people think about future benefits to themselves when they help others, as long as the benefit will outweigh the sacrifice. Future benefits may include similar reimbursement from the person being helped.
The ultimate perspective of helping behavior is social exchange theory. While the concept of helping actions does not revolve around what a person can achieve as a result, some cases are motivated by personal gain. Similar to reciprocity theory, social exchange theory is based on the idea that people help others because of the rewards they receive. The rewards can be external, such as friendship, or internal, such as self-satisfaction.
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