RPSE 310: Quiz 6

Forgiveness defined by Enright and colleagues

"a willingness to abandon one's right to resentment, negative judgment, and indifferent behavior toward one who unjustly hurt us, while fostering the undeserved qualities of compassion, generosity, and even love toward him or her" -crucial that the forgiving person develop a benevolent stance toward the transgressing person -forgiveness cannot be extended to situations and thus must be directed only at people

3-item Thanksgiving report

-is a subscale of the Multidimensional Prayer Inventory -people respond along a 7-point response scale to each item -3 items include: (1) "I offered thanks for specific things" (2) "I expressed my appreciation for my circumstances" and (3) "I thanked Gd for things occurring in my life" -higher scores correlated with stronger religious practices, such as prayer

Egotism-altruistic camp

-no matter how noble the altruism may appear, they believe that all altruistic actions produce an underlying benefit to the person who is doing the dead -motive: "I help because it benefits me"

Appreciation

-produces a more coherent pattern of heart rhythms, a "calming" pattern of heart beats per minute -produced the synchrony between alpha brain wave activity and heart beats -the synchrony of heartbeat and EEG was higher in the LH -the LH as been implicated in other research with positive emotions

Benefits of keeping weekly gratitude journals

-superior in terms of (1) the amount of exercise undertaken, (2) optimism about the upcoming week and (3) feeling better about their lives -reported greater enthusiasm, alertness, and determination -were sig. more likely to make progress toward important goals pertaining to their health, interpersonal relationships, and academic performance

Results of dictator game

1. female players were more likely than male players to give up half of the endowment given to them, particularly when playing the game in a room with other women 2. women give more altruistically than men

Forms of egotism-motivated altruism

1. helping another person results in public praise for the individual rendering aid 2. helper may receive material reward or honors for altruistic deeds 3. helpers receive no external rewards

More sustained letter-writing procedures resulted in

1. increases in happiness and life satisfaction 2. decreases in depression in a majority population sample

Neuromuscular condition + gratitude journals benefits

1. more optimistic 2. more energetic 3. more connected to other people 4. more likely to have restful sleep

Examples of heroism in prosocial acts

1. people described as "in the line of duty" (i.e. firefighters, first responders, police officers) 2. members of the military and ware heroes

Measuring gratitude

1. people list things they felt grateful for, which allowed researchers to find those events that produced gratefulness 2. take stories that people wrote about their lives and code these vignettes for gratefulness themes 3. 3-item Thanksgiving self-report 4. gratitude, resentment and appreciation test 5. gratitude adjective checklist 6. gratitude questionnaire

Measuring altruism

1. self-report altruism scale 2. prosocial behavior questionnaire 3. helping attitude scale 4. dictator game, voluntary contributions mechanisms

1 of 3 forms egotistical or self-beneficial actions involving altruism takes

1. the helping person gets public praise or even a monetary reward, along with self-praise for having done that which is good 2. the helping person avoids social or personal punishments for failing to help 3. the helping person may lessen his or her personal distress at seeing another's trauma

Who is more appreciative of altruistic traits, men or women?

1. women have been found to be when choosing a male partner for short-term relationships (i.e. a date) -this trait did not affect male preference in choosing a date 2. in long term relationships, both genders appeared to value altruism

Who is the one person who viewed gratitude unfavorably?

Aristotle - magnanimous people are adamant about their self-sufficiencies and, accordingly, view gratitude as demeaning and reflective of needless indebtedness to other

Apology phrases

Koreans preferred the use of __________ ________ as opposed to "thank you", whereas those in the US had the opposite reaction

Who benefits more from gratitude enhancing techniques?

White Americans benefited much more greater from these techniques as compared to with Asian American participants

Gratitude, appreciation

_________ typically refers to another person's actions vs. ___________ may or may not entail another individual

Prosocial behavior questionnaire

a 20-item rating observational index that can be used by teachers to report prosocial behaviors -used to measure altruism

Gratitude, Resentment and Appreciation Test (GRAT)

a 44-item index that taps the three factors of resentment, simple appreciation and social appreciation

Heroic imagination

a collection of attitudes about helping others in need, beginning with caring for others in compassionate ways, but also moving toward a willingness to sacrifice or take risks on behalf of others or in defense of a moral cause

Naikan

a form of meditation in Japan found to enhance a person's sense of gratitude -one learns to meditate daily on three gratitude related questions: (1) what did I receive? (2) what did I give? (3) what trouble and difficulties did I cause to others?

Benefit finding

a person may have come through a major medical crisis or problem and discover benefits in that experiences -may be esp. helpful in the short term dealing with stress that occurs as a result of some trauma

Helping attitude scale

a self report instrument for adults containing a 20-item measure that taps beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to helping -initial findings show that women have more positive attitudes about helping then to men

Self-report altruism scale

a validated 20-item index for adults -used to measure altruism

Empathy and egotism can lead to

altruism, gratitude and forgiveness

Empathy

an emotional response to the perceived plight of another person -involves the ability to match another person's motives or emotions -may entail a sense of tenderheartedness toward that other person

Age

appeared to mediate the relationship between depression and negative affect

"Pure" altruism

arising from human empathy has been viewed as a viable underlying motive for helping, in contrast to the previous emphasis on egotism as the solve motive

Collectivism

as an ideology may in face be a form of altruism or prosocial behavior that affects an entire community

Increased, increased, decrease

as gratitude __________, life satisfaction ___________ and emotional exhaustion was found to __________

Gratitude adjective checklist (GAC)

asks participants to state how well 3 adjectives (grateful, appreciative, and thankful) describe them -often used as a secondary measure of gratitude in conjunction with some other inventory

Altruism

behavior or actions that are aimed at benefiting another person

When is gratitude cultivated?

can be cultivated a young age

Altruistic behavior

can be motivated by personal egotism, or it can be promoted by "pure" empathetic desire to benefit another person, irrespective of personal gain

Gratitude

derived from the Latin concept gratia, which entails some variant of grace, gratefulness, and graciousness -ideas flowing from this Latin root pertain to "kindness, generousness, gifts, the beauty of giving and receiving" -being thankful for and appreciating the actions of another -seen as beneficial to the individual and serves as a motivation force for human altruism

When does gratitude emerge?

emerges upon recognizing that one has obtained a positive outcome from another individual who behaved in a way that was 1. costly to him or her, 2. valuable to the recipient, and 3. intentionally rendered

People often incorrectly assume that

feeling good about themselves is not part of rendering help -inaccurate to conclude that helping another and feeling good about oneself are incompatible

Forgiveness defined by Thompson and colleagues

forgiveness is a freeing from a negative attachment to the source that has transgressed against a person -this theory is the most inclusive in that the source of the transgression, -the target of an eventual forgiveness, may be oneself, another person, or a situation that is viewed as out of one's control

When a transgressor apologizes

forgiveness is more likely to follow -the effectiveness of an apology is often influenced by the personality factors of the person who committed the bad act (i.e. agreeableness)

Forgiveness defined by McCullough and colleagues

forgiveness reflects increases in prosocial motivation toward another such that there is (1) less desire to avoid the transgression person and to harm to seek revenge toward that individual and (2) increased desire to act positively toward the transgressing person -changes in motivation are viewed as being the core of this theory, with the person becoming more benevolent over time -forgiveness is seen as applicably only when there is another person who has engaged in a transgression

religiousness, spiritual experiences, cognitions

found that empathy was linked to ____________ and altruism was most strongly linked to _________ __________ and _____________.

Effects of keeping a diary focused on gratitude + attending workshops

found to be helpful and results in higher environmental mastery and greater life satisfaction

More

gratitude must be even ______ important to cultivate in individuals who are lower in regular positive emotional experiences

Greater

having empathy for another leads to a __________ likelihood of helping that other people

Those whose primary motivations were for self-gain had

higher mortality risk four years after the study was conducted in comparison to those whose primary motivations were more directed at helping others

Void of egotistical gains

humans at times are sufficiently moved by their empathies to help other people

Gratitude questionnaire (GQ-6)

is a 6-item questionnaire on which respondents endorse each item on a 7-point Likert scale -the 6 items correlate strongly with each other, and one overall factor seems to tap the scale content -scores correlate reliably with peers' rating of target persons' gratitude levels -people scoring high on this scale report feeling more thankful and grateful

The ability to empathize

is likely a necessary condition for feeling gratitude toward another person, similar to altruism

Interaction between commitment and religious gratitude

is particularly sensitive in being able to predict emotional well-being, above and beyond gratitude

Ingratitude

is the most horrible and unnatural of all crimes that humans are capable of committing

Egotism

is the motive to pursue some sort of personal gain or benefit through targeted behavior -has been heralded as one of the most influential of all human motives -seen as driving a variety of human actions

Results of damage to the PFC on empathy

leads to impairments in appraising the emotions of other people

People seem to take delight in

learning that it is legitimate to feel good about helping others -one way to unleash such positive feelings is to have the person engage in community volunteer work

Helping behaviors

may be habit forming -involving children in altruistic actions when they are young may have important implications for continuation of this prosocial behavior

Effectiveness of gratitude interventions

may be moderated by the level of positive affect in the lives of participants

When might expressions and reactions of gratitude differ?

may differ between East and West -has to do with the perception of which words (i.e. thank you, apology phrases) would help sooth a threat to a personal "face" (i.e. saving face)

Cohort effects

may influence the level of gratitude in some groups and the level of gratitude that people feel toward various situations

Having different conceptualizations of forgiveness

may interfere with healthy relationships between transgressors and victims

Multiple cultural facets (i.e. race + religious affiliation)

may play a dynamic role in effecting understanding, manifestation and utility of various constructs

Knowing the mindset from which the victim comes

might make a difference in whether forgiveness occurs

What's the level of heritability for empathy?

modest levels -for adult males, correlations for MZ and DZ twins is 0.41 and 0.05 respectively

Links between religion and pro-sociality are

more likely due to methodological problems and faulty interpretations of results vs. others dispute this account of the literature surrounding the "religious pro-sociality hypothesis"

Results of "count your blessings" activities

more likely to have helped another person

Is prosociality directed toward an ingroup altruism?

no since it also benefits the individual member (i.e. primarily egoistic)

What is the most common incorrect assumption about gratitude?

observed that many people assume that gratefulness is synonymous with lack of motivation and greater complacency in life -in reality, gratitude is an active and affirming process

Dictator Game

participants are given a number of token and told to divide those tokens between themselves and another person given various circumstances -one way prosocial behavior is measured -borrowed from economics to determine if participants are more likely to act in a more prosocial way or more egotistic way in various scenarios -issues: interview bias and assumptions made for various behaviors

The way in which individuals conceptualize forgiveness

plays an important role in their assignment of value to this construct and ultimately their use of it in their daily lives

What ares of the brain are essential for empathy?

prefrontal and parietal cortices

View of egotism and altruism during the Renaissance

prevailing view that altruism is best explained by the motive of egotism -we care for other people because it benefits us to do so

Individuals who exhibited pro-sociality towards others

received sig. more social support from mothers, siblings, and friends/ acquaintances -internal traits (i.e. self-sacrifice and private self-consciousness) were found to be related to pro-social behavior -results were found with regard to prosocial behavior directed at friends and acquaintances but in some cases extended towards strangers -"altruism niche"

Religious pro-sociality hypothesis

religion is more often associated with pro-sociality when it relates to "in group favoritism" -when individuals think of being prosocial to others from their same religious group, they may respond more favorable to taking these tasks on -when groups they are helping seem as an outgroup, taking these actions may no be seen as favorably

Relationship between religiousness and gratitude

religiousness is positively correlated with gratitude in general and that specific gratitude toward Gd "enhances the psychological benefit of gratitude"

Older African Americans and Mexican Americans

reported feeling more grateful to Gd than older White Americans -appeared to be a function of perception of the receipt of spiritual support but not true for Mexican Americans

What does empathy require?

requires the capacity to form internal simulations of another's bodily or mental states

Trait-like, state-like

research suggests that altruistic actions could be the result of ______ ______ behavior, as opposed to being _______ ________, leading people to act in this way more frequently

Quality, quantity

researchers have found that _________ not _________ is more important in gratitude exercises

Differed

scholars have _______ in their definition of forgiveness -although the view of the exact nature of forgiveness vary, the consensus is that it's beneficial to people

Do individuals incorporate helping into their personal identity?

some individuals do such that anything other than altruistic behavior in these types of situations doesn't feel authentic and thus isn't considered as a viable behavioral option

Forgiveness as defined by Tangney and colleagues

suggested that forgiveness reflected (1) cognitive-affective transformation following a transgression in which (2) the victim makes a realistic assessment of the harm done and acknowledges the perpetrator's responsibility, but (3) freely chooses to 'cancel the debt', giving up the need for revenge or deserved punishments and any quest for restitution. this 'canceling of the debt' also involves (4) a cancellation of negative emotions directly related to the transgression. -in particular, in forgiving, the victim overcomes his or her feelings of resentment and anger for the act -in short, by forgiving, the harmed individual (5) essential removes him or herself from the victim role -suggests that the giving up of negative emotions is the crux of the forgiving process

What does gratitude tap into?

taps into the propensity to appreciate and savor everyday events and experiences

The older you are

the more willing you are to forgive and that this tendency to forgive becomes more dispositional (as opposed to situational) with age

Empathy-altruism hypothesis

the view, borne out by Batson's (1991) findings, that empathy for another person leads to a greater likelihood of helping that person

Thank you

the word ______ _______ are shown to produce more positive reactions in the US samples as compared with participants from Korea

Empathy-altruism hypothesis tests show

there are instances in which egotism does not appear to explain such helping behaviors -argument that people help at least partially in order to avoid aversive arousal and negative emotions that may occur as a result of not helping others -even when physical or psychological escape from such a situation is made easy, individuals higher in empathy still help those in need

Is there a difference between those who set out to help another in order to attain egoistic gain and those who act due to less egoistic motivation?

there may be some distinctions between these two people

Mirror neurons

these neurons could help to explain why and how we feel empathy but have to be careful about generalizing these findings from animals to human

Results of damage to the right somatosensory cortices on empathy

these people can no longer judge others' emotions, it follows they have lost a skill crucial for empathy

Can altruists recognize altruism in one another?

they may be able to and benefit evolutionary from selecting a similarly altruistic mate -may be an evolutionary benefit developed over time

Apologies are more effective when

they're in line with the victim's self-construal -individuals who are more independent in their self-construal tend to be more forgiving when a transgressor clearly states what (s)he will do to "make things right" and recreate equality in the relationship -individuals who are more relational in their construal, responded more positively to empathy as opposed to compensation

Volunteerism

thought to be a naturally related concept to altruism -reports show that this waned in the wake of the poor economy

A way to increase people's likelihood of helping is

to teach them to have greater empathy for the circumstances of other people 1. have a person interact more frequently with people who need help 2. point of similarities with another person that may not be obvious 3. working with those who especially want to see themselves as different from another - must teach them they do share characteristics with others 4. empathy may be able to develop toward a broader group of people if we help children develop wife and diverse social circles

Frustration

typically elicits disordered and erratic heart rhythms, reflecting a lack of synchrony between the PNS and the SNS

Gratitude enhancing strategies

use of these strategies to influence happiness or well-being appears to differ between Asian Americans and their White American counterparts

How is gratitude viewed?

viewed as a prized human propensity in the Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian and Jewish traditions

Nonreligious spiritual cognitions

were also strongly linked to empathy in particular

Who gives more altruistically, men or women?

women - women as a group were found to be less sensitive to the "price of giving" in making decisions about dividing the token in the Dictator Game -this effect was heightened by possession of particular Big Five personality factors (i.e. agreeableness and conscientiousness)

Is there a link between prosocial behavior and level of religiosity?

yes, regardless of why the behavior occurs

Can personal values affect altruistic behaviors?

yes, these values can 1. in individuals who value prosocial acts so strongly that this becomes a piece of their identity, volunteering becomes an important source of self-esteem 2. working to engender personal responsibility for acting pro-socially ma impact the development of altruism

Low, higher

youth who were ______ in positive affect were able to make greater increases in their level of gratefulness and had _______ positive affect after writing and delivering a letter of gratitude