Factors That Influence Pro-Social Behaviour

Essay – factors that influence pro-social behaviour

What is pro-social behaviour? It is the voluntary actions that are intended to help or benefit another individual or group of individuals. This definition refers to the consequences of a person’s actions, motivations and their behaviour; behaviours which include a broad range of activities: sharing, comforting, rescuing, and helping.

But there are a many different factors that influence this behaviour, that affect one's decision to give, share, and help.

A lot of social psychological research focuses on anti-social behaviour. This essay will look at the other side of the coin and focus on pro-social behaviour, specifically helping behaviour and altruism. It will look at what causes people to help or not help and the phenomenon of altruism, the act of helping other for no discernable reward.

The factors that influence pro-social behaviour include cultural differences, personality variables, gender differences, the effects of religion and rural-urban differences. These factors fall under two categories; equality, the equal treatment of people irrespective of social or cultural differences, and reciprocity, a relation of mutual dependence or action or influence. These factors have their own bearing on pro-social behaviour and each influence it differently.

Cultural differences, in relation to pro-social behaviour, are expressed differently between individualistic and collectivistic societies: for instance; someone living in the U.S. is least likely to help someone in need than someone living in Australia, India or Kenya.

Personality Variables are personality differences that affect pro-social behaviours by way of the helper’s feelings and different concepts of morality and values, their motivations are based upon internalized standards of justice and responsibility and greater empathy, self-control, and integrity.

Subjects who help have been found to be more socially oriented and more internal than subjects who do not help.

Gender differences that effect pro-social behaviour is restricted to the helper’s gender, whether the helper is male or female. For instance, women have been found to experience a more vivid emotional response than men, perhaps this is because men have traditionally been trained to suppress emotional displays. From this, we might expect women to be more empathic.

Effects of religion is the influence religion might or might not have on those who are in a position to help someone in need. Such an influence can be attributed to individuals who may believe that helping others is a religious duty and that these people are more likely to volunteer help.

Rural/Urban differences or, location differences confer that where a person lives, either rural or urban; will have a bearing on whether or not a person will be helped. Research has shown that people living in urban environments are less likely to help than those in rural communities. This can