Verified Document

Altruism And Aggression Essay

Related Topics:

Altruism & Aggression Altruism and Aggression

Social psychology is a science that studies a series of specific relationships. Social psychology attempts to explain human behavior as a consequence or condition of the intersections among individual mental states and the social conditions of immediately experience reality. Social psychologists study many of the internal mechanisms within us all such as feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. Our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by other people in our immediate vicinity, and they are influenced by those whose presence is implied in some way. Social psychologists seek to study by means of an empirical method the measurable psychological variables present within a person. Two specific behaviors this paper will focus upon are altruism and aggression. The paper will define and discuss altruism and aggression from within the context of the social psychological perspective.

Altruism is the practice of selfless acts. Altruism is the practice...

Parts of this document are hidden

View Full Document
svg-one

Altruist acts are ones of self sacrifice and demonstrate aspects such as empathy, caring, and proactivity. Professionals across several disciplines argue as to whether true altruism exists. Some people perform acts for attention from others or from the gratitude of other people. People who do good deeds with poor or selfish intentions are not practicing altruism. Though the act may benefit others, the act is still selfish. Altruism is a character trait that typically comes naturally for children and young people. As human beings age, the frequency and intensity with which people generally perform altruist actions diminishes significantly.
Aggression is a feeling that many of us can relate to instantaneously. Aggression is also an emotion and a behavior that demonstrates itself early on…

Sources used in this document:
References:

Staub, PhD, Ervin, & Vollhardt, Johanna. "Altruism Born of Suffering: The Roots of Caring and Helping After Victimization and Other Trauma. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, Vol. 78, No. 3, 267 -- 280, 2008.

Wilson, Barbara J. "Media and Children's Aggression, Fear, and Altruism." The Future of Children, Vol. 18, No. 1, 87 -- 119.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Social Issue Alcohol Drugs Consider a Social
Words: 1118 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Social issue alcohol drugs consider a social issue interested. It human freedom, sexuality, deviance, crime, social mobility, poverty, education, aging, similar issues. Select a specific social issue investigate assignment. Social issue: Drug abuse The social problem of drug addiction is a long-standing one, yet the causes of addiction and the best way to treat addiction still remain difficult questions to answer. One contentious issue pertains to whether addiction is a 'crime' or

Social Issues Are Sometimes Affected by the
Words: 1897 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Social issues are sometimes affected by the environmental and economic issues, but they often have a life of their own. The social environment is comprised of a number of factors, including demographics, trends, mores and norms, and social factors that affect the market such as health, education and social mobility (MindTools, 2014). Those factors will affect the economic power of consumers, but also other things like knowledge that will affect

Social Problem of Homelessness Teaching Social Issues
Words: 584 Length: 2 Document Type: Research Paper

Social Problem of Homelessness Teaching Social Issues Homelessness is a social problem that is prevalent around the world and particularly in the United States of America. Homelessness has existed for much of "civilized" human history, with sharp increases in eras of history such as the Industrial Revolution. In the last two centuries, homelessness and changed and expanded, though there remains a significant amount of research to be done. Professionals who study and

Social Issues Surrounding Migrants in
Words: 3453 Length: 12 Document Type: Assessment

Other issues arise in the clustering of immigrants around the major urban areas, thus pulling to much from the grid, taxing the already marginalized system, and allowing an unprescedented demand in new housing. Experts acknolwedge that this increased level of housing needs cause even short-term visias to now be suspect in contributed to the gridlock. Additionally one of the conundrums that support a change in policy focuses on the type

Social Issues and the Myth of Luck
Words: 708 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

Social Issues and the Myth of Luck in "Rocking- Horse Winner" by DH Lawrence Rocking- Horse Winner" is a short story by DH Lawrence that illustrates the importance of social status and the myth of luck in Paul's family, as well as in the society that their family live in. The short story deals with these two important themes, and each theme is dependent on each other, since it is evident,

Social Issue of Body Image
Words: 2588 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

Indeed, if there is only one type of beautiful person, it contributes to increased insecurity in women who happen to be a different shape or size from the "ideal" women perpetuated in the popular culture. According to Dank, Norton, Olds and Olive (1996), there has a lengthy association between dolls and ideal proportions, a relationship going back to Greek times. For example, pre-18th century dolls were manufactured so as to

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now