Helping and Prosocial Behavior

What is altruism?

the desire to help another person even if it appears to involve a cost to the helper

What factors predict empathy?

-Increased empathy for people of our ingroup -Prosocial personality: qualities that cause an individual to help others in a wide variety of situations --Some people are more likely to be prosocial

What are the two factors that help to explain sex and gender differences in helping?

1. The first is related to the cost-benefit analysis process discussed previously. Physical differences between men and women may come into play (ex. men tend to have greater upper body strength than women makes the cost of intervening in some situations less for a man) 2. The second explanation is simple socialization. Men and women have traditionally been raised to play different social roles that prepare them to respond differently to the needs of others, and people tend to help in ways that are most consistent with their gender roles.

What are the three motives for prosocial behavior?

1. Evolutionary psychology: pass on genes 2. Social exchange theory: Maximize rewards, minimize costs 3. Empathy-altruism hypothesis: powerful feelings of empathy and compassion→ selfless giving

What are two egoistic motivations for helping other people?

1. Negative state relief model: An egoistic theory proposed by Cialdini et al. (1982) that claims that people have learned through socialization that helping can serve as a secondary reinforcement that will relieve negative moods such as sadness. =suggests that people sometimes help in order to make themselves feel better. Whenever we are feeling sad, we can use helping someone else as a positive mood boost to feel happier. 2. Arousal: cost-reward model: An egoistic theory proposed by Piliavin et al. (1981) that claims that seeing a person in need leads to the arousal of unpleasant feelings, and observers are motivated to eliminate that aversive state, often by helping the victim. A cost-reward analysis may lead observers to react in ways other than offering direct assistance, including indirect help, reinterpretation of the situation, or fleeing the scene.

What are the two major characteristics related to the prosocial personality and prosocial behavior?

1. Other-oriented empathy: A component of the prosocial personality orientation; describes individuals who have a strong sense of social responsibility, empathize with and feel emotionally tied to those in need, understand the problems the victim is experiencing, and have a heightened sense of moral obligations to be helpful. -This factor has been shown to be highly correlated with the trait of agreeableness discussed previously. 2. Helpfulness: A component of the prosocial personality orientation; describes individuals who have been helpful in the past and, because they believe they can be effective with the help they give, are more likely to be helpful in the future. -is more behaviorally oriented

What is agreeableness?

Agreeableness: A core personality trait that includes such dispositional characteristics as being sympathetic, generous, forgiving, and helpful, and behavioral tendencies toward harmonious social relations and likeability.

What is altruism?

Altruism- A motivation for helping that has the improvement of another's welfare as its ultimate goal, with no expectation of any benefits for the helper.

What is bystander intervention?

Bystander intervention- The phenomenon whereby people intervene to help others in need even if the other is a complete stranger and the intervention puts the helper at risk.

What is Paul Bloom's argument against empathy/

Counterpoint: Paul Bloom and his argument against empathy Same thing that motivates us to help when we otherwise wouldn't can also lead us astray We could do things that do good in an inefficient way or do more bad than good

What is diffusion of responsibility? What step of the steps that need to happen for you to intervene to help someone does this relate to? How can you prevent diffusion of responsibility?

Diffusion of responsibility: each bystander's sense of responsibility to help decreases as the number of witnesses increases; When deciding whether to help a person in need, knowing that there are others who could also provide assistance relieves bystanders of some measure of personal responsibility, reducing the likelihood that bystanders will intervene. AKA someone else will handle this Involved with Step 3 Example of assigning responsibility: Point out an individual to call 911 Recognize the possibility of diffusion, and act against it

What is egoism?

Egoism: A motivation for helping that has the improvement of the helper's own circumstances as its primary goal.

What are the steps that need to happen for you to intervene to help someone during an emergency situation?

Emergency→ 1. We need to notice the event→ 2. Interpret the event as an emergency→ 3. Assume responsibility→ 4. Know appropriate form of assistance→ 5. Implement decision→ Intervene and offer assistance

What is empathy-altruism hypothesis?

Empathy-altruism hypothesis: the idea that when we feel empathy for a person, we will attempt to help that person purely for altruistic reasons, regardless of what we have to gain; claims that people who put themselves in the shoes of a victim and imagining how the victim feel will experience empathic concern that evokes an altruistic motivation for helping. AKA the "pure" motive for helping

What is empathy? What is empathic concern?

Empathy: the ability to put oneself in the shoes of another person and to experience events and emotions the way that person experiences them Empathic concern: according to Batson's empathy-altruism hypothesis, observers who empathize with a person in need (that is, put themselves in the shoes of the victim and imagine how that person feels) will experience empathic concern and have an altruistic motivation for helping.

What is evolutionary psychology? What is the basic tenet of it?

Evolutionary psychology: the attempt to explain human thought and behavior in terms of genetic factors that evolved over time Basic tenet: Genes are more likely to be passed on if they: Increase chances of survival Increase chances of creating offspring Increases the survival of genetically related others

What benefits can helping other people have? Costs?

Helping can be rewarding in a number of ways: -The norm of reciprocity: someone will help us if we need it -Relief of bystander distress (help just so I don't feel bad) -Gain rewards (e.g. social approval, increased feelings of self-worth) -Thanks from the recipient of the help However, helping can also be costly: -Physical danger/risk -Pain -Embarrassment -resources -Time

If the overriding goal is to ensure your own survival, why would people ever help others at a cost to themselves?

Kin selection: behaviors that help a genetic relative are favored by natural selection The more a person ensures the survival of blood relatives, the greater the chance that their genes will flourish in future generations

How does negative mood affect helping? Why

Negative mood can lead to more helping Why? negative-state relief hypothesis Negative mood can also lead to less helping as well Why? 1. If we blame others for our bad mood→ less likely to help 2. If we become too self-focused (focused on so much on bad mood, you won't pay attention to other people in need of help around you)

What does helping in a negative mood depend on?

Negative mood's effect on helping depends on how we're thinking about our negative mood Want to get rid of negative mood? MORE helping! Blame others for your mood? LESS helping! Too self-focused? LESS helping NOTE: Some self-focus is good (in a good mood), but too much self-focus (in a bad mood) is bad for helping

What is the negative-state relief hypothesis?

Negative-State Relief Hypothesis: The idea that people help in order to alleviate their own sadness and distress

How does positive mood affect helping? Why?

Positive mood increases helping Why does feeling good lead to doing good? 1. Desire to maintain one's good mood 2. Positive expectations about helping 3. Individuation- We pay more attention to ourselves when we are in a good mood and are thus more likely to behave in line with morals

What is the prosocial personality orientation?

Prosocial personality orientation: A measure of individual differences that identifies two sets of personality characteristics (other-oriented empathy, helpfulness) that are highly correlated with prosocial behavior.

How does the reciprocity norm apply to evolutionary psychology and why we help other people?

Reciprocity Norm: the expectation that helping others will increase the likelihood they will help us in the future It is adaptive for individuals to learn norms (e.g. altruism) from other members of a society; the best learners have a survival advantage over others -Ability to learn social norms has become part of our genetic makeup -Gratitude may be an evolved emotion to facilitate reciprocity -evolution favors groups whose members help each other

In the experimenter with Carol and the following conditions, what did the researchers find? Toi and Batson, 1982 study Participants came to lab and heard about Carol- Carol was in a bad accident, chair-bound, and needed help with lecture notes Participants listen to an audio recording of Carol Experimenters manipulated perspective (empathy) -High (put yourself in her shoes -Low (be objective→ pay attention to the facts? Experiments manipulated cost of not helping -High (Carol comes to class. It would be embarrassing to deny her notes) -Low (Carol doesn't come to class. It wouldn't be embarrassing to deny her notes)

Results Low Empathy, no cost to not helping ( a little over 30 percent of these participants in this condition helped) Low empathy, cost to not helping (over 70% agreed to help) Low empathy: social exchange concerns win High empathy: people helped regardless of what position they were put in (empathy shuts down pro-con thinking)

What is social exchange theory?

Social exchange theory: people only help when the benefits outweigh the costs (very broadly speaking)

What is the bystander effect?

The bystander effect: tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present

What is step 4 and 5 of the steps that need to happen for you to intervene to help someone? Why might you not do this? What is some practical advice for these steps?

Step 4: Knowing how to help and Step 5: implement help (and weigh the benefits, costs, risks) You might not help because you may not know how to help Practical advice: Call 911 Don't put yourself in danger, but do what you can Good Samaritan laws- you can't get sued in ANY U.S. state

Does the empathy-altruism model dismiss egoistic motivations?

The empathy-altruism model does not dismiss egoistic motivations helpers not empathizing with a victim may experience personal distress =Because egoistically motivated individuals are primarily concerned with their own cost-benefit outcomes, they are less likely to help if they think they can escape the situation with no costs to themselves In contrast, altruistically motivated helpers are willing to accept the cost of helping to benefit a person with whom they have empathized—this "self-sacrificial" approach to helping is the hallmark of altruism

How does social exchange theory explain why we help people?

What we do stems from desire to maximize rewards and minimize costs; in relationships with others, try to maximize the ratio of social rewards to social costs

What is pluralistic ignorance? What step is this involved with in the process of steps that happen for us to intervene to help someone during an emergency situation?

You noticed the situation-> good job. Now is it an emergency? (step 2) Most situations have some degree of ambiguity→ is this an emergency or not? When you are in larger groups, you are less likely to interpret situation as an emergency; This is called pluralistic ignorance: Relying on the actions of others to define an ambiguous need situation and to then erroneously conclude that no help or intervention is necessary People privately reject a norm/belief (I might think it is an emergency) They perceive that other members of the group accept it (everyone else doesn't) This causes them to accept it as well Involves informational social influence

What is prosocial behavior?

any act performed with the goal of benefitting another person

When are you most likely to help?

most likely to help when: -the person is related to you -The benefits outweigh the costs/risks -You think others will appreciate your help -You feel empathy toward the person -You are paying attention -You assume responsibility -You know what to do -You are in a good mood (or some forms of negative mood)

What is personal distress?

observers who take a detached view of a person in need will experience feelings of being "worried" and "upset" and will have an egoistic motivation for helping to relieve that distress.

Who is more helpful: men or women?

the general level of helpfulness may be pretty much equivalent between the sexes, but men and women help in different ways Two factors help to explain sex and gender differences in helping

How is agreeableness correlated with prosocial behavior?

those higher on the agreeableness dimension are, in fact, more likely than those low on agreeableness to help siblings, friends, strangers, or members of some other group. Agreeable people seem to expect that others will be similarly cooperative and generous in interpersonal relations, and they, therefore, act in helpful ways that are likely to elicit positive social interactions.

With kin selection, what is the prediction for how people will help people more closely related to them vs not related at all?

we have a higher tendency to help people more closely related to us during a fire (parents, siblings, children> grandparents> first cousins> acquaintance)