Social Psychology Chapter 11: Prosocial Behavior
Negative mood
"Feel bad, do good" feeling guilty increases helping
Positive mood
"Feel good, do good" 1. good moods make people look on brighter side of life 2. helping others can prolong good mood 3. good moods increase self-attention
3 underlying prosocial behaviors
1. instinctively helping those genetically similar to us (evolutionary psych) 2. rewards of helping often out weigh cost, makes helping our self interest (social exchange theory) 3. powerful feelings of empathy and compassion for victim leads to selfless giving (empathy-altruism hyp)
Gender
Men more likely to help in first situation Women more likely to help in second NO difference
Prosocial Behavior
act performed with the goal of benefiting another person
Exchange relationship
equity- what you put into relationship is equal to what you get out
Kin Selection
evolutionary approach -behaviors that help a genetic relative a favorable by natural selection
Norm of Reciprocity
expecting that helping someone will increase the likelihood of them help you in the future
Bystander Effect
greater number of bystanders who see emergency, less likely any of them will help victim
Altruism
helping another person, even if theres a cost to the helper
Social Exchange Theory
much of what we do comes from desire to maximize our rewards and minimize our costs -argues against altruism (helping ppl even when costly)
Negative-state relief hyp
people help in order to alleviate their own sadness and distress
Urban Overload hyp
people in large cities are constantly bombarded and they keep to themselves to avoid being overwhelmed
Cultural
ppl in all cultures are more likely to help some in "in-group"(identified as member) then someone in "out-group"(not identified as member)
Communal relationship
primary concern is with welfare of other person (child)
Empathy
putting yourself in someone else's shoes to experience events & emotions they had
Altruistic Personality
qualities in an individual that makes them help other in a variety of situations