Final Exam Flashcards
Altruism
Voluntarily engaging in prosocial behavior, behavior that helps another, often a costly behavior to the person engaging in act
Why do we engage in altruism
- Pursuing extrinsic gain at some level (Egotism)
- External reward or recognition
- Punishment avoidance
- Aversion arousal reduction - Altruism as an extension of alloparenting
- Empathy-altruism hypothesis
Alloparenting
Evolutionarily adaptive for others in social group to protect and care for the offspring of another in one’s social group
Dunn, Aknin and Norton Study
Researchers gave study participants either $5
or $20
Half told to spend the money on themselves
Half told to spend the money on someone else
Findings:
Those who spent $ on others had higher well-
being scores
Amount made no difference
Prosocial Spending and Toddlers
Aknin, Hamlin & Dunn, 2012
oddlers were given treats
They were then told to share their treats with a
puppet or share an extra treat (given to them)
with the puppet
Facial expressions were coded
Toddlers’ facial expressions were the happiest
when they were giving away treats (vs receiving)
They were the most happy when they gave
treats from their own “stash”
Social Exchange Relationship
When empathy is not experienced, we tend to be in a
social exchange relationship
We judge the relationship based on what we gain versus the cost of the relationship
empathy-altruism hypothesis
If we see someone in distress, we experience
Personal distress: focus decreasing unpleasant arousal
or Empathy: focus on distress of another
If personal distress is activated, the primary goal
is to change one’s feeling state
Results in leaving the situation
If we cannot leave, we might help just to decrease our arousal and unpleasant emotions
On the other hand, if empathy is invoked, we
would not be satisfied with leaving, but helping
What if you see something that you felt you
could do nothing about or the cost of helping
was high
Research suggests that people actively avoid
feeling empathy in those situations
altruism niche
the function of prosociality being rewarded and valued
Konrath, Fuhrel-Forbis, Lou, and Brown
(2012
studied motivations in older adults toward volunteer work and found that those whose primary motivations were for self-gain had higher mortality risk four years after the study was conducted in comparison to those whose primary motivations were more directed at helping others. This was especially true in individuals who volunteered on a more regular basis. Thus, though egoistic motivations may provide some of the same benefits that “true” altruists obtain, there may still be greater benefits from acting outside of self-interest.
Strategies for increasing altruism
Engaging in acts of kindness associated with people reporting they are happier Empathy based approaches – Increase contact with those in need – Point of similarities – Broaden the social circles of ourselves and our children Values based approaches – Enhance altruism as a value – Enhance altruism an a habit
Culturally speaking, people in which culture are more likely to use the words “thank you”?
What about the words, “I am sorry?”
U.S for thank you, Korean for I’m sorry
self construal
The degree to which one defines the self as
independent or interdependent of others
– Independent: Common to individualistic societies
– Interdependent: Common in collectivistic societies
forgiveness with age
In general, as we get older, our willingness to
forgive grows
sibling forgiveness
he role of offering an apology without coercion
REACH Model
Recall the hurt, Empathize, Altruistic gift of forgiveness, Commit publicly to forgive, Hold on to forgiveness
According to Lybomirsky, which culture benefitted more from the use of a gratitude
intervention in increasing well being?
white americans
Emmons Gratitude
- Celebrates the present
- Blocks out negative emotion
- Increases one’s resilience
- Seems to increase social ties and sense of self worth
Benefits of cultivating a gratitude journal
10% fewer stress related illness 10-16% lower blood pressure 1.5 hours per week more exercise Sleep 10% longer and 15% better sleep less lonely increases positive emotions
School teachers in Hong Kong Study results
Mediate on 3 questions: What did I
receive? What did I give? What difficulties
and troubles did I cause others?
– Outcome: Increases in life satisfaction, as well as
decreases in emotional exhaustion
How to cultivate gratitude
Keep a daily gratitude journal
Compare the hard times to current blessings
Make a commitment to engage in a gratitude
practice
Consider expressing gratitude that you have experienced through your senses
Use visual reminders to cue you to express gratitude
what factors increase the likelihood of forgiveness
4 parts Apology: – “It acknowledges the offense, – offers an explanation for the offense, – expresses remorse, – and involves a reparation
Behavioral Activation System
Movement towards/approach something usually to gain a reward
Behavioral Inhibition System
Movement away from something usually to avoid punishment, something negative or something undesirable (for instance, it could be boring)
Coping
Effort expended to make the best decision in a stressful situation
BAS/BIS can be applied to coping
Emotional approach coping
Move towards one’s emotions during a stressful encounter
Pros & cons of Problem solving coping
Great when there is a problem to be solved
there is not always a problem to be solved, nor is it always desirable to find a solution
When someone dies, there might not be a problem to solve (need to process emotions)
After you solve a stressor, you still may have emotions that need to be addressed/resolved
Peters Study
African American participants who experienced chronic racism who coped via emotional focused methods fared better
the outcome findings for the study of widows and widowers.
Men were more likely to benefit from emotional focused strategies
Women were more likely to benefit from problem focused strategies
Breast cancer study
Emotional focused coping associated with
lower psychological distress
Fewer medical appointments
Note that they also engaged in problem focused coping as they went to the doctor and were treated for breast cancer
Why benefit from emotional approach processing
Might increase our understanding of ourselves
We might habituate to handing emotion head on and, therefore, habituate to negative experiences to some degree
We might learn that negative experiences are not as bad as we predict
Pain does usually decrease over time
We might learn to “take control” of our situation
Positive emotion accessibility
Preliminary research suggest that if you have access to your positive emotions, you are more likely to be able to access them during times of stress
Recall from broaden and build theory, positive emotions enhance recovery from the negative
Ways to access positive emotion
Humor, mindfulness: Sustained focus on current experience without judgment Associated with approaching stressors Positive reappraisal Reduced reactivity Reduces physiological reactivity benefit finding
amydala
involved in fear and processing emotions
Emotional focused expression less common in Asian cultures study
In one study looking at neurological attempts at
suppressing emotions, Asian study participants were able to decrease their emotional reaction to negative pictures, while European Americans were not
Socioemotional Selectivity Theory
As we get older, our sense of how much time we have left alters
This theory suggests that we are more selective of our environment and companions as to maximize the positive and minimize negative
