What is prosocial behavior?

Prosocial behavior is in a very broad sense of any behavior that benefits the welfare of others and society as a whole. When exploring such behavior, emphasis is placed on actions rather than motivation behind them. While altruism refers to helping others, regardless of the advantage for themselves, prosocial behavior only applies to an action that benefits others. The action may be prosocial, but not altruistic if the acting individual acts to help others because of the benefits for himself. Such behavior, especially if altruistic, is very interesting for psychologists and sociologists, because it can be very difficult to explain, based on traditional social and psychological concepts.

Many social scientists and psychologists consider prosocial behavior a particularly interesting problem in their fields, because it cannot always be easily understood by simply exploring motivation or selfish interests. Prosocial behavior is in H very widespread society despite the fact that in many cases provideE only a small direct benefit to the individuals who are the well -being of others. Many world religious, political and social institutions strongly promote and support such behavior. Individuals who do not concern such groups also often decide to act in a socially beneficial way, even if they are not expected to be associated with a prosocial group.

One theory of basic causes of prosocial behavior involves self -confidence. It is assumed that people act so that they believe they are good and beneficial for society because it gives them a personal sense of fulfillment and improves their self -esteem. Another possibility is that those who show prosocial behavior do so with the desire to gain greater social respect among their peers. However, there is little doubt that some people are acting altruistic ways without expecting reward; Many psychologists and social scientists still consider such lIdi for misunderstanding.

Development of prosocial behavior has been socially supported from a very early age. Young children are encouraged to share and help other people in their families and their schools. Positive social behavior is therefore often very closely associated with the ideas of the right and bad in the child's mind. This leads to another common cause of prosocial behavior: social commitment. Many prosocial activities in which people participate are directly associated with feelings of responsibility with family, friends, collaborators or others.