Helping others and aggression

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**You must reference this book within your response, not just at the end as a reference:

Kassin, S., Fein, S., & Markus, H. R. (2016). Social psychology (10th ed.). chapter 12 & 13

reference the book within your response not just at the end

All of us have examples of when at a sacrifice to ourselves we helped others. We also have examples when there was a need and we didn’t help. Think of those times and give a personal example of when you helped and another personal example of when you didn’t help. The text describes a variety of factors that impact when and why a person helps or doesn’t help. There are all kinds of reasons for helping or not helping. A few possible reasons are listed below.

Reasons You Didn’t Help:

  • You were in a hurry
  • You had another obligation you couldn’t be late for
  • You didn’t feel you had the skills or abilities to help
  • You mind was focused on something else
  • You were uncomfortable or fearful because the person was different in some way from the people you usually associate with
  • The problem was happening in a dangerous area and would have put you at risk
  • It appeared others would help
  • You assumed others would help
  • You didn’t think it was your responsibility
  • You didn’t realize there was a problem until after it was too late to help
  • You were unsure if there was a problem
  • You were unsure how you could help
  • You needed time to think through what you should do and by that time the opportunity to help had passed
  • You were in the midst of some major stressors that made it impossible for you to help
  • You thought the person having the problem was experiencing it because of their own negligence or lack of planning and you thought they needed to deal with the consequences on their own
  • The person was the opposite sex and you didn’t think it was appropriate for you to help

Reasons You Did Help:

It was a friend or family member you cared about

  • You were worried what others would think if you didn’t help
  • You’d want somebody to help you if you were in a similar situation
  • You had been helped by someone when you had a problem and so you felt you needed to return the favor
  • You’d feel bad if you didn’t help
  • You’d worry about the person if you didn’t help
  • You’d violate your values if you didn’t help
  • You feel good about yourself when you help
  • You just help without really thinking about it because that’s who you are
  • The person seemed distraught and so you wanted to help
  • You think people need to help others more
  • You felt you were supposed to help in this particular instance

For this assignment:

  1. Describe in detail a situation where you helped.
  2. List out the reasons you helped and explain why those reasons were important to you and motivated you to help.
  3. Explain how the situation worked out and then give your perspective of why it was a good idea or a bad idea to help and explain how this experience has influenced how you handled or would handle similar situations you encounter after this experience.
  4. Then repeat the steps for the situation where you didn’t help; First describe the situation.
  5. List out the reasons you didn’t help and explain why those reasons were important to you and motivated you not to help.
  6. Explain how the situation worked out, if you know, give your perspective of whether you think your response was a good or bad response, and explain how this experience influenced how you handled or would handle similar situations you encounter after this experience.