Altruism

Question 1

altruism

Answer 1

a motivational state with the goal of increasing another’s welfare

Question 2

genuine altruism

Answer 2

increasing another’s welfare when there is zero benefit to the self

Question 3

Why do we help? (self-focused theories):

Answer 3

Kin selection
signalling
reciprocity
Mood

Question 4

Kin selection

Answer 4

evolutionary-based theory
* we show favouritism towards those who share our genes
* more likely to help people who are related to us

Question 5

signalling theory

Answer 5

another evolutionary based theory

public behaviours are signals to others of our reproductive & physical fitness resources

signals are often costly which provides further evidence of fitness

Question 6

pronking

Answer 6

honest signalling by animals to predators showing them that they are young, fit, and not worth chasing

Question 7

costly signals

Answer 7

sending honest signals that would be hard to fake like donation of money, biological signs

• must be costly to the actor
• behaviour must be easily observable by others
• signal must be a reliable indicator of some trait or characteristic of the signaller such as health, wealth, or intelligence
• must lead to some advantage for the signaller

Question 8

signalling and doorholding

Answer 8

More door holding for those with happy emotional signal

Question 9

reciprocity

Answer 9

direct: quid pro quo (direct exchange)

Indirect: what goes around comes around

• prisoner’s dilemma

Question 10

Mood
*warm glow
*negative state relief
*positive state maintenance

Answer 10

helping feels good, not helping feels bad

Warm glow - helping makes you feel good, moral high ground
* helper’s positive affective state determines helpfulness

Negative state relief - if you feel bad, you want to feel good, so you relieve bad feelings by helping

positive state maintenance - if you feel good, want to maintain it so you help

Question 11

is all help self-focused?

Answer 11

we help others for selfish reasons (to help ourselves) but also for selfless reasons (to help people who need it)

• other-focused altruism
• empathic concern

Question 12

other focused altruism

Answer 12

help others to increase their welfare even when benefit to self is not apparent or considered

Question 13

empathic concern

Answer 13

other-oriented emotion (tenderness, sympathy, compassion) that drives us to reduce another person’s distress even when there is no benefit to the self

• driving force behind genuine altruism

Question 14

Egotism vs altruism study
girl in the wheelchair study

Answer 14

IV: empathy (objective) or target’s perspective
: guilt (same psych section or not)

DV: agreement to help

• when empathy is low, they would only help for selfish reasons, like not wanting to feel guilty if they see her in their section
• way less likely to help if they won’t see her in their section
• empathy-altruism hypothesis

Question 15

empathy-altruism hypothesis

Answer 15

acts of genuine altruism can happen but is critical on empathic concern

Question 16

bystander apathy

Answer 16

states that people are less likely to offer to help someone if there are other people around

Question 17

Five-stage model of bystander apathy

Answer 17

Notice situation
interpret event as needing intervention
assuming responsibility
decide how to help/if you can
help

• each stage has to happen before the next one can occur

Question 18

noticing the situation

Answer 18

Study completed (the Good Samaritan study) showed that time rush was a big determinant on if participants noticed the person that needed help or not

noticing the situation is one of the most important step to whether or not the person will help

Question 19

Interpreting event as one that requires intervention

Answer 19

Participants witnessed a fight between a man and a woman
– either “get away from me, I don’t know you”
– or “get away from me, I don’t know why I married you”

** more people intervened when they think they don’t know each other

Question 20

interpreting the situation as an emergency
*pluralistic ignorance

Answer 20

Pluralistic ignorance: a situation where a majority of group members privately reject a norm, but assume (incorrectly) that most others accept it
* example: when someone litters and you think you’re the only one that cares about it, when in reality, others feel the same but are also too scared to speak up

– people look at others to see if it’s an emergency or not

– most people wouldn’t help if no one else is helping

– informational influence

Question 21

assume responsibility

Answer 21

Diffusion of responsibility: tendency for each group member to dilute personal responsibility for acting by spreading it among all other group members

– the more people there are, the less responsible people feel

– smoke in room study: when there’s other people in the room, only 10% of the participants get the experimenter because responsibility is diffused

Question 22

deciding how you can help

Answer 22

two types of participants: students vs nurses when witnessing someone fall off a ladder

• nurses help 90% of time
• students help 50% of time, but more likely to go get experiment