Chapter 13 Flashcards
prosocial behaviour
actions that provide benefit to others
ex. giving someone your notes
altruism
actions that benefit others, but not oneself, and that involve some costs to the actor
ex. running into a burning building to save a stranger
kitty genovese example
got jumped and stabbed, and no one came to help even though there were a lot of people around
why do people help?
- evolution
- social exchange
- empathy
social exchange theory
- we act in ways that will maximize rewards & minimize costs
- altruism does not exist
- helping others rewards us
ways helping others rewards us
- increased likelihood of receiving help
- decreased personal distress
- increase social approval and/or self-worth
altruism doesn’t exist because
we always derive some kind of benefit
increased likelihood of receiving help - example
if you help a friend move, when you move out, they will help you move
decreased personal distress
we might feel badly if we don’t help someone that is in need
empathy
- altruism does exist
- empathy-altruism hypothesis
- if no empathy, then social exchange prevails
empathy-altruism hypothesis
when we feel empathy for somebody else, we will help for purely altruistic reasons regardless of what we may or may not have to gain
personal determinants of helping
- individual differences
- gender
- culture
- mood
individual differences
- altruistic personality type
- very little consistency across situations
- altruistic personalities are not more likely to help
- different kinds of people help in different situations
altruistic personality type
- it’s part of who they are
gender
equally likely to engage in prosocial behaviours but in different types of situations
gender - men
- heroic
- chivalrous helping
ex. holding a door open, running into a burning building
gender - women
- nurturing
- helping
- longer term commitment
ex. taking food over to a neighbour who is ill
culture
- cross cultural similarities
- collectivist cultures
cross-culture similarities
- help in group more than out group
collectivist cultures
- stronger boundaries between in group and out group
- even more likely to help in group and less likely to help out group
mood
plays a huge role in prosocial behaviour
more likely to help when
- in a good mood
- feeling guilty
- feeling intense sadness
negative state relief hypothesis
- when you’re feeling sad about something in your life, helping someone else can make you feel better
in a good mood example
dime in the phone booth
- those who found a dime were 84% more likely to help
- those who did not find a dime, only 4% helped
feeling guilty example
more donations were made before people went to confess in church than they did after
why good mood can help facilitate prosocial behaviour
- interpret events more as positive
- prolongs our good mood
- can facilitate self-attention
self- attention
when you have a greater self attention you are more likely to act in ways that better reflect your underlining values (mostly of us like to think e are a good and kind person, so we will act that way)
situational determinants of helping
- rural/urban environments
- bystander effect
- nature of the relationship
rural/urban environment
- people who like in more rural are more likely to engage in prosocial behaviour
- urban overload hypothesis
urban overload hypothesis
- milgram
- it doesn’t matter if you are from a rural or urban area, instead whats important is where that situation occurs
- that in urban areas there is a sensory overload, so we slip in low effort thinking, so we don’t notice everything going on
rural/urban environment - population size
it is not the population size that matters, but the density
ex. one million people in a small area vs. one million people in a wide spread area
bystander effect
- darley & latane
- diffusion of responsibility
diffusion of responsibility
how much responsibility you feel for helping someone in need, is dependent on how many other people are around at that time
bystander effect - 5 step cognitive process
- notice something is happening
- perceive situation as urgent
- assume responsibility
- decide what to do
- do it
factor that may interfere with the process based on each step
- low effort thinking (cognitive misers) and urban-overload hypothesis
- pluralistic ignorance (informational social influence)
- diffusion of responsibility
- lack of knowledge on what to do
- don’t have the skills,
cost-benefit analysis
cost benefit analysis
you know whats supposed to be done but the risks are too great
things that can facilitate prosocial behaviour/prevent the bystander effect
- if you initiate people are more likely to join in
- if you give direction to people they are more likely to help
nature of relationships
- communal relationships
- exchange relationship
communal relationships
- occur between on-going relationships with
- you care about their well-being
- more likely to engaged in prosocial behaviour
ex. family and friends
exchange relationships
- occur between strangers or loose relationships
- less likely to engage in prosocial behaviour
affects of the nature of helping
less likely to engage in prosocial behaviour if you envy those you are in a communal relationship with, if so you are more likely to help a stranger
increasing helping
- rewards
- modelling
- being aware of barriers to helping
Things to consider when offering rewards
over justification effect
- if you over do it, they will only do it for the reward
- instead of providing tangible rewards, provide intangible awards
