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Prosocial behaviour covers the broad range of actions intended to benefit one or more people other than oneself, conduct such as; helping, comforting, sharing, and cooperation. Altruism can be described as a subset of these behaviours, for example self-sacrificial helping or helping in the absence of obvious, external rewards. It is also a motivational concept, motivation to increase another person's welfare; in contrast to egoism, the motivation of a person to increase their own welfare.
It is argued that altruistic acts may be based on egotistical motives. For example reciprocity, the concept of, ‘You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours', may be an egotistic motivation behind many seemingly altruistic acts. True altruism must be due to empathy to another's situation, and therefore concern for their welfare. Batson (1982) argues that subjects who report that they primarily feel personal distress in response to an emergency are acting in an egotistical, possibly......

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Approximate Pages: 10 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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