Ch.8, Altruism Flashcards
(31 cards)
Altruism
“Selfishness in reverse”: altruistic person is concerned and helpful even when no benefits are offered or expected in return
Social Exchange Theory
Social Exchange Theory: we do not consciously monitor costs and rewards, but such considerations predict our behaviour; we subtly calculate the benefits and risks of every decision
Rewards and helping
Can be external or internal to motivate helping
We give to get
In general, public generosity boosts one’s status while selfish behavior can lead to punishment
Helping boosts self worth: boosts your own mood, may increase social skills and positive social values
Volunteering benefits morale and health, especially when self-initiated
People who choose to spend money on others are happier
When do we commonly tend to view things as altruistic?
Often we only term things as truly “altruistic” when we cannot determine the benefit that helping would give to the person doing it (Phoebe example)
Skinner and altruism
Skinner: declared that we credit people for their good deeds only when we can’t explain them; when the external causes are obvious, we credit the causes, not the person
Criticisms of social exchange theory
CRITICISMS OF SOCIAL EXCHANGE THEORY: degenerates into explaining-by-naming: if someone volunteers, we “explain” that action by the satisfaction it brings
Egoism
Egoism: idea that self-interest motivates all behavior
“Feel bad–do good Effect”
occurs with people whose attention is on others and they are not self-focused, people for whom prosocial behavior is rewarding
Feel Good Do Good Effect
Happy people tend to be helpful people
Helping softens a bad mood and sustains a good mood
A positive mood is conducive to positive thoughts and positive self-esteem, which predisposes us to positive behavior
Reciprocity Norm:
we should return help with help
When people cannot reciprocate, they may feel threatened and demeaned by accepting aid
Altruism and the Social-Responsibility Norm
Altruism and the Social-Responsibility Norm
Gender and Help
Women offered help equally to males and females, whereas men offered more help to females
Evolutionary Perspective and Helping
Essence of life is gene survival: genes that predispose individuals to self-sacrifice in the interests of strangers’ welfare would not survive in the evolutionary competition
Instead it comes from cooperation: exhibit mechanisms of cooperation for survival
Gene Egoism:
fosters parental altruism; favours self-sacrifice for our own genes; THEREFORE PARENTS ARE MORE DEVOTED TO THEIR CHILDREN THAN THEIR CHILDREN ARE TO THEM
When does reciprocity work best
Reciprocity works best in small/isolated groups; groups in which one will often see the people for whom one does favors
Therefore reciprocity is more likely in small towns/small schools rather than in huge environments
Genuine Altruism, Batson:
theorizes that our willingness to help is influenced by both self-serving and selfless considerations, such as relieving our distress by helping or by genuine empathy
Altruistic empathy vs egoistic stress reduction
Egoistic Stress Reduction: help to avoid our own distress at a situation
Altruistic Empathy: genuine feeling for the sufferer
Obviously Egoistic Acts: done to gain rewards/avoid punishment
Subtly Egoistic: done to relieve inner distress
Bystander Effect”
presence of other bystanders greatly decreases likelihood of intervention
Number of bystanders increase = any given bystander is less likely to notice the incident, less likely to interpret the problem an emergency, and less likely to assume responsibility for taking action
Bystander Effect/Compassion Fatigue and sensory overload
Compassion Fatigue and Sensory Overload: after being around too many people restrain people from helping in large cities across the world; the bigger and more densely populated a place, the less likely people are to help
Concept of Elevation, Haidt
a glimpse of human kindness and charity causes elevation, a distinctive feeling in the chest of warm and expansion and inspires people to more self giving
Similarity to the Victim
Similarity is conduvice to liking, and liking is conducive to helping: therefore we are more empathic and helpful toward those who are similar to us
Personality Traits and altruism
No definable set of altruistic personality traits exists: situational demands and influences and stronger predictors
Some people are reliably more helpful, those high in emotionality, empathy and self-efficacy are most likely to be concerned and helpful
Personality does influence how particular people react to situations; those high in self-monitoring are attuned to the expectations of others and especially helpful if they think helpfulness will be socially rewarded
Frey, Fast and Slow Sinking Ships Experiment:
the slower sinking boat allowed prosocial behavior and activation of gender norms to kick in, making women more likely to survive
Moral Inclusion vs moral exclusion
Rescuers of Jews in Europe, relief workers, and volunteers all share moral inclusion: they include people who differ from themselves within the human circle to which their moral values and rules of justice apply
Moral Exclusion: omitting certain people from one’s circle of moral concern has the opposite effect: justifies harm, like WWII
