Social Reward And Its Effect On Society

925 Words4 Pages
Throughout all cultures of the world, one common characteristic can be found- kindness, and the willingness to help others in all situations. People all around are motivated to do good for different reasons. In the early 1600s-1750s, the Puritan settlers in America believed in a strong work ethic, and that doing good would benefit a person in the eyes of heaven. The Humanists, a later group, believed in the philosophy that people do good to help society. Although people do good purely to help society, most are motivated by the reward of the deed. The fear of not acting on good deeds is also a equal motivator, similar to the Puritans. In our modern society, the social reward, promotion of one’s self-image, and to get “brownie points” for their religion are all motivation factors for people to do good. Social reward is one of the main causes of people doing good in today’s world. Social reward can be defined as how a person is rewarded in the social realm, like gaining friends, or gaining publicity on social media. According to the website “Stuff Christians Like,” a person is motivated to do things based on how they anticipate the social media world to expect it. Because of this, people do good to get social media “likes” (Yost). In return, the “viewer” of a do good moment might favorite/retweet/like it because they are compelled by the pathos in it. This process creates a cycle of motivating people to do good only for social media likes. In The Autobiography by Benjamin
Get Access