During an international software development competition in London, a participant from El Salvador stopped working on their own high-stakes project to help a competitor from Uganda whose operating system had crashed.
The Ugandan developer was on track to win but was left stranded by the sudden technical failure. The Salvadoran developer, who was in a close second place, spent an hour debugging and restoring the competitor's system. Meanwhile, a competitor from the United States ignored the situation, focused entirely on their own work, and won the first-place prize.
When interviewed, the developer from El Salvador explained, "In our culture, showing simpatía—being warm, sharing, and helping those in trouble—is far more important than any individual prize."
In contrast, the American winner defended his actions, stating that in a highly competitive market, it is each developer's personal responsibility to maintain their own equipment, and that the competitor should have had a backup. He added that his tech firm's corporate sponsor had set strict targets for return on investment, requiring him to focus exclusively on securing the contract.
Using your psychological knowledge, suggest two ways in which positive helping behaviours may be encouraged in tech developers or competitors from countries such as the US.