Altruism Flashcards
Discuss how evolutionary theory accounts for helping behavior.
.If a behavior led to survival benefits in the past, people who exhibited those behaviors more likely to survive and reproduce.over time these behaviors become part of common human inheritance.so helping behaviors, if evolutionarily useful, might be part of this inheritance
Explain kin selection and reciprocal altruism. Why would it be adaptive to help in these contexts?
.kin selection: tendency to help genetic relatives (preserves genes close to us).reciprocal altruism: helping someone in your best interest as increases likelihood they will return the behavior when you need it
What evidence do we have that supports the evolutionary perspective (hint: animal research)?
.chimps that share food with other chimps will have food shared at later feedings.greedy chimps are often violently rebuffed at later feedings!
Why do we help in situations that go beyond those explained by kin selection and reciprocal altruism?
.indirect reciprocity: i help you and somebody else helps me (pay it forward).group selection: groups that have altruistic members may be more likely to survive than groups with only selfish members
How is empathy involved in helping behavior? What are the cognitive and affective components of empathy? Are humans the only animals to demonstrate empathy?
.empathy-altruism model, if we feel empathy for the individual, we are much more likely to help altruistically. otherwise, we act according to cost-reward model (selfish altruism).empathy: understanding or vicariously experiencing another’s individual perspective and feeling sympathy and compassion for that individual.cognitive component: perspective taking.affective component: empathic concern.APES! Binti Jua, most intriguing person of the year voted… little boy fell 20ft onto concrete, went over and picked up boy, petted him, rocked him, then took him over to a gate.extraordinary, people thought would treat like a toy.BUT she had been trained to retrieve objects and bring over to gate… so was it the training or was she altruistic?.chimps are capable of rudimentary perspective taking
Discuss the various rewards people receive through helping others, including helping others to help ourselves, helping in order to feel good, and helping in order to “be” (or appear to be) good.
.reciprocal altruism….people are more likely to help when the potential rewards of helping seem high relative to the potential costs.helping to feel good: rl between helping and feeling better, esp if self-esteem has been threatened by failure, or feeling guilty about something. negative state relief model: proposes that people help to counter their own feelings of sadness. helping others after trauma helps ourselves recover.helping to be good: may help b/c motivated to behave in ways that are consistent with moral principles, makes you look good and feel good for obeying them and acting in accordance with them
Discuss the arousal: cost-reward model of helping. What predictions does this model make about when we will and will not help?
.Arousal: Cost-Reward Theory. The arousal: cost-reward theory suggests that people feel upset when they see a person in need and are motivated to do something to reduce the unpleasant arousal. People then weigh the costs of helping versus not helping. The clearer the need for help, the more likely people are to help. The presence of others inhibits helping behavior due to diffusion of responsibility, a belief that someone else will help. Environmental and personality characteristics also influence helping.
Discuss the costs associated with helping, or of not helping.
.charles brightly, busy street to rescue suicidal woman, was killed himself trying to rescue her.helping can have negative health effects if involves constant and exhausting demands (taking care of the terminally ill).good samaritan laws to reduce potential costs (doctors can aid in a crisis without fear of getting sued later)
Compare and contrast egoistic and altruistic motives for helping.
.altruistic: motivated by the desire to increase another’s welfare.egoistic: motivated by the desire to increase one’s OWN welfare.Batson: The motivation behind some helpful actions is truly altruistic.many theories assume an egoistic bottom line… helping the disadvantaged, it looks good on your resume dude
Explain the empathy-altruism hypothesis and identify why a distinction between these two types of motives is important.
.perception that someone needs help—>two paths.either you adopt the other person’s perspective or don’t (cog component of empathy).if yes, you feel empathic concern, your motive is altruistic, and reduces other’s distress.if no, you feel personal distress, the motive is egoistic, it results in the reduction of one’s own distress.lincoln had argument about whether altruism is truly altruistic.passed some ducks in danger in a stagecoach, lept out and saved them.his friend said, THERE, proof.and lincoln said “dear boy, i only helped them to give me peace of mind for the rest of the day”
How can we tell the difference between egoistic and altruistic motives?
.how easy is it to escape from a helping situation?.if egoistic motive, helping should decline when escape from the situation is easy.if altruistic motive, help is given regardless of ease of escape
Batson and his colleagues (2007) demonstrated the role of both perspective taking and having warm emotional reactions to the other person in predicting helping.
.perspective taking: paired with a confed then “randomly” assigned to watching a confederate receive unpleasant shocks.confed relays unpleasant memory of falling into an electric fence beforehand.research asks, because the confed had this experience, would you switch with him?.manupulated ease of escape: hard, had to watch all ten trials. easy: could leave after four trials.when empathic concern high, most people helped, offered to take their place.when lo, usually only helped if escape was difficult.”omg have to stand here and watch this?? i guess i’ll do it”.warm emotional reactions: first read fictitious story about a student named Brian Banks hit by a car on way to class, seriously injured.manipulated perspective by changing instructions, either asked: be objective about the situation, or, imagine how this student feels and how it’s affected their life.manipulated emotional reactions to Brian.either told a story of him being rude to an old woman crossing the street or being nice??.after ppl led to believe study was done, they were asked if they would take notes for brian.those induced with perspective taking and a positive emotion were 65% willing to offer help, as opposed to every other condition which was below 30% (four conditions, obbjective/perspective vs negative/positive emotion).more empathic concern, more likely to help
What are the limitations of the empathy-altruism hypothesis?
.there is strong evidence for the empathy altrism hypothesis. but, some limits:.not all helping is altruistically motivated (egoists act very pro-socially when repuatation at stake, altruists help regardless).motives do not guarantee behavior (might be motivated to help but cost is too high).is the assumption that there is a clear divide between the self and the other a valide one?
Explain the bystander effect.
.The finding that the greater the number of bystanders who witness an emergency, the less likely it is that any one of them will help
Who was Kitty Genovese? How did her story inspire the work on the bystander effect?
.Kitty was a bar manager in NYC, walking home after late shift @ 3:20am, attacked by stranger with a knife, stabbed and sexually assaulted her 35 yards from apartment building.yelled please stop me, he’s killing me, 38 neighbors watched it happen, someone called only 45 minutes after it happened, story shocked the nation.WHY did nobody step in and help her?
