Altuism and Prosocial Behaviour

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Venesha Meza SP3445 11/21/2012 Week 9 HW “Altruism and Pro-social behavior” Altruism is the belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others. Pro-social behavior refers to any action that benefits other people, no matter what the motive or how the giver benefits from the action. Altruism involves true selflessness. While all altruisms acts are pro-social, not all pro-social behaviors are altruistic. For example, we might help others for a variety of reasons such as guilt, obligation, and duty or even for rewards. “Bibb Latané and John Darley decision making model” Darley and Latane proposed the Bystander Intervention Model (Latane & Darley, 1970). The model is a five step decision making process. According to Darley and Latane that in order for the bystanders to intervene, they would need to make a deliberate effort to serially counter five questions (mentally) and then as a result offer their assistance in the emergency situation. The questions follow a serial order, at any step if any question is responded negatively by an individual (mentally), and then the approach to emergency-call is withdrawn. 1. Notice that something is happening 2. Interpret the meaning of the event 3. Take responsibility for providing help 4. Know how to help 5. Provide help Before an individual can decide to intervene in an emergency, they must take several steps. If the person is to intervene they must first notice the event, they must interpret the situation as an emergency, and they must decide that it is their personal responsibility to act. At each of these preliminary steps, the bystander to an emergency can remove themselves from the decision process and thus fail to help. They can fail to notice the event, fail to interpret the event as an emergency, or can fail to assume the responsibility to take action. “The
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