Assignment #5 Compassion Day

Name: Chrysanthi Agrafitiotis

How did you define compassion, and who were the recipients of your efforts?
I consider compassion to be the altruistic concern about the wellbeing of others. Being kind
and generously offering any kind of help based on each persons ability, skills and knowledge.
Being compassionate has always been an issue that I have been greatly concerned with.
How compassionate should we be? Should we offer to help someone from our leftover time
and money or should we deprive ourselves and our families in order to make someone elses
life a bit better. And if we do the latter where do we draw the line?
Furthermore, if the person who is compassionate has ulterior motives such as wanting to gain
fame, public acceptance and recognition for his efforts does this mean that his compassion is
less significant? What if I have ulterior motives that I am unaware of?
For Compassion Day, the recipients of my random acts of kindness were a family which is
living in extreme poverty Secondly the students who need English (EFL) lessons.
For the family in need (an elderly man suffering from cancer and his unemployed daughter), I
went to the supermarket and bought the bare necessities for a home, I put everything in a box
and took it to them. Upon seeing the box I sensed an opening of the womans eyes she was
surely pleased with the assistance. After thanking me she went on to ask me if there was
chance I could buy her some cigarettes and beer as well. I understood that this was a family
that had been in this situation for a long time. Learned Helplessness was evident. They had
completely resigned themselves and I tried to be understanding even though at one point I felt
that they were trying to take advantage of my kindness.
If your behavior was different than normal, which person did you like more: the "Day of
Compassion you" or the "normal you"? If you preferred the "Day of Compassion you,"
what are the psychological factors that prevent this "you" from coming out?
My behavior has been consistent over the years. I have always lived a compassionate life
which I believe stems from the hardships that I have been through and overcome in my life.
Ever since I was a young child I have been overly sensitive to the needs of others and I have
never hesitated to go out of my way to help whenever possible. Each person has his own
challenges to face and the least we can do is be kind to each other.
What are the psychological costs and benefits of behaving compassionately? In your
view, do the benefits outweigh the costs?
On the other hand the main benefit of acting compassionately is that you feel good about
yourself on the inside because
you know that you have made a contribution to other
peoples happiness or that you have lessened their pain and suffering. This boosts your Selfefficacy, self-confidence and self esteem and you establish strong bonds with the people
around you. There are those enchanted moments when I feel connected and in tune with the
universe. I feel that I have done my part. Whenever someone asks me What can I do for
you? I always tell them to pass it on and do a good deed when the opportunity arises.

How did others respond to your compassion? Do you think they noticed a difference in
your behavior? What attributions did people make for your behavior, and why?

Over the years I have had a lot of different responses to these acts of kindness. Some
students are extremely appreciative while others take my services for granted and they
believe that just because they are underprivileged the world owes them learned
Helplessness. I have tried to remain impartial to these responses and I never allow the
ungratefulness of few students to discourage me from helping others. When you allow others
to pick your brain it can be draining.
When people find out that I offer free lessons, they attribute it to my kindheartedness and
positive outlook on life. They never question my motives. When I told a father that I would
take on his son, tears came to his eyes and he told me that he was at a loss for words as no
one, neither friends nor relatives had ever done anything like this. I think it reinforced his
belief in humanity and that is priceless.
In the second situation, I gave the woman the box and she responded by thanking me and
telling me how kind and benevolent I was.
If you wanted to encourage others to behave as you did during the Day of Compassion,
what psychological techniques would you use? How can social psychology be used to
foster a more compassionate society?
First of all I would use the central route to persuasion. I would bring arguments to the table as
well as concrete examples. I would urge them to go past the collectivism that is quite
prevalent in most cultures and to reach out to a new group that is in need. To go beyond their
comfort zone as this will give them perspective and make them more tolerant. . I would tell
them that they cant be free-riders in life. We all receive so we must all give. Social loafing
becomes an obstacle to ones happiness; it deprives people from living a meaningful life with
set goals and the satisfaction that a person feels when being an active member of society.
Otherwise the system will collapse. We have the illusion of control and we believe that as
long as we take care of ourselves and our needs we will be fine. That is far from being true.
Furthermore I would use the peripheral route to persuasion by displaying zealous
enthusiasm and by sharing experiences from applying compassion.
If you were to predict your behavior one month from now, do you think it will be
changed as a result of participating in the Day of Compassion? If so, how? If not, why
not?
The Day of Compassion gave me hope, that humanity will not allow itself to be completely
deindividuated but it will find a way to rise above the modern lifestyle which is leading us to a
dead end situation. What participation in this day did for me is that ever since that moment I
try to come up with ingenious ways of being compassionate and it seems to me that this
process activated me and inspired me to focus on the little things of life.