Chapter 11 Flashcards
prosocial behavior
Any act performed with the goal of benefiting another person
altruism
The desire to help another person even if it involves a cost to the helper
kin selection
The idea that behaviors that help a genetic relative are favored by natural selection
norm of reciprocity
The expectation that helping others will increase the likelihood that they will help us in the future
empathy
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 person experiences them
empathy-altruism hypothesis
The idea that when we feel empathy for a person, we will attempt to help that person for purely altruistic reasons, regardless of what we have to gain
social exchange theory
Social exchange suggests that it is the valuing of the benefits and costs of each relationship that determine whether or not we choose to continue a social association.
altruistic personality
The qualities that cause an individual to help others in a wide variety of situations
in-groups
The group with which an individual identifies as a member
out-groups
Any group with which an individual does not identify
urban overload hypothesis
The theory that people living in cities are constantly bombarded with stimulation and that they keep to themselves to avoid being overwhelmed by it
bystander effect
The finding that the greater the number of bystanders who witness an emergency, the less likely any one of them is to help
pluralistic ignorance
The case in which people think that everyone else is interpreting a situation in a certain way, when in fact they are not
diffusion of responsibility
The phenomenon wherein each bystander’s sense of responsibility to help decreases as the number of witnesses increases
