Introduction

Social Influence – Helping and Help-Seeking

In this course, Dr Juliet Wakefield (Nottingham Trent University) explores the social psychology of helping and help-seeking. In the first lecture, we are introduced to the topics of helping and help-seeking. In the second lecture, we think about early research into helping behaviour, with a particular focus on the case of Kitty Genovese and its influence on the development of Darley and Latané’s Bystander Effect theory. In the third lecture, we consider later research into helping behaviour which was informed by Tajfel and Turner’s social identity approach. Next, we move on to think about help-seeking and help-receiving, focusing on the Threat to Self-Esteem Model. In the fifth lecture, we think about the importance of group memberships for helping transactions. In the sixth and final lecture, we conclude on the course with a summary of key points.

Introduction

In this lecture, we think about the topics of helping and help-seeking within social psychology, focusing in particular on: (i) defining helping or ‘prosocial behaviour’ more generally as ‘acts done for the benefit of others’ and consider how common this type of behaviour is; (ii) the importance of thinking about helping as a transaction between two or more people; (iii) highlighting the fact that, to fully understand the psychology of helping, we must examine the circumstances and motivations of the help-seeker or receiver, as well as the help-giver.