Prosocial Behavior and Altruism - Essay Example

Pro-social Behavior and Altruism According to Kenrick , pro-social behavior can be described as a situation where we tend to help another person. My son and his girlfriend were expecting a baby and they did not have a place to live, a job to do nor did they have a car as a means of transport, in addition to that they were using drugs. My husband and I decided to come to their aid and helped them to get to their feet by getting them their own place to live in and they also managed to get into the Suboxone treatment center.

Suboxone can be described as a medication that is given to addicts so as to help them reduce on the use of opiate. The medication is composed of buprenorphine hydrochloride, which helps to reduce the symptoms of a withdrawal by the addict. As a way to help them, we usually accompany them to all their appointments and work. Currently, the progress is substantial as they have not indulged in drug use for a total of three weeks now. The aim of all this involvement is to help them feel comfortable and they can be able to take care of their baby.

With regard to pro-social behavior, this is a definition that best describes it. We help them so that they can one day help themselves too. In addition to that, the whole process of seeing them happy and take care of their baby makes me feel good and joyous in my heart. According to Kenrick (2013), pure (true) altruism can be described as a situation where someone helps another individual without expectations of them returning the help back. At our church there is this young boy who is ten years old.

I had noticed that his clothes were a little bit small, so I thought that it would be charitable if I got him a new set of clothes. I had forgotten about it until the day when I was in and out of front service when my husband and I were right beside him. My husband asked me what size I thought he wore because he also wanted to get him some clothes. I went to the store that day and bought the boy some new clothes. I later on put them in a gift bag with his name on and I placed the gift bag in his seat for the Sunday night service.

When he got the bag, he was so excited he tried to look all around trying to figure out who had placed the bag there. To me pure altruism is when you do something good for someone and nobody else should be aware of it. The different between pro-social behavior and pure altruism is that, Pro-social behavior is done in the open where everyone can see, the result is that people have a sense of power and achievement when they are being praised for helping others. Pure (true) altruism is when a helping hand is extended to someone without need for them to return the help back.

That is, there is no reward for it and nobody will be aware that you helped them. ReferencesKenrick. (2013). Social Psychology: Goals in Interaction (4th ed). Pearson Learning Solutions. Web. Retrieved from http://digitalbookshelf.argosy.edu/books/0558220088/id/ch09lev1sec1