Altruism & Justice Flashcards
Positive psychology
A movement within psychology that emphasizes how positive aspects of human nature and experience can be enhanced. It is informed by the philosophical position of humanism, which assumes that human nature is ultimately good.
Altruism
An action that is performed to benefit a person without benefitting the self.
Helping behaviour
An action that is performed to help another person.
Prosocial behaviour
An action that is positively valued by society.
Bystander intervention
The act of helping a person in danger or distress by people who are not its cause.
Latane’s bystander model
Pg. 613
Diffusion of responsibility
One explanation why bystanders do not intervene is the perception that someone else will.
Pluralistic ignorance
The phenomenon whereby people wrongly assume, based on others’ actions, that they endorse a particular norm.
Machiavellianism
Individual differences variable associated with the tendency to manipulate others for personal gain.
Belief in a just world
The belief that the world is a just place in which people get what they deserve.
Empathy
The ability of people to take the perspective of others.
Empathic concern
An emotional reaction to the suffering of others which results from taking their perspective, and which is thought by many researchers to motivate helping behaviour.
Moral reasoning
The extent to which people compare their own needs with overarching moral standards.
Extensivity
A person’s sense that they are obligated to help others, both close and distant.
Empathy-altruism hypothesis
Hypothesis that when people feel empathy for others, they will be more likely to help that person at a personal cost to the self.
Kin selection
Acting differently towards members of the same species depending on their degree of genetic relatedness to the self. Kin selection can deter animals from mating, for example, but can encourage them to act altruistically.
Reciprocal altruism
Animals act altruistically towards members of the same species that have already helped them. This principal gives animals an incentive to help other animals, because it heightens the prospects that they will be rewarded.
Social dilemmas
Situations in which the interests of the individual are at odds with the interests of the group.
Cooperation
Decisions that sacrifice the person’s interests for the sake of the group.
Defection
Decisions that pursue the person’s interests at the expense of the group.
Prisoner’s dilemma
Simulated social dilemma used in social psychological research. “Prisoners” have to choose between confessing or not, risking a heavy or light sentence for them and a partner.
Public goods dilemma
A dilemma in which individuals are better off if they do not contribute but the group as a whole is worse off.
Commons dilemma
A dilemma in which individual interests are served by using a resource but collective interests suffer because the resource is depleted.
Social value orientation
The extent to which an individual is “pro-self” or “prosocial”, which determines the extent to which people will be cooperative.
