Social Psychology

Prosocial behavior, as the name suggests, is behavior that is ultimately beneficial to others. Any act that is carried out with an end to helping someone else instead of oneself is prosocial behavior. If the behavior involves no gain to the individual, and in fact, may involve a personal cost, this behavior is considered altruistic. There is some debate over whether true altruism exists, or if even seemingly unselfish behavior is really motivated by a desire to impress, or feel good about oneself.

The motivations for an individual's behavior are complex and varied. After the murder of Kitty Genovese in New York in the 1960s, researchers became very interested in the effect of bystanders on the willingness of a person to offer aid. Genovese's murder was witnessed by 38 individuals and not one even phoned the police.

Research carried out by Latane and Darley in 1970 elucidated the...
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