chapter 13 soc psych
Prosocial Behaviour:
The goal is to help another
*Desire to help your circumstances
*Desire to help another’s well-being
Altruism:
The desire to help another
Personal factors that affect helping behavior:
*Evolutionary factors
*Personality
*Religion
Comparing models
-reduction of adverse arousal
-fear of punishment for not helping
-the desire for reward
Two main types of helping-
Egotistic= Even though we are helping someone else we are doing it for more selfish reasons.
Alturristic= We help out of concern and passion
Egotistic=
Egotistic= Even though we are helping someone else we are doing it for more selfish reasons.
Altruistic=
Alturristic= We help out of concern and passion
What is the prosocial brian=
When we engage in prosocial behavior our brain goes off…
Evolutionary factors
*Some act in altruistic ways to help another, even at great personal cost
*This is likely when it will help ensure the survival of their genes, which can then be passed on
Kinship selection:
We are more likely to help those we are genetically related to.
Evidence of kinship selection-
*People should behave more altruistically to those who could potentially reproduce and pass on their genes
*People should be more likely to help those who are likely to reproduce and pass on their genes (vs. those who are in poor health and/or very old)
Evidence of reciprocal altruism-
*People do show altruistic behavior to non-relatives
*Reciprocal altruism: We are motivated to help others because we expect that they will later help us in return
Personality in relation to altruism
*We often assume that people who engage in highly altruistic behavior have distinct
personality characteristics
*Agreeableness is related to both kin and reciprocal altruism
*We show an increase in empathy and prosocial behavior as we mature, but we vary in our frequency and types of helping
how does empathy relate to altruism?
The ability to understand others’ perspectives and respond emotionally to their
experiences.
*People with higher levels of empathy engage in more prosocial behavior (e.g., donating money to charitable causes and spending time helping people in need)
Moral reasoning related to alturism=
The extent to which your willingness to help depends on your own needs
and the expected consequences for you of helping, rather than on larger moral standards
*The use of higher-level reasoning is associated with greater empathy and altruism
*Parents’ direct teaching of prosocial behavior can influence children’s moral reasoning
how does religion relate to altruism
*Some religious teachings emphasize the importance of engaging in cooperative and
prosocial behavior
*Other religions encourage people to treat others as they would like others to treat them
*Religious beliefs are sometimes associated with more altruistic behavior
*People who hold strong, conservative religious beliefs are more likely to help those they think to deserve help but not those they think are undeserving
Two models that describe how situational factors influence whether help is given:
*Decision-making process model
*Arousal/cost-reward model
Situational factors that influence helping behavior:
*Mood
*Modelling
*The environment
Decision-making process model…
*Emergencies are rare and unusual events
*We do not have a lot of experience in handling emergencies, and may not know how to cope with one
*Emergencies differ widely
*You may have experience handling one type of emergency but not others that require different types of help
*Emergencies are unforeseen
*Helping behavior is a function of 5 distinct steps
*Need to notice that something is happening
*Can be difficult to do, especially if live in a big city and are used to blocking out stimuli (noises, strangers)
*We are more likely to give help when we witness a clear and vivid emergency
*Need to interpret the event as an emergency
*We often interpret events as “non-emergencies” and so fail to act
what is Pluralistic ignorance:
We look to each other’s behavior to determine how we should react in an emergency, and then assume that because others are not reacting there is no emergency
*Need to take responsibility for providing help
*Diffusion of responsibility: When we assume that others will assume responsibility and help and that we do not need to
Bystander effect:
We are less likely to help in emergencies when there are other people present than if we are alone
*There is a decreased likelihood of help being given the more people there are who could help
*But, if you believe you are the only one who can properly help, you will, even if there are others around
*Need to decide how to help
*E.g., call 911, give CPR
*People with relevant skills help more than people without such skills or training
what is the Evolutionary perspective:
we are more likely to survive when we help each other.
Direct altirsim=
A helps N and B will hep A
Indirect altruism=
A helps B and C witnesses that and later on when A needs help they step up to the plate.
what is Social exchange theory-
when it comes to helping we do it for selfish reasons when we get more than enough rewards for something.
Negative state relief hypothesis-
we help others in order to make ourselves feel better. But when we are in a good mood we are less likely to help.
what is the Urdan overload hypothesis=
When we live in a big city we don't pay attention as much.
Length of time=
Longer we have lived in a community we a likely to stand up and help.
Primed=
Religion, close relationships make us more likely to help.
Social influence=
if others do it we are more likely to
Reluctant altruism=
Peer pressured into doing something
Cost-benefit analysis=
is more likely to help when the benefits outweigh the cost.
Strategies for getting help:
*Identify one person in the crowd, and call out to that person directly
*Clearly label the situation as an emergency
*Give instructions on how exactly the person should help
Guilt=
When we feel guilt we are more likely to help effects of guilt are not long-lasting.
Bad mood-
Bad mood- when we take responsibility for our bad mood but our values are linked to helping
Arousal cost and reward model:
*Helping behavior is caused in part by the physiological arousal we can experience when
we see someone in need of help and part by the calculation of the costs and rewards of
providing such help
*We are motivated to behave altruistically to help decrease our arousal
Impact of costs:
There can be personal costs to helping
*Teaching someone about the personal costs of prosocial behavior can lead to a decrease in
Helping.
Impact of benefits:
The costs of prosocial behavior decrease the likelihood of helping; the
benefits or rewards of prosocial behavior work to increase helping
*Receiving certain types of rewards for prosocial behavior can lead to a decrease in helping because it undermines spontaneous helping
Great person theory:
Great leaders are not made they are shared
Contingency model=
better the match between charteristques and skills that make better leaders. Therefore someone who is a great leader in one situation could be a bad one in another state.
Social identity theory-
likely to follow leaders who are similar to them
The bystander effect:
when a situation is happening and someone needs to help but other people are sound we are less likely to help.
Side-stepping bystander effect:
if strangers are friendly towards each other, nurse leaders are less likely to fall prey to the bystander effect.
Who are Darley and Latone-
coined the term by the standard effect
Men are more likely to help when
people are watching and with chivalrous behavior
women are more likely to
help when no one watching, family or friends.
How to increase prosocial behavior,
-modeling
-teaching compassion
-moral inclusion
The 5 steps…
lst=notcie that something is going on…
2and= must interpret the situation as an emergency…
3rd= assume responsibility (defusion of responsibility could inferior)
4th= how we are going to help
5th= actually providing help (we may not if there's an audience)
Audience inhibition=
We are afraid people will judge us if we help
Mood-
*Both good and bad moods can lead to helping
Good mood effect:
Helping behavior increases when we are in a good mood
Environmental factors-
*Environmental factors (e.g., location of emergency) influence prosocial behavior
*People in small towns are more likely than those in urban areas to help others
*Urban overload hypothesis: People who live in urban areas are constantly exposed to
stimulation which leads them to decrease their awareness of their environment
*Also, people in cities are less similar to each other, more anonymous, and greater in number
Person factors for who gets help:
-gender
-age
-attractiveness
-personality
Does pure altruism exist…
There are two distinct hypotheses about this:
*The empathy-altruism hypothesis
*The negative-state relief hypothesis
Empathy altruism hypothesis…
*When we feel empathy for a person we will help that person even if we incur a cost in doing so
*We may feel empathy with a person based on our personality
*We may also feel empathy due to something about the other person
*Impact of empathic motives: People with empathic motives tend to help regardless of the
costs to themselves
*People with egoistic motives are less likely to help
*Can create empathic motives by imagining yourself in another person’s place
Negative state relief hypothesis-
*Impact of empathic motives: People with empathic motives tend to help regardless of the
costs to themselves
*People with egoistic motives are less likely to help
*Can create empathic motives by imagining yourself in another person’s place
*Helping occurs to relieve your bad mood
*But, if you can feel better in some other way, you will not help
*Children do not understand that helping can increase mood
-Fear of punishment for not helping:
We know that helping is “the right thing to do,” and hence are worried about feeling guilty or ashamed if we do not help
*But, when told that most people in this type of situation do not help, those who felt empathy
helped anyway
The desire for reward:
We learn early in life that we can receive rewards for helping
*We may behave altruistically only when we believe that others will notice--and think less of us if we do not help--and therefore helping is again motivated by a self-focused concern
*But, regardless of whether or not anyone (including the distressed person) would know
that they helped, those who felt empathy were more likely to help
Predicting long-term help
*Helping motivated by empathy is more likely to lead to long-term helping
The positive psychology of helping…
*Helping is beneficial to the receiver and also to the helper
*Mental health benefits of volunteering: Reduced depression, increased happiness, and well-being, increased lifespan
*If the helper is overwhelmed by the help he/she is giving, these benefits are not experienced
factors that influence getting help:
*Person factors
*Social norms
*Relationship factors
person factors
Gender: Women are more likely than men to receive help
*Men may be less interested or willing to receive help
*Seeking help is more threatening for men (admission of weakness)
*Age: Children are very willing to seek help
*They legitimately need help
*They do not see it as a sign of weakness
*Attractiveness: Attractive people get more help, Even when there is no potential for future interaction
Personality: Factors, such as shyness, anxiety, and self-esteem influence the likelihood of
receiving help
*Socially anxious people receive lower levels of social support from their friends
*People with high self-esteem may be less willing to ask for help
*But, people with high self-esteem are more likely to receive and benefit from social support
age
*Age: Children are very willing to seek help
*They legitimately need help
*They do not see it as a sign of weakness
attractiveness
*Attractiveness: Attractive people get more help, Even when there is no potential for future interaction
personality
Personality: Factors, such as shyness, anxiety, and self-esteem influence the likelihood of
receiving help
*Socially anxious people receive lower levels of social support from their friends
*People with high self-esteem may be less willing to ask for help
*But, people with high self-esteem are more likely to receive and benefit from social support
Norm of reciprocity:
We should help those in need of assistance because they will then help us in the future
*We tend to give back to those who have given to us
Norm of Social Responsibility:
We must help those in need of assistance
even if we do not expect later receiving help from them
*We are especially likely to help others if we see their need for help as caused by something
beyond their control
Belief in a just world:
We tend to assume that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people.
Relationship factors-
*Similarity: We are most likely to help those who are similar to us (in dress, gender, nationality,
and attitudes)
*Even similarity based on superficial characteristics (e.g., cheering for the same sports team) can lead to greater helping
*Friends: We are more likely to help those we know and care about than strangers
*We are also more likely to help those with whom we are in a communal relationship (expect mutual responsiveness to one's needs)
*We are much less likely to help those with whom we are in an exchange relationship (desire and expect strict reciprocity)
Self-evaluation maintenance model:
Our self-concept can be threatened if someone performs better than us on a task that is relevant to our self-esteem
*Overhelping can make you seem altruistic but it also makes the recipient seem needy, weak, and dependent
The downside of receiving help…
*We react negatively to receiving help when:
*It makes us feel inferior to and dependent on the helper
*If the help comes from people who are similar to ourselves (especially if they are helping us with a task that we care about)
*We do not believe we will have a way of repaying the help
How does culture influence helping?
*In all cultures, help is more likely to be given to an in-group member than an out-group member
*Cultural differences in helping include
*Frequency of helping
*Norms for helping
*Motivations for helping
*Factors increasingly helping
Economic productivity:
Countries in which people earn more helpless
*The most helpful countries (Brazil, Costa Rica, Malawi, and India) are all third-world environments
*In all cultures, in larger cities, people are less helpful
*People from collectivistic cultures may be less likely to seek help and therefore less likely to
receive it
*Cultures differ in how they view the norm of reciprocity
*How much concern about the reciprocity of helping influence prosocial behavior
*Individualistic cultures see reciprocity as a matter of personal choice
*Collectivistic cultures see reciprocity as a moral obligation
People in different cultures vary in their motivations for helping,
*Self-interest concerns
*Obligation
*Other person’s needs
*Quality of relationship with that person