Diffusion of Responsibility concerning Helping Behavior

Deciding to help another human being in an emergency situation seems like a simple thing to do. We associatively interpret a person’s willingness to help as an instinctive result of altruism or, alternatively, an act motivated by egoism and self-interest. Scientific evidence though, suggests otherwise. Social psychologists know that the question of bystander intervention is a complex one, involving the interplay of many factors. Bernstein et al. define helping behavior as “any act that …

…of another is more socially desirable and morally advanced than helping behavior that is performed primarily to advance the welfare of oneself” (Barnett et al. 1). Still we should allow that, even though there is usually an ultimate gain to helping behavior, we must commend and respect the individuals that engage in it. After all, the motivation to help others is usually truly altruistic in spite of the fact that the end result is often self-benefiting.