Prosocial Behavior
Example of Altruism?
Heroes of Sept. 11-gave thier life up for strangers
__-____ can be used to increase helping these groups out of altruism rather than self-interest
Perspective taking interventions
which of these 2 types is perceived as supportive?
Positive Reframing
How can we determine wether a persons motivation for helping others is altruistic motivated, egotistically motivated, or both?
(a) an ultimate goal and any self benefits are unintended consequences (altruism) or (b) a means to reach the ultimate goal of benefiting oneself (egoism)
Who do we usually take the perspective of? (and therefore what causes the feeling of empathy?
-People we find similar to us, -People we are familiar with -The "In group" (
What are the 5 ways Helping can be rewarding
1) Increases the probability that the person will help us in return in the future 2) Relieves the personal distress of watching someone else in need Ex. Giving money to the ASPCA because the commercial is so distressing to watch 3)Gain social approval 4)Feel good about yourself 5)Increase or maintain positive mood - If in good mood, motivated to maintain good mood -If in a bad mood, motivated to be in a good mood
What are Bartons 4 Principles for Discerning a persons ultimate goal?
1. Do not trust self-reports People do not know or are not willing to tell their ultimate goal 2. We cannot observe goals directly; we must infer them from behavior 3. If we observe a behavior that has two potential ultimate goals, the true ultimate goal cannot be discerned It's like trying to solve an equation with 2 unknowns 4. But, if we change the situation so that the behavior is no longer the best way to obtain 1 of the 2 goals AND the behavior still occurs, then the goal #1 is not the ultimate goal (and by deduction, goal #2 is the ultimate goal)
What are the 3 types of Empathy-egoism hypothesis
1. Empathy-aversive arousal hypothesis - directed toward the goal of reducing the negative arousal caused by witnessing another in need 2. Empathy-punishment hypothesis - directed toward the goal of avoiding social or self-punishments (guilt, shame) 3.Empathy-reward hypothesis - directed toward the goal of obtaining social or self-rewards (praise, honor, pride)
Empathy-aversive arousal hypothesis - argues when empathy is _____, people help to relieve their own aversive arousal experienced by witnessing someone else in need
1. HIgh
_____is most likely to dive in to a pound to save a drowning child, whereas ____ is most likely to do errands for an elderly neighbor neighbor every week
A man A woman
Prosocial behavior that is motivated by ______ which is explained by the desire to help another person even if it involves a cost to the helper.
Altruism
however if we feel empathy that motivates out prosocial behavior then its called?
Altruism
How does Natural Selection favor altrustic acts? (Explain in detail)
Bc people can increase the chances that thier genes will be passed along not only by having thier own children but also by ensuring their genetic relatives do, which in turn would ensure that his or her genes would flourish in future generations
what does the term Empathetic Concern mean
Empathetic concern - an other-oriented emotional response elicited by and corresponds with the perceived welfare of someone in need; feeling for the other (e.g., sympathy, compassion, tenderness)
What are the motivations for Prosocial behavior that tells us to help?
Empathy but if not, for empathy then we do it based on the "Social exchange theory (egoism)
What hypothesis is not supported?
Empathy-altruism hypothesis not supported
what is the definition of Reciprocity
Expectation that helping others will increase the likelyhood that they will help us in the future
Examples of self-fulfilling prophecy
IT Begins by: Teacher is told student A is smart and student B is dumb (when in reality they have the same level of intelligence) Leads too:The expectation that one is smart and the other is dumb leads the teacher (not necessarily aware of this) to treat them differently and give them different opportunities Actions inadvertly done: Teacher gives student A more challenging work while giving student B easy work Result: student A learns more than student B Teacher encourages student A even when student A gets something wrong but not student B Ex. Working through the problem with student A while just moving on the the next student when student B gets it wrong Result: student A learns more that student B End result: student A is smart, student B is dumb
What did Darwin say about altruism?
If peoples over ridding goal is to ensure their own survival.why would they help others at a cost to themselves, he believed that as humans kept evolving they lost the altruism behavior because genes promoting selfish behavior should be more likely to be passed on.
Batons Principle 4 states...
If we change the situation (ability to leave "out of sight out of mind") so that the behavior (e.g., taking someone else's place getting electrical shocks) is no longer the best way to obtain 1 (e.g., escape from personal distress) of the 2 (helping someone in need) goals AND the behavior still occurs, then the goal (escape from personal distress) is not the ultimate goal (which leaves helping someone in need as the ultimate goal) Shows that the empathetically aroused person does not help just to reduce their own aversive arousal But, this does not rule out rewards or punishment hypotheses because we know that we will still receive rewards (praise, honor, pride) and avoid punishments (guilt, shame) if we help
So who do we usually help out of altrusim? Similar, familiar, ingroup
In Altruism, if its life threating we are more likely to help out our own relatives
what are examples of where internal motivation leads to being prejudice toward one group but the other?
Internal motivation to control prejudice towards blacks but not gays? hard to say its based on egalitarian values when, egalitarian implies that it can't be applied to only some groups
Urban overload hypothesis
It shows to prove that people who live in cities are less altruistic by nature, but this is done in terms of presently not where they grew up
In Empath-punishment hypothesis, one way to avoid/self punishment is to..
Justify your actions (or in actions), this can be done through social norms
What was a way evolutionary psychologist attempt to resolve Darwin's theory behind Altruism?
Kin Selection: idea that behaviors that help a genetic relative are favored by natural selection. Bc people can increase the chances that thier genes will be passed along not only by having thier own children but also by ensuring their genetic relatives
Which person is LEAST likely to help a blind person
Marco who is having a normal day and in a neutral mood
What is another reason that evolutionary psychologist use to explain altruism?
Norm of reciprocity
What were the procedure/findings when the participants observed a confederate receive painful shocks (a variation of the milligram experiment).... What occurred when empathy was low? empathy was high?
Participants were given the opportunity to take the confederates place but Some were told they could take the other person's place or go home (easy escape) Some were told they could take the other person's place or they would have to stay until the experiment was over (difficult escape) Results: When empathy was low, participants helped if escape was difficult but did not if escape was easy (i.e., they chose to leave) When empathy was high, participants helped even if escape was easy
in what city are people most likely to help a blind man across the street
Rio de janiero. Brzail Compared to: NYC Amesterdamn, netherlands Budapest, Hungry Rio de janiero, Brazil
What is a solution to the arising issue that internal motivation doesn't fully follow egalitarian values? and what is the definition of it?
Social norm theory
Example of prosocial behavior
Social support
In order to prove Empathy Punishment hypothesis, participants were given the opportunity to help, some where told___while others were told___=
Some where told that people did not help (high justification) -knowing that others decided not to help reduces your own sense of responsiblity;"why should i help if no one else has helped"
What is the dictator game
The dictator game is a test to see human genorosity
We feel empathy when we take.....
The perspective of others
T/F people with high score on test on altruism are not that much more likely to help another person than people with low scores
True
Prosocial behavior
any behavior (or act) with the goal of benefiting another person
Empathy-punishment hypothesis
argues when empathy is high, people help to avoid social/self punishment
Empathy-reward hypothesis
argues when empathy is high, people help to receive the benefits of social/self rewards
Based on support for empathy-altruism, research showed that positive affect wasn't due......rather thier positive affect was
due to self/social rewards because they would not receive praise or pride if they were not responsible for the help other-directed-happy simply because the person need is now okay
Egoism ultimate goal?
increasing one's own welfare (social exchange theory
What is the problem with internal motivation to control prejudices?
people may be prejudice against some groups but not others
what are the 2 types of social support
positive reframing: reassurance that the negative effect is ultimately beneficial or that the problem is minor -"This will make you a stronger person" "Everything will be okay" Negative Validation: reassurance that the feelings and responses are normal and appropriate to the situation "Its okay to be upset"
Self-fulfilling Prophecy
s a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior.
The ultimate goal of Altruism is?
state with the ultimate goal of increasing another's welfare
relationship between empathetic concern and helping disappears when.....
statistically controlling for self interest variables (sadness, distress)
Definition of Social Support
support aimed at reducing another person's negative thoughts and feelings about an event/problem
Based on Empathy-reward hypothesis, High empathy should result in increased positive affect compared to before the person was helped but ONLY if.....HOWEVER....based on support for empathy-altruism.....
the YOU were the person who helped Research showed that high empathy resulted in increased positive affect if the person in need was helped no matter how- either by the person themselves, by someone else or was simply no longer in need of help
What is the idea behind the Social Exchange theory?
we help because the rewards of helping outweigh the costs; concerned with self-interest
How can altruism and egoism co-occur together? if so, how?
yes, Pleasure obtained can be a consequence of reaching the goal of increasing another's welfare without being the goal itself
