Prosocial Behaviour

A topic within Social Psychology, itself one of 13 topics in that field and part of Psychology.

Reading on Prosocial Behaviour

2 works

Paper1968

Bystander Intervention in Emergencies: Diffusion of Responsibility

John M. Darley & Bibb Latane

People are less likely to help a stranger in trouble the more other bystanders are present, because responsibility to act is shared out among everyone present rather than falling on any one person - a lab-tested effect independent of the since-disputed newspaper account of Kitty Genovese's murder that first prompted it.

link checked 17 Sept 2026Notes on this copy

Psychology · Social Psychology

FreeIntermediate

Paper1981

Is Empathic Emotion a Source of Altruistic Motivation?

C. Daniel Batson et al.

People who feel empathic concern for a person in distress will help even when escape without helping is easy, evidence that empathy can produce genuinely altruistic motivation rather than help driven only by a wish to relieve one's own distress.

Notes on this copy

Psychology · Social Psychology

FreeIntermediate

Reading on Prosocial Behaviour

Bystander Intervention in Emergencies: Diffusion of Responsibility

Is Empathic Emotion a Source of Altruistic Motivation?

Other topics in Social Psychology