A person’s motivation to help someone else in need may vary, depending on the circumstances.

On one hand, they might selfishly think “What’s in it for me?”. According to the arousal: cost-reward model, when someone observes a person in distress, they may experience physiological tension followed by a quick and automatic evaluation of the potential consequences of lending a helping hand.

For example, negative consequences, such as being criticized, as well as favorable outcomes, like receiving money and praise, can ultimately influence a charitable act.

Likewise, individuals may decide to help to make themselves feel better. According to the negative state relief model, the victim’s needs are secondary to them alleviating their own depressed mood.

Both of these theories describe egoism—the motivation of considering potential costs and rewards before coming to the aid of others.

In contrast, people may engage in altruism—improving the welfare of someone else for selfless reasons—without any regard to personal gains or consequences. In this type of behavior, the individual’s actions are attributed to the emotional connection felt with the target.

In the end, the underlying drive to help could be uniquely egoistic or altruistic, or even a combination of the two. Based on recent research, the likelihood of assisting others is linked to certain personality dimensions, including agreeableness and differences in emotional processing.

Importantly, the path between selfish acts and selflessness is not set in stone; behaviors can shift in response to cultural experiences and approaches, such as compassion training.