CH11 Prosocial Behavior

Question 1

Any act performed with the goal
of benefiting another person.

Answer 1

Prosocial Behavior

Question 2

The desire to help another person even
if it involves a cost to the helper. (Not for
selfish reasons)

Answer 2

Altruism

Question 3

The idea that behaviors that help a genetic
relative are favored by natural selection. People can increase the chances their genes
will be passed along not only by having children but also by ensuring that their genetic relatives have children. Thus natural selection should favor altruistic acts directed toward genetic relatives.

Answer 3

Kin Selection

Question 4

The expectation that helping others will
increase the likelihood that they will help
us in the future.

Answer 4

Norm of Reciprocity

Question 5

People help others to maximize social rewards and minimize social costs. True altruism, in which people help even when doing so is costly to themselves, does
not exist. People help when the benefits
outweigh the costs.

Answer 5

Social Exchange Theory

Question 6

The ability to put oneself in the shoes of
another person and to experience events and
emotions (e.g., joy and sadness) the way that
a person experiences them.

Answer 6

Empathy

Question 7

The idea that when we feel empathy for a
person, we will attempt to help that person
purely for altruistic reasons, regardless of
what we have to gain.

Answer 7

Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis

Question 8

1. Helping is an instinctive reaction to promote the welfare of those genetically similar to us (evolutionary psychology).
2. The rewards of helping often outweigh the costs, so helping is in our self-interest (social exchange theory).
3. Under some conditions, powerful feelings of empathy and compassion for the victim prompt selfless giving (the empathy-altruism hypothesis).

Answer 8

3 Basic Motives for Prosocial
Behavior

Question 9

Personality traits making it more likely that
an individual will help others in a variety
of situations

Answer 9

Altruistic Personality

Question 10

The group with which an individual
identifies as a member

Answer 10

In-Group

Question 11

Any group with which an individual
does not identify.

Answer 11

Out-Group

Question 12

1. More likely to help in-group members than
   members of individualistic cultures are.
2. Less likely to help members of out-groups
   than people in individualistic cultures are

Answer 12

Collectivistic Cultures- Prosocial Behavior

Question 13

______ people are more likely to
help in situations in which their efforts
are obvious (donating money and time
to charities). They are not more likely to help in private (anonymous) situations, however.

Answer 13

Religion and Prosocial Behavior

Question 14

1. Good moods make us look on the bright
   side of life.
2. Helping others can prolong our good
   mood.
3. Good moods increase self-attention.

Answer 14

3 Reasons Good Moods Increase Helping

Question 15

People are more likely to help if they are in especially good moods, but also if they are in especially bad moods

Answer 15

Effects of Mood on Prosocial Behavior

Question 16

The idea that people help in order to
alleviate their own sadness and distress.

Answer 16

Negative-State Relief Hypothesis

Question 17

The theory that people living in cities are
constantly being bombarded with stimulation
and that they keep to themselves to avoid being overwhelmed by it.

Answer 17

Urban Overload Hypothesis

Question 18

People who have lived for a long time in one place are more likely to engage in prosocial behaviors than are people who have recently moved to an area.
Living for a long time in one place leads to:
– greater attachment to the community,
– more interdependence with neighbors, and
– greater concern with one’s reputation in the
community.

Answer 18

Residential Mobility

Question 19

To help in an emergency, people must meet five conditions: They must notice the event, interpret it as an emergency, assume responsibility, know how to help, and implement their decision to help. As the number of bystanders who witness an emergency increases, the more difficult it is to meet two of these conditions—interpreting the event as an emergency and assuming responsibility.

Answer 19

The Bystander Effect

Question 20

Bystanders’ assuming that nothing is
wrong in an emergency because no
one else looks concerned.

Answer 20

Pluralistic Ignorance

Question 21

The phenomenon whereby each
bystander’s sense of responsibility
to help decreases as the number
of witnesses increases.

Answer 21

Diffusion of Responsibility

Question 22

We expect our favors to be repaid pretty quickly. (“What have they done for me lately?)

Answer 22

Exchange Relationships

Question 23

Pay less attention to who is getting what than
people in exchange relationships do.

Answer 23

Communal Relationships

Question 24

We “bask in reflected glory” when a friend does well on a task that we don’t care about.
However, we feel bad about ourselves by comparison when a friend excels in something important to us. Thus, we are less likely to help a friend than a stranger with things important to us.

Answer 24

Tesser’s Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model