DEFINITIONS 9 Prosocial Behavior: Helping Others

Question 1

prosocial behaviour

Answer 1

Actions by individuals that help
others with no immediate benefit
to the helper.

Question 2

empathy

Answer 2

Emotional reactions that are focused on or oriented toward other people and include feelings of compassion, sympathy, and concern.

Question 3

empathy-altruism hypothesis

Answer 3

The suggestion that some prosocial acts are motivated solely by the desire to help someone in need.

Question 4

negative-state relief model

Answer 4

The proposal that prosocial behavior is motivated by the bystander’s desire to reduce his or her own uncomfortable negative emotions or feelings.

Question 5

empathic joy hypothesis

Answer 5

The view that helpers respond to the needs of a victim because they want to accomplish something, and doing so is rewarding in and of itself.

Question 6

kin selection theory

Answer 6

A theory suggesting that a key goal for all organisms—including human beings—is getting our genes into the next generation; one way in which individuals can reach this goal is by helping others who share their genes.

Question 7

defensive helping

Answer 7

Help given to members of outgroups to reduce the threat they pose to the status or distinctiveness of one’s own ingroup.

Question 8

diffusion of responsibility

Answer 8

A principle suggesting that the greater the number of witnesses to an emergency the less likely victims are to receive help. This is because each bystander assumes that someone else will do it.

Question 9

pluralistic ignorance

Answer 9

Refers to the fact that because none of the bystanders respond to an emergency, no one knows for sure what is happening and each depends on the others to interpret the situation.

Question 10

Social exclusion

Answer 10

Conditions in which individuals feel that they have been excluded from some social group.