L7 - Ingroup Helping Flashcards
Do you belive that human beings can be altruistic , or are we always being selfish, even when we help another person?
What are A) and B)
a) People can behaviour altruistically in some cases
b) People always have an ulterior motive for helping
Charities, Babies and Empathy
Altrusitic tendies have shown to emerge early in ontogeny as shown by research
Warnken and Tomasello that shows we are naturally predisposed to help
- The findings showes that infants helped in novel tasks (e.g experimenter struggling to put books in the cabinet) with unfamiliar adults.
- Showing that they have this innate tendency
Limitations of Warnken and Tomasello
- Is it difficult to determine if the child’s behaviour is helping or are they playing?
- Alternatively are they helping because there is nothing else to do
- If we are altruistic as childhood, why does not this carry through adulthood?
- Where is the cost? Is it altruism or prosociality?
Altruism vs prosociality
- Altruism is a type of prosocial behaviour that helps and benefits another individual, even at some cost to oneself.
- Prosocial behaviour is referred to acts that are intended to help and benefit others.
Baby Jessica
Background
baby in texas fell down well
received far more donations than other charities
Why baby Jessica and not other children?
- Disasters occur everyday
- 2012, 4 billion people aid
- Humanitarian diasters on increase due to climate change and political change
- Around 800 million people suffering from hunger, starvation
Altruism meets academic scepticism
Historically many researchers and philosophers have considered…
people to be ultimately selfish than altruistic
Altruism meets academic sceptism
Neuroscience
Historically, many researchers and philosophers have considered people to be ultimately selfish rather than altrustic
- When an individual is performing helping behaviour, dopamine is activated at the reward centre of their brain which causes that individual to experience pleasure.
Altruism meets academic sceptism
Historically, many researchers and philosophers have considered people to be ultimately selfish rather than altrustic
For example, there are evolutionary reasons as to why we are inclined to help others and cooperate
Reciporal altruism
- For example, in reciporal altruism in which an individual with help others with the expectation that they will help in return at some point in time (Trivers, 1971).
Altruism meets academic sceptism
Historically, many researchers and philosophers have considered people to be ultimately selfish rather than altrustic
Evolutionary reasons why we are inclined to help others and cooperate
For instance, researchers has shown that primates share food with other primates that share with them, they care for each other’s offspring (Frans de Waal, 1996)
Altruism meets academic sceptism
Historically, many researchers and philosophers have considered people to be ultimately selfish rather than altrustic
Evolutionary reasons why we are inclined to help and cooperate
Tit-for-tat reciprocity studies investigating cooperation note non-altruistic behaviours.
- This impulse to reciprocate acts of generosity tends to be a human universal.
- For example, in hunter-gather societies worldwide, the meat that is gained from hunts is shared with others on the assumption that this current act of generosity will be compensated in some later date (Flannery & Marcus, 2012).
Studies investigation cooperation note that helping behaviour is influenced by social norms
Alpizar et al. (2008)
Observation study
Found that donors in this observation in national park donated more money when they were a group with peers and the situation was not annonmyus.
On the other hand, individuals were less likely to donate when their donation was annoymus.
Altruism and donation
- If you helped and no one knows, suggest behaviour is altruism without making benefit
Reyniers and Bhalia (2013)
Relucant altrusim
Therefore, shows that participants follow social norms in regards to helping behaviour and care their reputation surrounding this,
- Participants in the study donate individually (control group - anonymously) or in pairs (test group: non-anonmusly).
- In the test group, the pair of participants revealed how much money they were going to donate.
- Paired participants in the test group also had the choice to revise their decision of donation.
- Findings showed that in the test group were more likely to donate as compared to the control group. However, they gave less average donations as compared to the control group.
- Therefore Reynier and Bhalla called this reluctant altruism and suggests this is due to peer pressure in making charitable donations
Altruism meets academic sceptism
Historically, many researchers and philosophers have considered people to be ultimately selfish rather than altrustic
Cialdini et al. Negative state relief model
- Individuals have this innate drive engage in helping behaviours in order to reduce negative moods
Some researchers argued against that
Historically, many researchers and philosophers have considered people to be ultimately selfish rather than altruistic
Batson and colleagues performed a series on studies on - emphatic concern
Individuals can be altruistic due to emphatic concern
Empathy as an mediator factor of altruism
- Baston defined empathy as feelings of concern and distress for another individual
- Batson et al. put forward an ‘empathy altruism hypothesis which proposes that altruism is directly associated with empathy and this can be demonstrated through the empathetic concern.
- Emphatheitc concern is when individual identifying with someone in need (feeling and understanding what that person is going through), this follows with the intention to help person.
Method
Batson et al. (1983)
- Participants would interact with another participant of the same sex in the study (conderate of the experiment).
- The participants took part in a series of trials of digital recall task and would receive an electric shock after each mistake
Batson et al. (1983)
Method
Egoistic Conern vs Empathetic Concern
Two conditions
- The participants would observe the confederate being shocked 10 times.
- The confederate would tell the participant about their traumatic childhood experience with shocks
- The participants would be asked to report their current feelings of the situation. The participants would then be spilt into two groups based on their responses of egotistic concern (concerned for themselves) and empathetic concern group (concern for others)
- The experimenter was then asked if the participant is willing to take the remaining shocks of the confederate
Batson et al.
Findings
Those participants scoring high in empathetic concern stayed and volunteered to take more shocks in egoistic concern even when they could leave the study
Batson et al.
Conclusion
- Therefore argues that this is evidence of altruism
Issues with Batson’s study
(1983)
- However, there is other factors such as consciousness (aware of their surrounding) and agreeableness that would want the participants to stay behind in the experiment and take the shocks alongside empathy
Some researchers argued against that
Historically, many researchers and philosophers have considered people to be ultimately selfish rather than altruistic
Empathy as a mediating factor of altruisim
Fulz, Batson et al. (1986)
Aim
- Due to the limitations of Batson et al (1983) study, Batson conducted another experiment to specifically manipulate empathy
Some researchers argued against that
Historically, many researchers and philosophers have considered people to be ultimately selfish rather than altruistic
Empathy as a mediating factor of altruisim
- Fulz, Batson et al. (1986)*
- Method*
- Notes*
- Participants read two notes by a student confederate about themselves
- In note 1, the student confederate expressed feelings out of place and depressed.
- In note 2, the confederate said they needed a friend and asked the participant if they wanted to hang out (confederate was of the same sex of the participant)
*
Some researchers argued against that
Historically, many researchers and philosophers have considered people to be ultimately selfish rather than altruistic
Empathy as a mediating factor of altruisim
Fulz, Batson et al. (1986)
What was measured
- They measured if the participants would agree to spend time with the confederate and how many hours they would prepare to spend time with the student confederate
- They manipulated these participants responses to either be anonymous or not anonymous