Chapter 7 - Prosocial Behavior

Wheelchair Carol Marcy Experiment

(listen to recording, listen to stories 1/2 of people were told to just feel sad; other 1/2 imagine if YOU were Carol Marcy; hand letter to participant and open up letter and actually one of your classmates is Carol Marcy; because she wasn't able to be in class, could you do carols notes for her? 2nd party give notes to her or physically give her the notes if she actually came to class; no empathy condition - almost nobody said yes; when you're feeling empathy almost every person said yes they will help ; feeling empathy people are more likely to help

Related Concept In Individual Differences: level of "anxiety" or feelings of being "rushed" have also been linked to rates of pro-social behavior

- Two-part survey experiment and helping behavior -1/2 being rushed; 1/2 take your time; person trip in front of them on their path; see if people would stop and ask if they were okay; when people are rushed or anxious; none of them helped; those that aren't being rushed stopped to help the person)

Social exchange theory of altruism

- altruistic acts might be based solely on a calculation of the costs and rewards of helping others (Are people ever really getting nothing in return?) Internal feelings of pride, relieves distress, lets you tell others about your actions, possible reciprocation (ex charity work when helping others, when people give to homeless, people do it in public because they want to be seen as positive, burning desire to tell someone they did a good act; altruism is fairly rare)

Evolutionary implications of altruism: Kin selection

- behaviors that help a genetic relative can sometimes override the cost to the self (Bernstein, Crandall, & Kitayama, 1994) Ex. (Linked to evolution, in our genes to be helpful and only to people that share our genes which actually helps us pass on our genes; There's a fire in your apt complex, who do you help first? Random stranger, sibling, friend or girlfriend, people will save their sibling)

Evolutionary implications of altruism: Norm of reciprocity

- helping others will increase the likelihood of being helped in the long run (Shackelford & Buss, 1996) Ex. (tipping at a coffee shop; groups that stuck together lived; if we help others it will turn around on u; eye contact and tipping) note: norm that needs to be taught; potential long term benefits to groups and encouraged it to thrive

Other Things that Impact Prosocial Tendencies: Good mood - the dime and manila drop experiment

4% - no dime, 84% - dime Ex. (phone booths - checking for change; 1/2 put a dime in change slot; 1/2 no dime; a women holding Manila envelopes would trip in front of the people in phone booths; those who found a dime were more likely to help; when you're happy, you're more likely to help; good moods perpetuate prosocial behavior)

Batson's Empathy Altruism Theory

Altruism can exist, but only if you feel empathy for another person?

Community Based Factors: Residential mobility

Are you "invested" in the community that you're in? (Tend to not help if you're not going to be staying long or a part of the community)

Does this mean that no prosocial behavior is really ever altruistic? (Does real altruism really exist?) Is there a way to argue that altruism actually destructive?

Ayn Rand's work (biproduct of being manipulative; individualism; Morality of Altruism; sacrificing yourself, putting others above yourself, living for others, men moral duty to serve others; makes men a sacrificial animal; every dictatorship is based on altruism)

Latane and Darley's work (1970):

Did you notice the event? (Have to see someone in distress) Did you interpret it as an emergency?

Modeling

One person to show what the appropriate thing to do is; all it takes is one person to help, to increase prosocial behavior - be prosocial

Where Do We See Prosocial Differences? Religious differences

Public activities versus private actions (Batson, Schoenrade, & Ventis, 1993) Ex. (those that go to church are more altruistic; limited to types of prosocial behavor; religious people tend to do more public activities like serving the poor and going to pilgrimages; there is no difference when doing private actions ;

Prosocial behavior

any act of benefitting another Helping others ex Studying with a friend (behavior that benefits someone else)

Where Do We See Prosocial Differences? Gender Differences

chivalrous versus nurturing Ex. (chivalrous - force or strength; females suck at chilavrous tasks ex changing tires; nurturing - females are better at ex helping a friend through a breakup)

Diffusion of responsibility

feeling less responsible to act when surrounded by greater numbers Ex. (videos 2 & 3) (saying problems over an intercom , other guy on intercom is an actor who says he gets seizures, 85% of participants reported seizure when they're by themselves, mostly everyone helped ; when they thought someone else was listening, it dropped to 50% and lower if more people were in the group; feel so much less weight when you you think others can help than if you were alone; counterintuitive)

Sympathy

feeling sorry for other people's pain

Other Things that Impact Prosocial Tendencies: Bad mood - negative status relief hypothesis

helping makes you feel better (a lot of evidence?) Ex. (giving money before or after confession; people gave a lot more before they confessed than after; if you feel bad, you help people less) Ex. Guilt research on donation in churchgoers (Harris, Benson, & Hall, 1975) Studies on reduced empathy and help after recent rejection (DeWall & Baumeister, 2006, 2007) (when you feel bad, you lose the feeling of empathy; you don't think about how other people feel, you only feel what YOU feel,

Empathy

imagining/feeling other people's pain ex. (sympathy - aww that sucks, I feel bad for you; empathy - put yourself in those shoes, how would I feel if I failed that exam?

Where Do We See Prosocial Differences? Cultural difference

interdependent versus independent (Ting & Piliavin, 2000) Ex (independent will help everyone out the same (Western and European countries); interdependent people usually only help family and friends) More in-group help Less out-group help

Altruism

the deliberate pursuit of the welfare of others at either no benefit to the self, or even the cost of one's own welfare (doing stuff for others even if has no benefit or can come at a cost) ex Firefighters in the 9/11 accident (nothing good can come out of going into the twin towers)

Community Based Factors: Urban overload hypothesis

the idea that individuals in urban areas are only less likely to be altruistic because they are being bombarded by requests (constantly seeing other people ex homeless people in the city) Ex. Giving to the homeless examples (helped homeless people more in rural areas then people in urban area; 'people who come from rural areas are more inclined to help because the guilt overwhelms them; Desensitization theories (if you're from an urban area you become desensitized because a lot more people are asking for help)

Latane and Darley's work (1970): Pluralistic ignorance

using others' inactions/actions to incorrectly assume that they're accepting/indicating an incorrect norm (video 1) Ex. (go in the room and wait for interviewer; sees smoke coming in under door 75% reported smoke; 3 strangers in room together - only 38% of the time people report smoke, reported smoke in 6 mins); when people are in groups, failure to act)

The Bystander Effect

we're less likely to act in a given situation when we're around others (tendency to not help people when other people are around) Ex. The Kitty Genovese Case (1964) young women in NY coming home around 2am she was attacked in front of dozens of people for an extended period of time; the guy was schizophrenic and violent; she started screaming for help and no one helped her after 20 mins; people yelled and scared him away; someone opened the door and attacker came back and stabbed her for almost an hour