Chapter 14: Altruism and cooperation

Question 1

Altruism

Answer 1

…—prosocial behavior that benefits others without regard to consequences for oneself. Altruistic acts arise out of feelings of compassion that lead us to behave in ways that benefit others who are suffering, often at a cost to ourselves. At the same time, although most of us experience such prosocial feelings as compassion, we do not always act on them. Many forces can inhibit altruistic action, including basic tendencies toward self-preservation and fear of embarrassment.

Question 2

social reward

Answer 2

The first selfish motive is …—being esteemed and valued by others in the form of praise, an award, or recognition in the mass media or social media.

Question 3

personal distress

Answer 3

A second selfish motive for helping is …; people are motivated to help people in need in order to reduce their own distress.

Question 4

empathic concern

Answer 4

The third motive is …, the feeling people experience when identifying with someone in need, accompanied by the intention to enhance the other person s welfare.

Question 5

volunteerism

Answer 5

.., which they define as nonmonetary assistance: when people help with no expectation of receiving any compensation. volunteerism has many motives, including a desire for social rewards and a desire to reduce personal distress.

Question 6

Bystander intervention

Answer 6

… refers to helping someone when people are witness to an emergency. Studies find that people are less likely to help when other people are around.

Question 7

diffusion of responsibility

Answer 7

In part, the presence of other bystanders at emergencies reduces the likelihood of helping because of a …; knowing that others have seen the situation, each bystander tends to assume the others will intervene—indeed, may be better positioned to intervene—and thus each person feels less responsibility to help.

Question 8

Kin selection

Answer 8

… is an evolutionary strategy that favors behaviors that increase the chance of survival of genetic relatives. People should be more likely to help those who share more of their genes—for example, by helping siblings more than first cousins. By helping relatives survive, people help their own genes pass to future generations.