IB Psychology Madsen (Kin Selection Theory)

Procedure

All pps were made to fill out a list of relatives, varying in genetic closeness (Eg. grandparents, parents, siblings, cousins). They were then tasked to hold a wall sit, with an incentive of earning money or food (South African vs UK pps) for every 20 seconds that passed for five rounds, with each round donating the money/food to themselves, parents, cousins, grandparents, and a charity. singularly

Strengths

Includes a charity organization which is not a genetic relation so the "control" helps support the conclusion, controlled variables as it is lab experiment, low demand characteristics as researchers were not present in the same room

Conclusion

Kin selection theory may be observed as altruistic behavior, as the actions benefit those who are closely genetically related; however, it does not claim to be the ONLY factor affecting altruism.

Weaknesses

May not be "altruistic" behavior since there is an incentive, may not be close with certain family members so relationship may play a role in the results, may be susceptible to order affects such as the fatigue effect or practice effect

Results

The results showed that the highest time recorded for each participant was most often for themselves, followed by parents, grandparents etc.--basically, following the pattern of genetic closeness

Aim

To investigate whether the closeness of genetic relationships affects altruistic behavior