~Class 17: Prosocial Behaviour

Question 1

What is Prosocial Behaviour?

Answer 1

Any act that is performed with the goal of benefitting another person (e.g., cooperating, sharing, helping)

Question 2

What is Altruism?

Answer 2

Prosocial behaviour without expectation of direct personal benefit

Question 3

What is Kin Selection?

Answer 3

Evolutionary psychology’s claim that helping genetic relatives is favoured by natural selection (but degree of closeness, not genetic relatedness, predicts willingness to help)

Question 4

What are Reciprocity Norms?

Answer 4

Our sense of obligation to help those who help us encourages prosocial behaviour (help so we’ll receive help)

Question 5

What is Social Exchange?

Answer 5

We help others when the benefits (e.g., reputation; reduced distress; reciprocity) outweigh the costs (e.g., danger; embarrassment; spending time/money)

Question 6

Degree of ___ is a more likely predictor of helping over helping those who are ___.

Answer 6

closeness // related to you

Question 7

At what age do we see children being more inclined to help people who’ve been pro-social toward them (Reciprocity Norms)?

Answer 7

1.5-2y/o

Question 8

What is the Social Responsibility Norm?

Answer 8

A sense of obligation to help those who need assistance, even with no expectation of reciprocity

Question 9

People who have a higher sense of ___ tend to show more altruistic behaviours.

Answer 9

social responsibility

Question 10

Those who see the person in trouble as responsible for their situation are ___ to help

Answer 10

less likely

Question 11

What is Empathy?

Answer 11

The extent to which a person understands, and responds emotionally, to others’ experience (vs. egoistic personal distress

Question 12

What is an altruistic personality?

Answer 12

Those who have a high sense of social responsibility and a high degree of empathy.

Question 13

People who are high in altruistic personality are more inclined to behave ___.

Answer 13

altruistically

Question 14

Inclination to be altruistic/help can be based on both ___ and ___.

Answer 14

situational factors // individual personality

Question 15

What is the difference between empathy and egoistic personal distress?

Answer 15

With empathy, you feel negatively about a situation because you’re able to recognize the hardship and difficulty that the person is experiencing.

Whereas egoistic personal distress has more to do with feeling bad because the situation itself is uncomfortable or distressing, and you’re more focused on reducing your own personal distress rather than alleviating the distress of the other person in ways that also make you feel better.

Question 16

What is the Empathy–Altruism Hypothesis?

Answer 16

The Empathy–Altruism Hypothesis argues that when we feel empathy for a person, we attempt to help for altruistic reasons. But if we don’t have that sense of empathy, then exchange considerations are more likely to come into play, so weighing those costs and benefits, and if there’s a cost involved, we are less inclined to help in those situations.

Question 17

People tend to be more inclined to help members of ___, people with whom they have some degree of ___, and overall are less inclined to help ___ members.

Answer 17

their in groups // connection // out-group

Question 18

Helping in-group members is often more driven by ___, whereas helping out-group members is often more driven by ___.

Answer 18

empathy // egoistic considerations

Question 19

When compared with people who are high-SES, people from low-SES backgrounds do what things?

Answer 19

• Donate a larger proportion of their income to charities
• Give more to their partners in experiments (dictator games)
• Are more likely to help partners complete a task
• Score higher on empathy and are better judges of others’ emotions

Question 20

People from lower SES are also able to empathize with people who ___.

Answer 20

are going through a hard situation that they themselves have not been through. Can put themselves in their shoes more easily and imagine what its like