Altruism 2

Question 1

What are the 3 crucial steps that social psychologists believe a person goes through in making a decision to offer help?

Answer 1

1. attending to the situation
2. interpreting the situation
3. assuming responsibility

Question 2

What does attending to the situation involve?

Answer 2

Sometimes an emergency occurs unexpectedly and we can therefore not anticipate what may happen or how best to respond. This may cause us to fail to notice that anything unusual is happening. We have to first notice that someone needs help before the idea of offering help comes in

Question 3

What does interpreting the situation involve?

Answer 3

This involves our knowledge concerning the situation. The more ambiguous the situation is, the less likely we are to interpret it correctly and thus , easy to assume it’s not an emergency

Question 4

What is one phenomenon that affects our ability to correctly interpret the situation?

Answer 4

Bystander effect

Question 5

What is the bystander effect?

Answer 5

The finding that a person is less likely to provide help when there are other bystanders

Question 6

To interpret an event correctly, what do we rely on?

Answer 6

Social comparisons

Question 7

What does the term social comparisons refer to?

Answer 7

This term means that if other bystanders show no sign of alarm, then we decide that there is really no cause for alarm and then we do nothing. We compare the reactions of others to our own

Question 8

What is pluralistic ignorance?

Answer 8

The tendency of bystanders in an emergency to rely on what other bystanders do and say, even though none of them is sure about what is happening or what o do about it

Question 9

What fuels pluralistic ignorance?

Answer 9

It is fueled by the fact that no one wants to make a fool of him/ herself

Question 10

Who conducted the smoke-filled room experiment?

Answer 10

Latane and Darley(1968)

Question 11

In what instances is the bystander effect nullified?

Answer 11

1. When a group consists of friends rather than strangers
2. When the event occurs in a small town
3. When the one who witnesses the event has been drinking
4. When the situation is not ambiguous

Question 12

How does assuming responsibility play a crucial role in making a decision about helping in ana emergency situation?

Answer 12

When there is only one bystander, he/she usually takes responsibility because there is no alternative however when there are several bystanders, there is a the problem of diffusion of responsibility.

Question 13

What is diffusion of responsibility?

Answer 13

This refers to the idea that the amount of responsibility assumed by bystanders to an emergency is shared among them

Question 14

What are some other situational and personal factors that influence helping?

Answer 14

1. Characteristics of the victim
2. Exposure to prosocial models
3. time pressures
4. personality traits and status
5. religious faith

Question 15

What are some characteristics of a person who needs help, that determines whether we will help or not?

Answer 15

1. gender
2. level of attractiveness
3. similarity to the helper
4. responsibility for his/her predicament

Question 16

Personality researchers have summarized the effect of personality on altruism in 3 ways, these are?

Answer 16

1. there are individual differences in helpfulness which persist over time and are noticed by one’s peers
2. Persons who have the trait of being high in positive emotionality, empathy and self-efficacy are most likely to be concerned and helpful
3. The personality trait that best predicts willingness to help is agreeableness

Question 17

How does status and social class affect altruism?

Answer 17

Less privileged people are more generous, trusting, and helpful than more privileged people. This is likely because they feel more compassion for others and feel less entitled to special treatment.

Question 18

How can we increase helping?

Answer 18

Undo the restraints on helping:
1. reduce ambiguity and increase responsibility
2. personalized appeals
3. Enable guilt and concern for self-image

Socialize altruism:
1. Teach moral inclusion
2. Model altruism
3. Learn by doing
4. Attribute the helping behavior to altruism
5. Learn by doing