Humans are naturally inclined to help each other. This stems from people’s natural inclination towards empathy, social connections and social norms. Helping others is a trait rooted in human history and is influenced by many different factors. Here are the reasons for our tendency to help others and the factors behind this important trait in human nature:
- Ability to Empathize
Empathy is the ability to understand the feelings and experiences of others. People are naturally inclined to empathize and feel a desire to share in the suffering of others and to support them. The ability to empathize strengthens people’s intrinsic motivation to help others.
- Social Connections
Humans are social beings and need to interact with each other. Helping others contributes to strengthening social connections and social cohesion. Helping helps people build stronger relationships with each other and increase social solidarity.
- Social Norms
Societies often promote values such as helpfulness and generosity. Social norms shape and reward people’s behavior of helping others. Therefore, people tend to help others in order to conform to social norms and gain social approval.
- Personal Satisfaction
Helping others creates a sense of personal satisfaction and inner fulfillment in those who help. The act of helping makes the helper feel better about himself/herself and contributes to the feeling that he/she is acting in accordance with his/her values and ethical principles.
- Biological Origins
Some research suggests that benevolent behavior stems from the biological origins of humans. Evolutionarily, it has been advantageous for humans to help each other in groups and to be in solidarity. Therefore, helping others may be a trait that humans have developed through the process of natural selection.
The tendency to help others is an important part of human nature and is shaped by various factors such as empathy, social connections, social norms, personal satisfaction and biological factors.
