What all this shows is that "there is something about a crowd of bystanders that inhibits helping behavior" (101). The results of Latane and Darley's research were shocking. Why do some people act in altruistic or pro-social ways while others do not? To act altruistically means to work in a way that goes beyond our selves, our own egos, and work for the benefit of someone else. A true act of altruism has two properties: It must benefit someone else and it must be potentially costly to the benefactor (Clarke 6). Walster and Poliavin define altruism as, "helping behavior that is voluntary, costly to the altruist and motivated by something other than the expectation of material or social reward" (6). This definition is a good one as it makes clear that there is a great distinction between egoism and altruism. True altruism is a regard for others without the concern for one's own self-interest or external rewards (6).

The...

To examine this case and research helps one understand the opposite of altruistic acts and what can happen when people fail to act altruistically, choosing egoism -- or rather, doing nothing.
Works Cited

Barber, N. Kindness in a Cruel World: The Evolution of Altruism. Prometheus Books, 2004.

Print.

Changing Minds. "The Bystander Effect. Changing Minds. 2011. Web. Accessed on March 14,

2011: http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/bystander_effect.htm

Clarke, D. Pro-Social and Anti-Social Behavior. Routledge; 1st edition, 2003. Print.

Slater, L. Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments. W.W. Norton & Co., 2005.

Print.

Staub, E. The Psychology of Good and Evil: Why Children, Adults,…