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In social psychology, the everyday concept of helpfulness is really technically defined as (1) the property of providing useful assistance,

and (2) friendliness evidenced by a kindly and helpful disposition [syn: kindliness]. For many years, social psychologists have been searching for answers to these qu estions: Why, and when, will people help? Who will help? What can be done to lessen indifference and increase helping? Contents [hide] 1 Introduction 2 Why Do People Help? 3 When Will People Help? 4 Who Will Help? 5 Whom to Help? 6 How To Increase Helping? 7 References 8 See also Introduction[edit] Rewards: Rewards can be internal or external. Internal rewards are rewards that increase our sense of self-worth. There are many different negative emotions tha t people try to reduce by performing good deeds. For example, people will do wha tever can be done to expunge guilt, relieve their bad feelings, and restore thei r self-image (Meyers, 446). Being helpful helps to achieve these goals and can e ven offset other negative moods. Feel Bad-Do Good Scenario: This effect states that those who feel bad for anothe r person in a situation will be more likely to help compared to a person who fee ls bad for themselves in that situation. For example, a study was performed that had people imagine that their best friend had cancer. In this study, the resear chers examined people's attention to grief. Those that were focused on the worri es of the best friend were those that were more helpful compared to the people w ho had more selfish worries such as " I will have to act happy when really I am sad about my friends situation" (Meyers, 447). Feel Good, Do Good Scenario: This scenario states that people who are in a good mood are more helpful. Thus, helping people enhances that positive feeling which creates positive thoughts and positive self-esteem. Why Do People Help?

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