Desarrollo de las capacidades y potencialidades

This section is a brief description of the researcher’s identity as constructed through their cultural values, personal experiences and associated personal cultural and moral belief

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system. This identity directly affected the journey in exploring and discovering the what, how and why of cultural variation in the interpretation and defining of prosocial behaviour.

I am a passionate observer and student of social behaviour. My specific interest is in the observation and understanding of help-seeking, especially as it relates to the receiver, the giver and the context. The interest I have is in, but is not limited to, how both parties react to the event; what makes people help others; why certain people are more likely to help than others; the characteristics of what defines helplessness and the associated felt need to decide to help or not help, and the influence of place and time within the help-seeking event. Observers need objects that satiate their hunger of vision yet not all are immediately a focus of attention. My culture, as expressed and reinforced in my childhood by my parents and teachers, emphasised a light-handedness or delicate and deft approach in relationships with kin, friends and other living creatures. Helping others in need has been a central emphasis in my life, guided and reinforced especially through my elders and particularly through my parents. Much of my cultural upbringing rests in the sub-conscious self. I idolised my parents and have embedded memories of their selflessness in helping and prioritising the needs of others in front of their own needs. My father’s and mother’s expressions of generosity in spirit and kind particularly toward kin but also toward others were considered an obligation. Perhaps most influential was the advice and exemplary conduct of my parents incorporated within a set of fundamental beliefs emphasising helping those in need.

Early recollections of a cultural life in combination with the influence of parents serve in part in directly influencing one’s development of self and identity. Another related

influence in my life is religion and spirituality incorporating a set of rules and principles which guide my life. I am a Muslim, with which comes a responsibility sufficient in itself to constitute a way of living. Religion and spirituality may constitute the major influence in one’s capacity and inclination to help another in need.

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Consistent with the practices of my being a Muslim, the sacred revelation in Islam, Qur’an and hadith along with other ritual practices including Salaat (prayer), Hajj

(Pilgrimage to Makkah), Zakaat (support of the needy) and fasting during the month of Ramadan, inform the helping of others in need within worship. Within this belief system, good deeds are rewarded and in my case as in others the reward comes as a reservation for an existence in the next world. Allah, the ultimate judge on the Day of Judgment, assesses my contribution to my current lived world. The act of helping within this belief structure is considered a religious duty and is ultimately rewarded by Allah. The importance of helping others, especially the poor and distressed, is embedded within the actions of the Prophet Muhammad, the Messenger of Islam. The Prophet identifies to Muslims as noble with his help in supporting the destitute including orphans and the poor.

The notion of nobility related to the Prophet Muhammad is ritualized in the fable of the Bedouin who approached the Prophet requesting money and gold. While in the company of the Prophet and his companions, the Bedouin expressed a request from the prophet. The prophet in turn responded to the request but this offer was met with some disdain by the Bedouin. The Bedouin in turn requested more. This request was met with anger among the Prophet’s companions. The prophet responded without anger and instead brought the Bedouin to the prophet’s home and gave him more money and gold. However, on viewing the relative poor state of the prophet’s home, the Bedouin left chastened yet satisfied with what he received. A second fable relates the story of the Prophet Muhammad on his way to the Mosque coming across a young boy in tears. In contrast to the tears of the young boy, the rest of the community was in celebratory frame and happily engaged in Eid. The prophet stopped and asked the boy ‘why was he crying’? The boy lost his parents and was in a state of despair as he witnessed other children hand-in-hand with their parents. With good-will and mercy, the Prophet Muhammad enfolded the child’s hand into his hand and led the child to

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the Mosque. My actions are inspired and measured in value against the expectations and actions of the Prophet Muhammad, one who is already promised by Allah the Heaven.

A Muslim who acts according to the Qur’an and hadith is obligated to help the

oppressed, distressed or helpless. The prosocial altruistic act is viewed as indicative of a solid set of fundamental beliefs and strong faith to be ultimately rewarded by Allah. A Muslim aims to fulfil the two principles of Islam. The first principle rests on creating a strong relationship with Allah by being his good servant. The second principle seeks to establish a secure tie with fellow human beings by treating them with due respect and kindness. Within the Muslim culture a help-seeking event is influenced by and defined within the Islamic doctrine.

My upbringing and who I am as a Muslim has also been influenced by other life experiences. Having travelled and lived in urban and country areas throughout Malaysia, I witnessed and became familiar with the act of helping among city and country dwellers. Within Malaysia social behaviours and personal interactions generally and prosocial behaviour specifically have been constructed and enacted within collectivistic values and according to Islamic principles. However, not all Malaysians base their acts upon such values and principles. Despite similar spiritual foundations and cultural traditions, dependent upon circumstance, a person considered ‘Malaysian’ may choose to not engage in the act of helping another in need.

Over the years I have also been exposed to and lived within various cultures. My initial exposure to Western culture was living in Kalamazoo, a relatively small city located in the southwest of the USA. A more recent and current exposure to Western culture was in my living in the Central Business District, Melbourne, Australia. I originally stereotyped the lifestyle and behaviour within a Western culture as highly individualistic, selfish and careless. These perceptions were associated with my expectations of a society bereft of compassion

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and the self-belief that I needed to act independently and as the quiet inconspicuous observer. In time and directly related to a number of day-to-day interactions with ‘westerners’ this perception changed. Prosocial behaviour is expressed in many ways and across varying cultural contexts. Kalamazoo in the winter with a heavy fall of snow was my first enjoyable experience indulging with soft, white snow-flakes. While beautiful, snow conditions can also be problematic. Using the campus pathway as I rushed to meet my supervisor I failed to notice that the path was very icy. On a particularly hilly, treacherous part of the path, and slipping uncontrollably I lost my footing and landed heavily on the ground with a

cumbersome backpack in tow. Full of shame and thinking that others would laugh at my carelessness, a young white male offered me his hand. His friends simultaneously asked if I was OK and talked off the very many students around the campus who had suffered the same fate. This ‘chance’ interaction immediately altered my pre-conceptions of the Western World and particularly the USA. The response of friends in Malaysia would have been far less supportive and their response tinged with amusement and cynicism. While individualistic, this group of Americans were mindful and sensitive in their reaction to distress. It seems that helpfulness in some ways transcends culture.

A similar experience in Melbourne, Australia, reinforced the earlier view of the culturally transcendent nature of helpfulness. Commuting daily through public transport over the last three years provided a number of opportunities to observe at first-hand Melbournian attitudes toward help-seeking behaviour. Australians are generally courteous and in order to help the less fortunate such as people with disabilities and/or the aged are willing to give up their seats on a tram, train or bus. My preconceptions of the belief structures and values of Western culture associated with prosocial behaviour altered as a consequence of my observation and experiences of helpful acts in Kalamazoo and in Melbourne.

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Help-seeking events and their associated emotional intensity evoke different meanings to people in different cultures and are particularly different in type between individualistic and collectivistic cultures. In addition, males and females across cultures and context also differ in terms of their reactions and associated behaviours when confronted with a help- seeking event. For example, while research in gender differences associated with prosocial behaviour is relatively inconclusive, females generally tend to be more responsive,

empathetic and prosocial than males, while males are expected to be more independent and achievement-oriented (Eisenberg, Fabes, & Spinrad, 2006, p. 696). Women nonetheless are less likely to help strangers, perhaps in part due to their perceived exposure to danger including sexual assaults (Eagly & Crowley, 1986).