The Effect of Personal Characteristics on Prosocial Behaviour

The Effect of Personal Characteristics on Prosocial Behaviour In this essay, it will be first looked at the effect personal characteristics have on Prosocial behaviour including the level of moral reasoning of individuals, vicarious emotional reactions, altruism, guilt, self concern, the Just World hypothesis and also the biological approach. Secondly it will be looked at how being part of a group can effect an individuals Prosocial behaviour. Intra-group factors that will be covered include the Bystander Effect, modelling and norms. Finally, factors concerning immediate and larger context will be covered. Prosocial behaviour is an act by an individual or a group that is seen as valued by†¦show more content†¦The results showed that those not in the control group inflicted higher shocks to the learner subject (Milgram, 1965 as cited in Macaulay. J. and Berkowitz. L. 1970). This suggests that those who thought the experiment was being run by a highly prestigious research organisation, using moral reasoning, took less responsibility for their actions. Another personal reason why an individual may help on a personal level is due to vicarious emotional reactions. If someone sees someone else who needs help it can cause feelings such as sympathy in the individual motivating them to help. In reports from those who helped rescue the Jews from the Nazis in Europe, nearly half mentioned feelings of sympathy for their reason of helping (Hinde. A.R. and Groebel. J. 1991). This links to the theory of altruism where people help on a purely selfless basis and have no ulterior motive other than to help those that need help. If someone walked past a man getting beaten up, they may help purely for this reason. But an altruistic act is extremely difficult to perform as by helping; the individual may get a feeling of pride after, cancelling out the altruism. Therefore the reason for the prosocial behaviour is due more to reinforcement. In a similar study to Milgram, by Carlsmith andShow MoreRelatedThe Between Power And Corruption1679 Words   |  7 Pagesmanipulations of power in order to analyze how it alters behaviour. The limiting factor in these procedures is the inability to control extraneous variables such as pre-existing inclinations to corrupt behaviour. In order to determine causation rather than just correlation between power and corruption, researchers realized that in addition to manipulating power exogenously they needed to conduct tests that gauged inclinations to corrupt behaviour or lack there-of. Many studies have also measured theRead MorePositive And Positive Aspects Of A Business Program1413 Words   |  6 Pagesmost of it. 2. Focusing on positively deviant performance – refers to investigating how successful outcomes are achieved through facilitating positive deviance. 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