Chapter 10 Part 1 Flashcards
prosocial behaviour
any act performed with the goal of benefitting another person
altruisn
the desire to help others, even if it involves a COST to the helper
field evolutionary psychology
the attempt to explain social behaviour in terms of genetic factors that evolved over time according to the principles of natural selection
kin selection
the idea that behaviour that helps a genetic relative is favoured by natural selection.
how to estate allocation reflect kin selection
the higher the genetic link, the greater the designated inheritance.
kin selection in life and non-life threatening situations
people are more likely to help genetic relatives that non relatives in life and death situations, but not when the situation was no-life threatening.
this occurs in both men and women, and in western and collectivist cultures.
in a study done, participants were asked to list the names of family members, and then listed who they felt closest to. How did the results differ from true kin selection?
contrary to the idea of kin selection, the degree of genetic relatedness did not predict willingness to help. Instead, the critical variable was the degree of closeness: participants were most likely to help the family members to whom they had the closest emotional ties, rather than those to whom they were most genetically related.
norm of reciprocity
the expectation that helping others will increase the likelihood that they will help us in the future.
how is the norm of reciprocity reflected in infants?
when a toy is dropped, 2/3s of babies who picked it up were significantly moe likely to give the toy to the confederate who had intended, but was unable to, give them a toy earilier, than to the confederate who had been unwilling.
social exchange theory
although social psychologists disgree with evolutionary approaches to prosocial behaviour, they do agree that altruistic behaviour can be based on self interest.
SET argues that much of what we do stems from the desire to maximize our rewards and minimize costs.
difference between social exchange theorists and evolutionary appraoches
social exchange doesn’t trace desire to help back to our evolutionary past, nor does it assume that the desire to help is genetically based.
rewards of helping
1) norm of reciprocity: investment in the future
2) social exchange: someone will help you when you need it
3) reduces stress of bystander
- by helping others, we can also gain such rewards as social approval from others and increased feelings of self-worth.
how does helping relieve the distress of the bystander?
considerable evidence indicates that people are aroused and disturbed when they see another person suffer, and that they help at least in part to relieve their own distress
basic assumption of social exchange theory
people help only when the benefits outweigh the costs. true altruism on the other hand is when people help even when doing so is costly, does not exist .
how are prosocial acts “doubly rewarding”?
they help both the giver and the recipient of the aid.
empathy
the ability to experience events and emotions the way another person experiences them .
pure altruism is likely to come into play when:
we feel empathy for the person in need of help.
empathy-altruism hypothesis
the idea that when we feel empathy for a person, we will attempt to help him or her purely for altruistic reasons, regardless of what we have to gain. If you do not feel empathy and you still help, its probably for obtaining social approval/self motivating reasons.
when empathy is ____, people help regardless of the costs and rewards. when it is ___ people were more concerned with the rewards and costs for them.
when empathy is HIGH, people help regardless of the costs and rewards. when it is LOW people were more concerned with the rewards and costs for them.
3 BASIC MOTIVES UNDERLYNG prosocial behaviour
1) helping is an instinctive reaction to promote the welfare of those genetically similar to us (evolutionary psychology
2) the rewards of helping often outweighs the costs (ex/ approval), so helping is in ourself-interest (social exchange theory)
3) under some conditions, powerful feeling of empathy for other prompt selfless giving (empathy altruism hypothesis)
altruistic personality
aspects of a person’s makeup that cause him or her to help others in a wide variety of situations.
