chapter 14

victim characteristics

"Blood On A Train" (Piliavin & Piliavin, 1972): A confederate on a train staggered and collapsed ½ of the time: a trickle of blood flowed from his mouth ½ of the time: no blood When blood.. was not present, he was helped 95% of the time was present, he was helped 65% of the time Blood was viewed as cost inhibited amount of helping If a victim is similar (race, age, religion, etc.) to the bystander, the bystander is more likely to help (Dovidio, 1984; Dovidio & Gaertner, 1981)

prisoner's dilemma game

- Two men are arrested for committing a crime. Each must decide... 1) Do you stick to your story and avoid admitting to the crime? 2) Do you sell out your friend for a lighter personal sentence?

kin selection

- Tendency for natural selection to favor behaviors that increase the chances of survival of genetic relatives - People should be more likely to help those who share more genes Siblings > first cousins > second cousins > strangers - We should direct more helping behavior toward kin than toward non-kin

reciprocal altruism

- The tendency to help others, expecting that they will help us some time in the future - Increases likelihood of survival and reproduction for both parties Less conflict, more help overcoming scarce resources, more alliances

situation determinants of altruism

- being busy: "the Good Samaritan" study...when participants were busy, they are less likely to stop and help the man on the street - presence of others: bystander intervention or bystander effect - diffusion of responsibility & pluralistic ignorance - ambiguous situations: more likely to help others who clearly need help - victim characteristics: if they are similar to the bystander.. if you don't lose anything helping them

Culture and Altruism

- the smaller the community, the stronger the effect - Lower class people have fewer resources; important to build strong relationships - Upper class people with more resources can be more independent - People who need help/charity may be more likely to be similar - more wealthy, less helpy - less wealthy, more helpy - most religions emphasize prosocial behavior try to motivate that by increasing empathic concern for other ppl

Prosocial behavior

Any action that helps another person, regardless of motives. Motives can be selfish or altruistic There are also forces that inhibit prosocial behavior: self-preservation, fear of embarrassment

Culture

Cultures that require more cooperation on a day-to-day basis tend to show greater generosity in the Ultimatum Game

diffusion of responsibility study

Darley & Latane (1968): Participants sat in cubicles, spoke through an intercom with 1 person, 2 people, or 5 people A confederate pretends that he's having a seizure. Results: How many people would leave their cubicle to help the victim? 1 person: 85% of participants helped 2 people: 62% of participants helped 5 people: 31% of participants helped Conclusion: The more people who witness a person in trouble, the lower the probability any one person will help.

anonymous altruism study

Female participants received notes from a confederate, "Janet," who confessed feeling lonely and needing a friend. Participants either had to read the notes - Objectively, concentrate on facts (low empathy), or - Vividly imagine how the communicator felt (high empathy) The notes were either - Sealed (no social evaluation), or - Open (social evaluation) "How many hours would you like to spend with this person in a long-term relationship study?" A person whose helpful behavior is driven by empathy will help more regardless of any social rewards

pluralistic ignorance

In an emergency, if no one else seems concerned or helps, you use that as information and assume everything is probably alright

pluralistic ignorance study

Latane & Darley (1968): Participants filled out a stack of questionnaires either - Alone With 2 other real participants, or With 2 confederates trained to remain calm (pluralistic ignorance condition) Smoke begins to fill the room from underneath the door. Results Alone: 75% leave and report the smoke 2 Real Participants: 38% leave and report the smoke 2 Calm Participants: 10% leave and report the smoke Conclusion: Participants around others (especially calm others) construed the smoke as non-threatening because of informational social influence/pluralistic ignorance.

social class study

Lower and upper class participants watched a film clip ½ saw a neutral clip (control) ½ saw a clip of kids living in poverty (empathy) A confederate showed up pretending to be a late participant and looking distressed The experimenter said that the confederate wouldn't have enough time to finish the experiment, but the participant could help him if he/she wanted How long did participants spend helping the late comer? results: lower class always helpful, upper class only helpful when they already felt compassionate

distinguishing motives (empathy vs. distress study)

Participants watched a student (confederate) receive electric shocks after giving wrong answers in a "learning" experiment. - After first 2 shocks, researchers asked participants how much they felt distress (e.g., upset, worried) and empathy (e.g., sympathy, compassion). - Participants were then asked if they wanted to take the student's place (i.e., take some of the shocks for him) Results: Participants who were high in distress were less likely to take the student's place Participants who felt high in empathy were more likely to take the student's place Concerns "Empathic concern" is self reported Social rewards cannot be ruled out because of experimenter presence

religion study

Participants were primed with religious concepts or neutral concepts through an unscrambling task Ex: "Felt she eradicate the spirit" --> "She felt the spirit" They were then given $10 and asked to give some amount away to a stranger, if they were willing to do so. results: - religion prime --> 50 ppl gave half their gift to stranger (versus 15 who didn't) - neutral prime --> 40 ppl DIDNT give half of gift to stranger (versus 10 who didn't)

The Bystander Effect

People are less likely to help when others are present - diffusion of responsibility - pluralistic ignorance

ambiguous situation

People are more likely to help others who clearly need help Bystanders help victims who scream for help Bystanders more likely to help when they are aware of the events that led to the victim's distress Piliavin et al. (1976): Participants walked into a room... Half walked in right as a confederate regained consciousness Half saw the confederate faint, then regain consciousness Participants who saw the confederate faint (making it clear it was an emergency) were more likely to help (89% vs. 13%)

social rewards

Praise, rewards, honors & gratitude People might do prosocial things because of the positive attention that they will get from others Activates circuits in the brain associated with rewards

Situational Determinants of Cooperation

Reputation, construal, culture, evolution,

construal

The way we label a situations can influence levels of competition and cooperation Researchers manipulated the name of the game ½ were told the game was called "The Community Game" ½ were told the game was called "The Wall Street Game" Results: "The Community Game": maximized participants' joint outcomes "The Wall Street Game": maximized own profits

Altruism

Unselfish behavior that benefits others without regard to consequences for oneself Selfless, other-oriented

diffusion of responsibility

When observing an emergency, people assume that others will help, so they don't need to do anything

Bystander Intervention

When people observing an emergency intervene and help the victim

empathic concern

You might genuinely identify with another person, feel/understand what they're experiencing, and want to help This is more about truly wanting to help another person than wanting to "look good" or feel better about yourself

possible motivation

social rewards Sebastian lost his notes from an important lecture, so his friend Anders let him copy his notes. reduction of personal distress Michelle offered to take the lead on an important and time-consuming team project at work. empathic concern Nick offered to carry a fellow student's books to her next class because she was on crutches and struggling with her book bag.