PSY-5 (Ch.14 Altruism and Cooperation)

Complete the passage about situational factors in cooperative behavior.

A key situational determinant of cooperation is how often we expect to deal with a person over time. Studies using the prisoner's dilemma indicate that as the likelihood of interacting with someone in the future rises, we become more cooperative. Because of this, a reputation—the collective beliefs, evaluations, and impressions that people hold about an individual—becomes an important determinants of cooperative behavior.

Which of the following statements regarding the role of pluralistic ignorance in the construals of situations where people are in distress are accurate?

Accurate A form of it occurs in these situations when people are unsure about what is happening and assume nothing is wrong because no one else appears concerned. In an experiment, people's adherence to it was caused to increase by placing them with confederates who pretend nothing was a amiss during a situation of distress. It can occur in these situations as a result of being dictated by established social norms. Not Accurate People are just as likely to fall prey to it when they can see the initial looks of concern on the faces of others as when they cannot.

Which of the following statements accurately describe how the presence of others can impact the tendency to behave altruistically in situations where someone is in need?

Accurate Awareness that others have seen the situation results in each bystander assuming someone else will help, thus making bystanders feel less responsibility to do so. In a study, the more people that were present, the less likely an individual was to intervene. Not Accurate The tendency to respond when others are present is the same whether the others are known to each other or not. Since rate for at least one person responding is similar regardless of group size, the size of the group of observers has no practical impact on victims.

Which of the following statements about the studies by Joseph Henrich and his colleagues of cooperation across cultures using the "ultimate game" variation of the prisoner's dilemma are accurate?

Accurate Cultures where individuals did not need the help of others to survive tended to show lower levels of cooperation in the game. The level of cooperation across a variety of cultures in the study was generally higher than adherents of the idea of rational self-interest might have expected. In cultures where individuals needed to collaborate with others to gather resources to subsist, cooperation levels in the game were high. Not Accurate Independence increased people's cooperation and generosity with anonymous others.

Which of the following statements regarding study results about altruism in urban and rural communities are accurate?

Accurate Help is predicted to be more forthcoming in a community of 5,000 than in a city of 500,000. Help is predicted to be more forthcoming in a community of 10,000 than in a community of 20,000. Not Accurate Help is predicted to be more forthcoming in a community of 50,000 than in a city of 500,000. Someone raised in a large city but living in a small town is more likely to display a pattern of altruism indicative of a large city.

Which of the following statements accurately describe the idea of reciprocal altruism?

Accurate Helping others with the expectation that they will probably return the favor in the future offers significant benefits. Researchers believe that expressions of thanks act as social rewards, and are a powerful trigger of subsequent cooperation. In humans, the impulse to reciprocate is a powerful motive, and the tendency to return favors is a likely human universal. Not Accurate While it looks good on paper, and there are examples of it occurring in nonhuman species, examples of reciprocal altruism among humans are rare.

Economic theory assumes that people are rational actors who always act in self-interested ways, attempting to maximize their own gains. Which of these statements about research into whether these ideas would influence cooperation levels of economics majors and economists are accurate?

Accurate In a study using the prisoner's dilemma, economics majors behaved far less cooperatively than other students. Evidence supports the contention that training in the discipline of economics encourages people to act more selfishly. Not Accurate One study found that economists were just as likely to donate to charities than non-economists.

Which of the following statements regarding religion, ethics, and altruism are accurate?

Accurate In a study, exposure to key religious words resulted in making the participants more prosocial. Researchers suggest that the sense of being watched—a prominent theme in many religions—increases altruism. The major religions of the world emphasize compassion, altruism, and treating others—even friends and adversaries—with kindness. Not Accurate In a study, exposure to nonreligious words related to kindness and ethical behavior didn't make the participants more prosocial.

Which of the following statements regarding altruism are accurate?

Accurate It can be defined as unselfish behavior that benefits others without regard to consequences for oneself. Basic tendencies toward self-preservation can restrain altruistic action. Fear of embarrassment can inhibit altruistic action. Not Accurate Only selfless motives are involved in the behavior of altruism.

Which of the following statements accurately describe the prisoner's dilemma?

Accurate It is designed in a way that reveals attitudes on cooperation, competition, and related matters. Studies that rely on use of it and other "economics games" have been criticized due to external validity concerns. It lacks the complexities of real-world cooperation and competition, and is artificial and contrived on its surface. Not Accurate Due to concerns about how well it can predict real-world behavior, it has little influence on thinking about cooperation.

Which of the following statements regarding kin selection—an evolutionary that favors the reproductive success of one's genetic relatives, even at a cost to one's own survival and reproduction—are accurate?

Accurate It predicts that we direct more of our helping behavior toward kin than toward non-kin. It is related to inclusive fitness, the fitness of an individual based on reproductive success and the passing on of genes to future generations. It predicts that we should help close kin more than more distant relatives. Not Accurate It explains why we help non-relatives.

Which of the following statements about gossip—a communicative act in which a person comments on the reputation of another who is not present—are accurate?

Accurate One of the primary reasons people gossip is to figure out the reputations of other people; reputations are often spread through gossiping. Through gossip, we investigate whether other group members are inclined to act in ways that strengthen the group or in ways that might create friction and ill will. The threat of gossip can make people aware of what might happen to their reputations should they act selfishly, thus encouraging more cooperative behavior. Not Accurate Groups in which gossip takes place are less cooperative than those that do not engage in gossiping.

Which of the following statements regarding volunteerism are accurate?

Accurate Research suggests that volunteerism has a good health component. In the United States, it has been estimated that more than one in four people are volunteers. Not Accurate Unlike altruism, volunteerism is motivated only by non-selfish, empathic concern. Regardless of what is motivating them, anyone who provides monetary support for another person is a volunteer.

Which of the following statements accurately describe Darley and Batson's Good Samaritan Study?

Accurate The greater the hurry of the participants, the less likely they were to respond to the confederates pleas for help. It highlighted that situational factors—even if they are subtle—powerfully impact whether people will help someone in need. Not Accurate The most significant factor in determining if a participant would stop to help was what the topic they were going to speak on was. It illustrated the importance of the role of social rewards in predicting altruistic behavior.

Complete the following passage about certain influences on levels of cooperation.

After being subliminally primed with labels related to hostility, a group of students in a study using the prisoner's dilemma played in a far less cooperative manner than a group of students primed with non-hostile labels. This and other studies have illustrated the powerful role of construal processes in determining levels of cooperation.

Complete the passage about how the evolutionary perspective explains altruistic behaviors.

Altruistic behavior presents a challenge for evolution since natural selection favors behaviors that increase the likelihood of survival and reproduction. By its nature, altruistic behavior is costly since it devotes precious resources to others. The concept of kin selection explains benefits of generosity toward relatives, while the concept of reciprocal altruism suggests benefits of helping friends and strangers.

Which of the following adjectives apply to the tit-for-tat strategy, a strategy in the prisoner's dilemma game that is cited as a possible model for how cooperation might emerge in competitive environments governed the pursuit of self-interest?

Apply non-exploitive and forgiving cooperative and non-envious easy to read Don't Apply ruthless and brutal blindly prosocial and complicated

Complete the passage about one aspect of social class and altruism.

Billionaires including Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan and Bill and Melinda Gates have committed to donating most of their wealth to philanthropic causes. This is in contrast to the fact that those who have more give less—at least in terms of the proportion of the income they donate to charity. This suggests that Zuckerberg and Gates are exceptions in terms of giving most of their wealth to charity.

Which of the following represent social psychology research findings that support the idea that humans are "wired" to care and share for others?

Correct Answer(s) Some non-human primates regularly share food with non-kin in their communities. Toddlers will respond altruistically to others in need. Non-human primates have been observed providing help to fellow primates in great need. Incorrect Answer(s) An "altruism gene" found in humans predicts (when missing) a sociopathic unwillingness to care for others in need.

Complete the following passage about unselfish altruism.

Daniel Batson's concept of empathic concern occurs when observing a person in need results in an understanding of what the person is experiencing and is accompanied by a fast and automatic intention to help the person. It is a pure form of altruism.

Which of the following explanations have been offered to explain that altruism rates are generally lower the bigger the size of the community?

Explanations diffusion of responsibility stimulus overload greater diversity Not an Explanation helping others is viewed negatively in urban areas

A study of the cultivation of empathic concern by Oliner and Oliner found which of these characteristics in individuals who risked their lives to save Jews during the Nazi Holocaust?

Found by Oliner and Oliner They explicitly evoked altruism as an ethical principle. Their parents and grandparents had often told stories from their lives and from their culture in which altruism was a theme. Not Found by Oliner and Oliner They were particularly prone to social distress, having come from areas where atrocities against others were less unusual. They tended to come from families that valued social rewards as a motivation for altruism.

Which of the following statements is in keeping with research on differences in social class and altruism?

In Keeping Researchers hold that upper-income people are able to be more independent because they enjoy more resources and opportunities than lower-income people. Researchers suggest that a relative scarcity of resources leads lower-income individuals to be more empathically attuned to others. Not in Keeping High-income individuals give a higher proportion of their income to charity than lower income people. Lower-income people are better judges of their friends' emotions, while higher-income people are better at judging the emotions of strangers.

Three kinds of motivation are associated with altruism. Individual acts of altruism can result from more than one of these, but for each example below, decide which of these motives is primarily being described.

Lira is upset at the sight of a homeless woman shivering. Though not rich herself, Lira feels guilt since she has, in comparison, so few needs. She hands the woman a $5 bill. Correct label: personal distress Late one night Miguel sees a man being beaten by two other men. He instinctively feels concern for the victim and comes to his aid without regard for his own safety. Correct label: empathic concern For the third time this winter, Joanne sees someone absentmindedly drop a glove. She picks it up and returns it because this invariably makes people grateful to her. Correct label: social reward Having made billions off a website, a couple donates enormous sums of money to their charitable foundation because they want to be thought of as good people. Correct label: social reward

A study conducted by Nancy Eisenberg and others showed people videos of accident victims. Which of these physiological responses were more typical in the viewers who were more likely to help the accident sufferers than those who were not?

More Typical in Empathetic Viewers eyebrows pulled in and upward a concerned gaze Less Typical in Empathetic Viewers heartbeat acceleration a pained wince

Complete the following passage about a powerful influence on people's decisions to help others in distress.

One of the reasons that construal processes—how people interpret situations—have such a strong influence on whether or not people help in situations of distress is because many instances of distress are surprisingly ambiguous in everyday life.

Complete the following passage about unselfish altruism.

People vary significantly in their altruistic behavior according to situational features, such as how much time they have, what sort of need or suffering they encounter, and who is present when others are in distress.

Complete the following passage describing motivations for altruism.

Research supports the idea that people help others out of egoistic, or selfish, motives that include reducing one's own personal distress and the potential for receiving social rewards such as praise, attention, and gratitude.

Complete the passage about two concepts relating to determinants of behavior when someone is in need of assistance.

The assistance given to someone in need of help by an observer is called bystander intervention. It is a situational factor and it is dependent on the number of people observing. The presence of other can lead to a diffusion of responsibility, in which nobody assumes accountability for helping the person in need.

Altruism is unselfish behavior that benefits others without regard to consequences for oneself. Match each of the following terms relating to altruism with the correct definition.

a motive for helping others in need that may arise from a need to reduce one's own anguish Correct label: personal distress assistance that a person regularly provides to another person or group with no expectation of compensation Correct label: volunteerism identifying with someone in need, including feeling and understanding what that person is experiencing, accompanied by the intention to help the person Correct label: empathic concern a benefit, such as praise, positive attention, something tangible, or gratitude, that may be gained from helping others, and serves a motive for altruistic behavior Correct label: social reward

When you and someone else act in ways that will benefit you both you are engaging in ____________________. This act is thought to be part of our evolutionary heritage since engaging in it offered significant advantages for hominid predecessors—as it does for humans in modern day societies.

cooperation

In each the following scenarios, a characteristic of the victim will either increase or decrease the likelihood of he or she being helped by observes. Decide if each of the following is an "increase" or a "decrease" example.

decrease Correct label: Alex got a bloody gash on her head when she fell on the street, spraining her ankle. increase Correct label: Tracy, who is African American, fell on the street and sprained her ankle in the presence of other African Americans. Correct label: Meredith screamed out for help when she fell and sprained her ankle on the street.

Match each term involved in the evolutionary perspective on altruism to its definition.

evolutionary measure of the condition of an individual based on reproductive success and the passing on genes to future generations Correct label: inclusive fitness evolutionary strategy that favors the reproductive success of one's genetic relatives—even at a cost to one's own survival and reproduction Correct label: kin selection behavior that helps others along with an expectation that they will probably return the favor in the future Correct label: reciprocal altruism

In each the following scenarios, a construal factor will either increase or decrease the likelihood of a person in distress being helped by an observer. Decide if each of the following is an "increase" or a "decrease" example.

increase Correct label: Kyle hears a man cry out, "Someone please call 911! I think I'm having a heart attack!" Correct label: Jake is in the park when a man on the ground yells, "You in the Cubs hat, please help me!" decrease Correct label: Gil sees a man in a heap on the street. He is unaware that the man was struck in the head by a board that fell from a building site.

Match each of the concepts relating to cooperation with the correct definition.

the beliefs and evaluations that people hold about an individual Correct label: reputation a communication means by which one person comments on another's reputation when s/he is not present Correct label: gossip a type of game for examining human cooperation in which payoffs are offered Correct label: prisoner's dilemma a strategy for encouraging cooperation by mimicking another's behaviors Correct label: tit-for-tat strategy