If the ways in which I helped others tied in with Social exchange theory; it would probably have to be considered in a few weeks or months time. For example, the next time I ask my uncle for a favour, he may remember the time I helped him

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Social Psychology Assignment 1

1.a)

Compassion – a deep humane awareness of and sympathy for the suffering of others and a desire to do something about it.

I tried to be compassionate throughout the day, and a few of examples of how I did so are

  • I gave up my seat for an old woman on the bus.
  • I helped my uncle tidy the garage.
  • By listening to a friends dilemma and trying to give helpful advice and be supportive
  • I lent a hand to my little brothers school project he was working on
  • My granddad was redecorating his flat, so I went round and helped him.

b)

Altruism- a drive within people to help others. A pure form of selfless helping.

Empathy- not truly altruistic but still concerned with ‘the other’. An intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts or attitudes of another.

Egoistic- is the claim that people always act selfishly, to foster their own self-interest or happiness.

c)

My helping behaviour could be defined as being in general, empathetic. I felt that when deciding to help the people that I did, it was due to feeling sympathy or understanding with them, when observing them doing something and realising that they could do with some help, I offered it. I wouldn’t describe my reasons for helping as being egoistic in the slightest, as I feel that I wasn’t acting selfishly as it would have been less effort for me not to have helped at all, and I didn’t really get anything out of helping, such as material possessions. The only benefit which I received was a feeling of knowing that I had done something good and made someone’s day slightly easier. Although, in this sense it could be argued that my behaviour was not altruistic as I got a feeling of ‘having done my good deed for the day’ out of helping’.

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d)

Social exchange theory explains what we believe about a relationship with another person as depending on out observation of the poise of, what we put into the relationship as to what we get out of it and the chance of finding something better elsewhere.

It is said that we develop a comparison level, against which we compare the give/take ratio. The level will vary between relationships, with some being more giving and others where we get more from the relationship.

Thus, for example, interactions at home may be very different, ...

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