Prosocial Behavior

What is Prosocial Behavior?

• An action intended to benefit another person

  • This definition applies even when the helper also stands to benefit

• The difference is whether you expected the reward to come from outside or inside yourself.

  • Psychologists have assigned more moral value to prosocial acts that are motivated only by internal rewards

    • Motivation (intrinsic vs. extrinsic)

    • Altruism

What Sorts of Media Promote Prosocial Behaviors?

• Social Media and Filmed Altruistic Acts

• Clout chasing?

  • Mister Beast

  • Trash Tag

  • That Was Epic

Theories

• Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis: empathy motivates people to reduce other people’s distress, such as by helping or comforting

  • Ex., Comforting a crying classmate you don’t know well.

• Empathic Joy Hypothesis: People are motivated to help others because it feels good to have a positive impact on the lives of others

• What’s the difference?

  • Empathy-Altruism: desire to help people just for the sake of helping them

  • Empathic Joy: our helping behavior is driven by our desire to feel good about ourselves

• Negative State Relief Theory: When we see someone in distress or in need of help, we feel bad. We help them to relieve our own suffering.