ch. 11: helping & prosocial behavior

3 basic motives underlying prosocial behavior

1. evolutionary psychology 2. social exchange theory 3. empathy altruism hypothesis

bystander intervention

1. notice👀 2. interpretation😱 3. take responsibility🙋 4. knowing what to do⛑ 5. decide to provide help🏃

3 social norms of helping

1. reciprocity 2. social responsibility 3. social justice

prosocial behavior

any behavior carried out to benefit another or society

true altruism

balance between empathy and costs; has to be truly selfless act with no expectation of anything in return

just world belief

belief that world is fair and people get what they deserve→ less sympathy

bad mood effect

desire to alleviate sadness, distress, and guilt→ likely to help, but if extreme, self-focused, or blame others (e.g. anger)→ less likely to help

pluralistic ignorance

false impression of what most other people are thinking or feeling, or how they are responding

kinship selection / protection

helping genetic relative, favored by natural selection; more likely to help as relativity increases

social exchange theory of prosocial behavior

human interactions aim to maximize one's rewards and minimize one's costs; true altruism does not exist according to this theory

gender differences in helping

men→ more likely to help in chivalrous, heroic ways, and in emergency situations women→ more likely to help in nurturant ways involving long-term commitment; everyday help, social support

social capital

mutual support and cooperation enabled by a social network

urban overload hypothesis

people living in cities are constantly bombarded with stimulation and that they keep to themselves to avoid being overwhelmed by it

simpatia

range of social & emotional traits (being friendly, polite, good-natured, pleasant, and helpful towards others); prominent in Spanish-speaking countries

audience inhibition

reluctance to help for fear of making a bad impression on observers

diffusion of responsibility

sense of personal responsibility decreases as number of witnesses increase→ assume someone else will help or has already helped

altruistic helping

ultimate goal is to increase another's welfare; not for the self even come with a cost to the self

unwarranted assumptions

want world to be reasonable, not in emergency, e.g., couple having an argument on street perceived as lover's spat rather than domestic abuse

kitty genovese case

woman murdered outside of her apartment with a ton of witnesses who didn't help→ diffusion of responsibility, unwarranted assumptions

harris church study

• churchgoers headed to confession • stood outside and asked for charity donations • people donated more before confession (guilt)

empathy-altruism hypothesis

• empathy is part of human nature which leads to altruistic helping • suggests that some prosocial acts are motivated solely by the desire to help someone in need

burnstein sibling study

• full siblings have more motivation to help than half-siblings • measured tendency to help vs. age of relative in need • older→ everyday help • younger→ life or death help

social justice

• help others who we believe deserve help • based on attributions of why in need of help • just world belief plays a role in sympathy

empathic joy hypothesis

altruism makes people feel better about themselves (raises self-esteem); we receive (vicarious) pleasure from other people's happiness through empathy

smoky room study

as white smoke began pouring into room, the more participants were in the room, the less likely anyone was to seek help and the longer they took to do so→ people in groups gain false reassurance from each other and convince each other that nothing is wrong

bystander effect

greater number of bystanders who witness an emergency, the less likely any one of them is to help (e.g. hearing someone have a seizure study)

social responsibility

help others in need who are dependent on us, e.g. children, elderly, hurt; higher in collectivist cultures

reciprocal altruism

helping nonrelatives who are likely to reciprocate the favor

egotistic helping

helping others for benefits to the self

evolutionary reasons for helping

humans are "naturally" inclined to help if it would be likely to increase evolutionary success, e.g. reciprocal altruism, kinship, and group selection

informative conformity

in crisis situations, we follow those who seem to know what to do

group selection

natural selection operating at group level; altruists would have a survival advantage over selfish individuals

moral exclusion

perception of certain individuals or groups as outside the boundary within which one applies moral values and rules of fairness

negative-state relief

prosocial behavior motivated by bystander's desire to reduce his or her own uncomfortable negative emotions or feelings

decision-making process model

series of steps to help identify and evaluate possibilities when making a choice

good mood effect

• good moods make us interpret events in a sympathetic way • helping another prolongs the good mood, whereas not helping deflates it • good moods increase self-attention, and this in turn leads us to be more likely to behave according to our values and beliefs (which tend to favor altruism)

reciprocity

• helps build up "social capital" within sustained social network • if unable to reciprocate, we feel guilty & threatened if we receive help (esp. those with high self esteem)

altruistic personality traits

• high empathic concern • high positive emotionality, optimism, self-efficacy • higher moral reasoning

isen and levin dime study

• left dimes in coin slot (happiness manipulation) • staged confederate to walk by and drop papers • DV: will help? • 84% who found dimes in coin slot helped vs. 4% who didnt find dimes and helped

in-group vs. out-group helping

• many people go out of their way to help in-group members • more likely to feel empathy towards members of our in-group who are in need • tend to help out-group members in order to feel good about ourselves/make a good impression on others

penner empathetic response

• measured parental responses to child's pain after chemotherapy • pain & distress negatively correlated with parent's empathy (e.g. feeling warm and tender) • positively correlated with personal distress (e.g. feeling distressed and anxious)

increasing chances of getting help

• reduce ambiguity→ clearly define emergency • individuate someone in the crowd • assign tasks, instructions • teach norms supporting prosocial behavior • increase empathy (e.g. perspective taking) • foster helpful self-concept, intrinsic motivation and internal attributions • priming and modeling

religion & helping

• religious people more likely to help in situations where helping makes them look good to themselves or others • ex. raising money for a sick child • not any more likely to help in private situations where no one will know that they helped

arousal/cost-reward model

• rewards of helping→ social approval and increased feelings of self-worth • costs→ embarrassment or punishment; risk of injury; time and effort