Unique in its emphasis on helping `in the real world′, this volume explores the group of behaviours variously labelled as helping, altruistic or prosocial.
Contributors discuss helping behaviour as it naturally occurs in people′s daily lives, rather than that captured in an artificial laboratory. Moreover, while earlier studies generally sought explanations for people not helping, this volume addresses such issues as how offers of assistance affect the help-seeker, what sort of person is likely to help and what are the negative aspects, or costs, of helping relationships.
Stuart Oskamp (Ph.D., Stanford University) has focused his research interests in the areas of attitudes and attitude change, applied social psychology, behavioral aspects of energy and resource conservation, and social issues and public policy. His books include
Attitudes and Opinions and
Applied Social Psychology. He has been elected a member of the American Psychological Association (APA) Council of Representatives and President of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) and of the APA Division of Population and Environmental Psychology. He has also served as editor of the
Journal of Social Issues and of the Applied Social Psychology Annual. Since 1984 he has organized the Claremont Symposium on Applied Social Psychology and co-edited the resulting annual volume published for many years by Sage Publications and now published by Erlbaum.