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Helping Behavior Predictors PSY 530 SNHU 11/12/2023 By Nicole Davy

Statement of Opinion When thinking about what variables factor into our personal system that makes us help others when they are in need, empathy is the first thing that comes to mind. According to Baston (Batson et al., 1991) he proposed the empathy-altruism hypothesis. Which is when a person feels empathy towards another person and chooses to help them without expecting anything else in return. You might see a person in a difficult position in their life and want to help, knowing there is a very high chance they are not be able to pay you back in some way. Sadly, empathy is not something that everyone is able to feel, and if that is the case then you must decide if the benefit of helping outweighs the cost of helping (Baston, 1991). I am also a firm believer that a person’s environment will also affect the way they help others. If you are raised in an environment where no empathy is shown for others then, the chances of you having the ability to produce empathy for others is significantly lower. And some people can see that a person needs help, but they can’t afford to help them, it’s not that they don’t care, they just don’t have the ability to assist in any way. I remember seeing a story on the news about a year or so ago, in our small town a police officer pulled over a car and the man wouldn’t cooperate with him, and it turned into an altercation. It was late at night, no one was around, and that officer needed help. A couple of people driving by stopped the car and ran to the officer’s aid, one of those people was a 60 something year old grandma. She didn’t care about her age, that the man was almost 3 times her size or that she had a couple drinks at the local bar, she knew she needed to help that officer, or he would have been in trouble. We don’t see that first reaction actions anymore, everyone is more cautious about how it will affect them and not those who need the help at that moment. Reasoning

Environments can also be situational as well, depending on who you are with and where you are at the specific time something is happening. Empathy is not something you can fake, either you have it, or you don’t when you see someone else in need. Baston (Batson et al., 1991) stated his empathy-altruism hypothesis when you feel the need to help a person less fortunate knowing it will not be reciprocated. An example of a couple weeks ago, my husband, our 3-year- old and I were walking into Safeway on a Sunday going to grab a couple things for the week’s dinner planning. As we drove in there was a man and his dog on the street corner with a sign that said, “anything helps”. Whenever I see a person with an animal it always tugs at the heartstrings, I don’t like seeing homeless and hungry animals. Long story short, we talked to the man and bought him a big bag of dog food for his pup and got him some food also. This day both my husband and I felt compelled to help this man and his dog, knowing he would not be able to reciprocate (Baston, 1991). Another example that comes to mind was about 12 years ago, my then best friend and I were driving down to Portland Oregon for a day of retail therapy at the local outlet mall. We were in a very unsettling part of downtown Portland, there was a homeless man walking up to the cars who stopped at the stop light asking for anything, like food or money. When he got to our car, I rolled down my window as I was on the passenger side and my friend said some not so nice things to him and told him to get lost. I was mortified by her behavior, but I didn’t do anything about it, I just sat there and kept quiet. I often wonder if I wasn’t with her if I would have helped the man with something. The situational environment variable took over at that time, by letting the actions of others dictate my actions (Darley, 1973). There are various reasons why people won’t help others in need, and not everyone needs help in the same way. I’ve heard “oh don’t make eye contact with the homeless person”, acting as if they are less than a person because they don’t have a stable place to sleep.

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