Summary

Back to: Psychological Implications of Helping

In this course section we introduced psychological concepts and findings on helping. Motivations and expectations of helpers have been analysed in order to understand why people help.

The approaches of altruism and egoism have been explicated and exemplified why prosocial behaviour usually develops in an interaction of altruistic and egoistic motives.

Furthermore we presented typical risks, limits and pitfalls of helping as well as the clinical picture of the Helper Syndrome that can lead to problematic patterns in prosocial acting.

Concluding, it has been underlined that helping only can succeed in a healthy balance of giving and taking.