Relationships: Apply It

  • Explain the factors that influence human altruism
  • Describe attraction and the triangular theory of love
  • Explain social exchange theory
  • Discuss research on the link between love and the experience of pain or pleasure

A Helping Hand: Altruism in Context

As we reviewed in this chapter, whether humans can ever truly act purely out of altruism, without any self-interest, has been long debated by psychologists and philosophers alike. In the movie and book The Hunger Games, a post-apocalyptic society in which youth are drawn on a lottery system to be chosen to compete to the death in an annual “game”. Against all odds, Katniss’ younger sister is drawn. In the scene below, we watch as Katniss steps forward to volunteer in her place.[1]

Watch this clip and then respond to the questions below.
You can view the transcript for “The Hunger Games: Katniss and Peeta Reaping Scene [HD]” here (opens in new window).
Watch this video to see a deeper exploration of and another perspective on Katniss’ altruism in The Hunger Games.
  1. Poepsel, D. L. & Schroeder, D. A. (2023). Helping and prosocial behavior. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. Retrieved from http://noba.to/tbuw7afg ↵