PSY530 Short Paper Helping Behaviors

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Running Head: HELPING BEHAVIORS 1 Short Paper: Predictors of Helping Behaviors PSY 530 Southern New Hampshire University Adria Kalla Dr. Tom Anastasi

HELPING BEHAVIORS 2 Predictors of Helping Behavior: Statement of Opinion In some way we all have a natural draw to help and combine that with learned behaviors growing up most individuals would help if the situation calls for it. Now helping does not have consist of an emergency, it can be something small such as holding the door open or helping a friend with a small task. The main variables involved in helping behaviors are “factors such as empathy, prosocial moral reasoning and moral disengagement influence the propensity to help when providing assistance is not in the individual’s personal interest (Paciello, et al., 2013)”. Empathy plays a major role as this it is our innate compassion and caring natures that compel us to help as we often feel what others are feeling. For example, if we see someone hurt in a car accident or had a bad fall it is instinctual to want to help in some way. Now the concept of prosocial morals is when a person’s needs or wants conflict with those of another. Moral disengagement is when one distances themselves from the normal ethical standards and believes that their unethical behavior is justified. Support of Opinion: Reasoning When it comes to helping behaviors, I believe this can be compared to the nature vs. nurture debate as behaviors are either encouraged or discouraged. Environmental variables such as parenting, culture, education, and social relationships also play an important role in how children perceive learned behaviors such prosocial reasoning and empathetic behaviors. When we are young, we rely on our parents or caregivers to give us guidance, emotional support and teach us appropriate behaviors. It has been shown that children who have a more positive engagement with their parents/caregivers have a higher chance of engaging in prosocial behaviors than those who don’t. I believe that we develop through learned behaviors in our environment that help us understand appropriate helping behaviors, For example, as a child we are taught to help those in need such as helping an old lady cross the street. As we grow many

HELPING BEHAVIORS 3 getting into helping fields such as first responders, nurses, doctors, firefighters, and military. Each put the needs of others first to help in an emergency and even non-emergency circumstances to provide aide for those in need with not a second thought. These are all examples prosocial behaviors and those increase helping behaviors in individuals. Support of Opinion: Research and Examples In the study of “The prosocial personality and its facets: genetic and environmental architecture of mother-reported behavior of 7-year-old twins’ they had three goal that they were hoping to further conclude on such as to understand the structure of attitudinal, behavioral, and affective of children’s prosocial behaviors. The second goal was to find the association of different aspects of prosociality. It has been shown that we all are capable of empathy but that variable can either grow if nourished or slowly diminish if not an individual’s circumstances can alter ones need to help. It has been shown that “helping other people in distress is, among other things, an ethical act. That is, it is an act governed by ethical norms and precepts taught to children at home, in school, and in church. From Freudian and other personality theories, one would expect individual differences in internalization of these standards that would lead to differences between individuals in the likelihood with which they would help others” (Darley, J. M., & Batson, C. D. 1973). There are many environment variables that help to increase helping behaviors in individuals such as reciprocal altruism, diffusion of responsibility, personal responsibility, self-conscious emotions, religiosity, gender, empathy, egotism, and time pressures. Description of Oppositional Reasoning It is still much of a debate that many will state that it is our genetic traits that we are predisposition to that determine helping behaviors and that the environment only plays a small role. They would say that prosocial behaviors and genetics grow and develop as early as the

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HELPING BEHAVIORS 4 toddler years that coincides with cognitive learning like talking, language, and intrapersonal skills. The study even states that ‘Genetic effects may also contribute to individual differences in prosociality. There is substantial evidence for the heritability of prosocial behavior and empathy (Knafo-Noam, A, et al., 2015)”. Counter to Oppositional Reasoning Genetics such as the color of our eyes which are inherited from our parents is simple and can be explained but behavior is a much more complex aspect as both genetics and environment do play a factor in some way. The article states that “For example, in some families’ parents may encourage prosocial behaviors but not necessarily empathy as the latter often includes a negative affective reaction, leading to a differentiation among the different prosociality facets. Another example, shy temperament may interfere with children’s helping others, but should not affect their empathy” (Knafo-Noam, A, et al., 2015)”. While genetics seem to be play a factor in this study, in the end it is the environmental contributors that determine how we develop prosocial skills to ultimately decide whether or not someone chooses to help others or not.

HELPING BEHAVIORS 5 References: Darley, J. M., & Batson, C. D. (1973). “From Jerusalem to Jericho”: A study of situational and dispositional variables in helping behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 27 (1), 100–108. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1037/h0034449 Knafo-Noam, A., Uzefovsky, F., Israel, S., Davidov, M., & Zahn-Waxler, C. (2015). The prosocial personality and its facets: genetic and environmental architecture of mother- reported behavior of 7-year-old twins. Frontiers in psychology , 6 , 112. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00112 Paciello, M., Fida, R., Cerniglia, L., Tramontano, C., & Cole, E. (2013). High cost helping scenario: The role of empathy, prosocial reasoning, and moral disengagement on helping behavior. Personality and Individual Differences, 55(1), 3– 7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2012.11.004

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