Lecture 10: Intro to Prosocial Flashcards
What does it mean to be prosocial?
Prosocial behavior refers to a range of positive behaviors including positive interactions (e.g., friendly play or peaceful conflict resolutions), altruism (e.g., sharing, offering help), and behaviors that reduce stereotypes
Why are values important?
Knowing what’s important to you
Why is connection important?
Meaningful connection to social context has long been considered a central feature of individuals wellbeing
Connection is one of the 6 core features of +ve wellbeing (Barsakod, 2019)
What is evolution?
species can change over time, that new species come from pre-existing species, and that all species share a common ancestor. In this model, each species has its own unique set of heritable (genetic) differences from the common ancestor, which have accumulated gradually over very long time periods
Combination of Darwin’s work on evolution & Mendel’s work on heredity started to form research
What are the 4 streams of inheritance that interact with one another?
Genetic, Epigenetic, Learning, Cultural/symbolic
These streams interact with each other- evolution takes place within and across 4 interacting inheritance streams to create dynamic process
What is genetic inheritance?
Genes influence each individual’s behavioral and psychological characteristics, including intellectual ability, personality, and risk for mental illness
Mutations & changes in DNA (variation) that support survival & reproduction are more likely to be passed onto offspring
What is epigenetic inheritance?
Different cells express different parts of our genes depending on which are turned on/off by epigenetic modifications
Epigenetics in psychology provides a framework for understanding how the expression of genes is influenced by experiences and the environment to produce individual differences in behavior, cognition, personality, and mental health
What is learning & behavioural inheritance?
Skinner (1981) was one of the 1st to understand natural selection
Learning occurs when behavioural variants were selected i.e. reinforced by the consequences they produce & will occur again
Behaviours are selected and evolve
What is the cultural/ symbolic inheritance stream?
It involves individuals copying or replicating the behaviour of another & when this includes offspring, the behaviour becomes transgenerational
Direct imitation is important for transmission
Symbolic systems allow for transmission of complex knowledge
What is extended evolutionary synthesis?
Adaptive change across multiple inheritance streams and levels
Behaviour of an organism can shape the environment which in turn shapes it, therefore evolutionary change can be directed by the organism itself
Learning allows for quick responses to events around an organism
What is niche construction?
Niche construction is the process whereby organisms actively modify their own and each other’s (via behaviour) evolutionary niches (surroundings) to such an extent that it creates an entirely new ecosystem which alters species genetics e.g., Beavers building damns in rivers
Niche construction in humans - domesticating cattle which to humans ability to digest milk
What is the origin of within group cooperation?
Groups of individuals that helped each other would not outcompete groups of individuals that did not
Between group competition leads to selection pressure for within group cooperation
Which is called multi selection theory (MLS)
What is an example of multi selection theory (MLS)
Focuses on the phenotype because it looks at the levels that selection directly acts upon. For humans, social norms can be argued to reduce individual level variation and competition, thus shifting selection to the group level.
How do groups achieve cooperation?
Behaviours that are good for the individual are often bad for the group but if the group is successful then it’s of best interest to promote cooperative & prosocial behaviours above self interest
So by increasing PRO SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
How to achieve cooperation/ effectiveness and gain competitive advantage?
Encourage and support pro sociality with language, values, social rules, laws etc.
