Psychology Part 4: Altruism

Threat to Self-Esteem Model

A model explaining the reactions of victims to receiving help suggesting that they might refuse help because accepting it is a threat to their self-esteem.

Step 3 Helping Emergencies

Assuming the responsibility to help

Belief in a Just World - others

Believing that the world is just (i.e. fair) for others leads to harsher attitudes towards the poor.

Belief in a Just World - self

Believing that the world is just (i.e. fair) for the self leads to greater life satisfaction.

high need, asking a stranger, and easy task

Factors that influence the likeliness to ask for help

Altruism

Helping behavior motivated purely by the desire to do something good for someone else and not the anticipation of personal benefit

personality factors interacts with a situation to determine if one helps or not

Interactionist View of Altruism

Stage 2 Helping Emergencies

Labeling the situation as an emergency

Selfish Personality

Motivated to get something in return without helping.

Receptive Giving Personality

Motivated to help and to get something in return

Altruistic Personality

Motivated to help others but not to receive help in return.

Controllability

People are more likely to help when the __________of the situation is low.

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People who experience an event that puts them in a negative mood are____ likely to help than people who don't experience such an event.

More

People who experience an event that puts them in a positive mood are ______ likely to help than people who don't experience such an event.

The Bystander Effect

The phenomenon that helping behavior is less likely to occur as the number of witnesses to an emergency increases.

Evolutionary Perspective on Altruism

altruism in human beings is dead we all have a reason for helping

Empathy vs. Personal Distress

are people doing something to reduce their personal distress or to reduce the empathy they feel for others

Stage 4 Helping Emergencies: Deciding How To Help

decisions to help are more likely if people perceive themselves as competent, and capable of helping.

Stage 1 Helping Emergencies

noticing the situation

The Good Samaritan Study

students watched a parable on the good Samaritan and were asked to discuss what they learned after they went outside and walked past a hunched over man the man rated how much help he received 1-4

People may be reluctant to seek help because of the social stigma associated with needing help

What normally happens when people seek help?

The Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis

An explanation of helping behavior that suggests that empathy leads to altruism.

Stage 5 Helping Emergencies

Implementing the decision to help;More likely if the costs of helping are low; More likely if the victim is perceived as deserving of help

Personal Distress-Relief Model

The ultimate reason for all helping behavior is that it relieves personal distress. There is no such thing as altruism.

Make sure the bystander takes responsibility and realizes that it is an emergency

what are ways in which you are more likely to receive help in an emergency?