Altruism Flashcards
Meaning of altruism and pro-social behaviour
Altruism is a type of pro social behaviour in which the person expects nothing in return
Pro social is behaviour that benefits others
Batson theory
Empathy altruism hypothesis
This hypothesis states that the types of feeling we experience when we see someone in distress such as fear and anxiety. Personal distress and empathetic concern e.g. Tenderness and sympathy
Batson 1981 study-what he did
Participants were psychology students
Told they were observing an experiment about memory, watch a women being tested on her digest span. Got an electric shock when the answer was wrong, she told participants she had fallen on an electric fence as a child so was sensitive to them. Enforce this the participants read a description about the women she was either similar to them or different to them. They were given two different type of escape.
Batson study findings
Participants in the high empathy condition were more likely to help and the way of escape did not matter if it was hard or easy
People in the low empathy condition were less likely to help especially if the ease of escape was made easy
Strengths-high in control and standisation high reliably- supports piagets moral development.
Weakness- low ecological validity as it was only a short term cost compared to real altruism
Demand characteristics- participants may have feared disapproval
Opposed by cialdini negative state relief model
Cialdini negative state relief model
We help people to relieve their own negative feelings
avoid guilt
and to make themselves feel better if they are sad
This explains why helping is reduced when the situation is easy to escape
Opposed by Thompson,Cowan and Rosenhan 1980
Cialdini 1987 study
Repeated batsons experiment but gave the participants a drug which was a placebo who were told it would stop their mood from changing
When participants do not expect to feel guilty for not helping they are less likely to help
One limitation of the study is that it has low ecological validity
Thompson, Cowen and Rosenhan 1980 study
Asked participants to imagine themselves dying to illicit a sad mood
They were to exalt in their own sadness to help so they are less likely to help
This study refutes the negative state and elite model
