Social Psychology: Chapter 11

What is the negative-State Relief Hypothesis?

A process in which people escape their depressed state by doing something good for others. For example, giving a homeless person a dollar bill may make you happier than the receiver. Giving the dollar lets you escape your unpleasant thoughts regarding the person's situation, and thus, allows you to maintain your mood.

Amy sees someone on her hands and knees, looking for a ring that slipped off of her finger. What is FALSE according to the empathy-altruism hypothesis?

Amy feels empathy toward the person, but she doesn't think she has much to gain by helping so she decides not to.

What is exchange theory?

Argues that prosocial behavior is not necessarily rooted in our genes. Instead, people help others in order to maximize social rewards and minimize social costs.

Megan hears a scream outside her dorm. She goes back to sleep and finds out the next day that a girl waited 45 minutes for someone to help her. What explains why Megan didn't help?

Diffusion of responsibility

What is NOT a reason why being in a good mood increases prosocial behavior?

Good moods will make us pay more attention to social norms, so we will be more aware of the altruism norm.

What is NOT true about personality and prosocial behavior?

Having an altruistic personality is a strong predictor of helping behavior.

What is true about prosocial behavior and moving?

How often people have moved from one place to another influences how helpful they are

What is true about songs with prosocial lyrics?

Listening to them will make people more helpful

What are the effects of Gender on helping?

Males help in chivalrous and heroic ways while women help in close, long-term relationships.

What are the effects of rural and urban environments on helping?

People are less likely to help in dense, urban settings because of the urban overload hypothesis (the idea that people living in cities are constantly bombarded with stimulation and that they keep to themselves in order to avoid being overwhelmed by it).

What are the effects of positive and negative moods?

People are more likely to help if they are in especially good moods or especially bad moods.

How do in-group/out-group perceptions affect helping?

People help in-group: feel empathy for in-group and are likely to help People help out-group: Help when they have something to gain (feel good about themselves or making a good impression).

How is prosocial behavior related to, or different from, altruism?

Prosocial behavior are acts preformed with the goal of benefiting another person. People can be motivated by altruism (the desire to help another person even if it involves a cost to the helper)

What is not a way that evolutionary theory explains prosocial behavior?

Social Exchange

What is the Empathy-Altruism theories of helping behavior?

States that when people feel empathy toward another person (they experience events and emotions the other person experiences), they attempt to help that person purely for altruistic reasons.

Frank moved from NYC back to the small town in Ohio where he grew up. He now finds that he is much more incline to engage in prosocial behavior. What is most likely the reason for this change?

The change in his immediate surroundings changed his likelihood of helping

What is norm of reciprocity?

The expectation that helping others will increase the likelihood that they will help us in the future.

What is kinship selection?

The idea that behaviors that help a genetic relative are favored by natural selection.

What is diffusion of responsibility?

The phenomenon wherein each bystander's sense of responsibility to help decreases as the number of witnesses increases

Luke listened to a confusing history lecture but did not raise his hand when the teacher asked if their were questions. No hands were raised and Luke assumed everyone understood the material. However, many students were in the same situation. This is an example of:

pluralistic ignorance (the case in which people think that everyone else is interpreting a situation in a certain way, when in fact they are not)

Research on prosocial behavior finds that religious people:

Actually help more than nonreligious people but only if it makes them look good to themselves or to others

What are the steps that must be successfully met for people to respond in an emergency (5 conditions)?

They must notice the event, interpret it as an emergency, assume responsibility, know how to help, and implement their decision to help