Altruism is a voluntary helping behaviour which is not motivated by rewards or the anticipation of a reward. One explanation of human altruism is Batson’s empathy-altruism hypothesis. This theory states that altruistic behaviour is the result of empathy, a consistent emotional response between the helper and the individual in need. The helper would feel sympathy after seeing a distressed individual and will then try to alleviate this distress. Empathy itself contains several components which include; perspective talking (the ability to take on another individual’s point of view), empathetic concern (concern for the welfare of the distressed individual) and personal distress (emotional reaction experience when seeing a distressed individual). A study by Roker et al 1998 found that British adolescents showed high levels or altruistic behaviour, supporting the view that people help for different reasons other than to reduce their own personal distress.