Are We a Selfish Society?

       I am currently taking a social psychology class and my professor gave us an assignment that required us to volunteer for one of three events. The assignment was to attend the event as a volunteer, and then write a 2 page reflection on the following points:

1. Which activity did you volunteer for? Describe what you did.

2. What were your thoughts and feelings while and after you volunteered?

3. Did anyone notice your help? If so, how did they react? If not, does that make your help less meaningful than if you were acknowledged?

4. Did you gain any insight into your own or others’ behavior? How does it feel to help? Does it make a difference that you were assigned to help and did not volunteer on your own?



        Volunteering for various organizations is something I have always enjoyed. I am not entirely sure why, but I just do. When given the option of an event for which I could volunteer, I instantly gravitated towards the Zombie 5k Run. I presumed I was volunteering to run it and I love running, but that was not the case. 

             Upon arrival at the volunteer station, the coordinators greeted me with excitement. They proceeded to explain that I would be in charge of registration and also writing down the top three times for runners in three different groups. I was excited and felt official. However, halfway through, the temperature dropped and I suddenly got extremely cold. I had to stay until all of the runners finished, but I desperately wanted to go home and cuddle with a nice cup of hot tea. Despite my desire to help out, my conflicted feelings of being cold and wanting to go home interfered with my initial enthusiasm for the event. By the time the top three runners in the women’s, men’s, and youth group finished, my hands were too cold and numb to even record the time on the sheet of paper I was given and I hopelessly danced around in my little area trying to keep warm while wishing everyone suddenly received a burst of energy to run faster so I could leave. After I was finally able to leave, I felt productive (after I warmed up my hands and feet). I reflected upon the costumes I saw some little kids wear to the race that made me really happy and shared pride with one of my friends who finished first for the men’s group. 

                I think the only people who noticed that I helped were the coordinators (naturally, of course!), my pre-law advisor/law professor, and some children/adolescents. The coordinators were excited and enthusiastic, while my professor/advisor seemed almost surprised to see me volunteering for the event (he was also the second to last runner . . . not sure if that factors into his reaction). The children and adolescents would thank me for giving them their race number and signing them up. For the most part, everyone else just registered at my station, and got ready for the race. I was not surprised in the least that my help was unacknowledged by most people. I feel like from the outside, volunteering is perceived as a job. Other people probably see me signing people up and think that is what I am there to do; that is my job and not something I chose to take time out of my day for. I do not feel as though this makes my work less meaningful, but I do think that it almost makes me question whether or not I was helpful enough. This strikes me as interesting because most of my past/present volunteering actually revolves around children and it has been my experience that children almost always tend to notice any help. I volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters and help out at the Fairfield Middle School and tutor and there is always a handful of kids that ask “is this your free time??” or they will thank me for helping them or thank me for coming in. It is amazing that they make a distinction between people who work and people who volunteer. 

   From this volunteer experience, I gained insight about my own prosocial behavior. I realized that not receiving recognition/acknowledgment does not deter me from wanting to help. Technically, I already knew this, but volunteering for this event which was a bit different from what I have done in the past only reaffirmed this. I would absolutely volunteer for this again (I will be decked out in Eskimo gear next time though….). This perspective makes me question why I enjoy volunteering though. I think generally, prosocial behavior is driven by self-interest and future reciprocity. I remember my roommate one year once made a comment about how she hated that she HAD to complete x amount of community service hours in order to graduate and she was glad it was not a requirement here. But why is there such a stigma to prosocial behavior? Why do people engage in prosocial behavior simply because they hope it will come back to them, or because it will make them look good, or because they will be rewarded? It blows my mind that such a motivation would be required because we all live in the same society. If we need help, we hope that someone helps us out without really expecting anything in return. But if a majority of people are selfish with respect to helping others, then how does that influence their own environment? So many people complain about what a terrible world we live in and yet, most of us need incentive to help others. Not to say there is a correlation between the distress in our society and any lack of prosocial behavior, but I firmly believe that we all have the capacity to be the change we see in the world and I do not think that this should be propelled by selfish motives.

             Helping others is beautiful. You never know what an individual’s story is or how a simple smile can completely turn their day around. I think it is sad that sometimes people hold stigmas about certain people and this determines how they treat them. Homeless people for example, get the short end of the stick. A lot of people perceive them to be grungy people who spend the money people pitifully drop into their cans on booze and drugs. First of all, that is not always true. I have volunteered with D.C. Outfitters for a few years and learned that many people just experience some unfortunate major life changes. Second of all, who are we to say what they should spend their money on? I am certainly not condoning drugs and alcohol, but if you think about the life a homeless person lives every day, they have literally reached dirt bottom. They sit on the side of the streets every day watching people scurry past them, pretending to not notice them. People probably shove them walking down the street and/or treat them poorly. In many ways, they are invisible to the majority of society. If they decide to spend the meager $5-10 ($15 if they are lucky) they receive every two weeks on alcohol to alleviate the pain, then let them!! No one judges college students or working adults for drinking their stress away, so why should these homeless people be judged just because they are of lower stature? Besides, we think throwing money at them so we can feel better about ourselves and declare, “Oh I gave a homeless person money today” is going to make the world a better place, but what about targeting the root of the problem? That homeless person has no one, otherwise he probably would not be in such a position. What about being the person who stops to have a conversation and invite him or her for a home cooked meal? Or helping them get back on their feet by giving them some clean clothes and giving them resources to conduct a job search? This all points back to the determination of prosocial behavior and whether or not people consider how it benefits them.