Lecture 11 - Helping and Harming Flashcards
What is PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR?
PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR is defined as behaviour intended to help someone else.
What is ALTRUISM?
ALTRUISM refers to a type of PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR that is not associated with any prospect of personal rewards.
This is contrasted by EGOISM.
What is “The Smoke Filled Room” by Latane and Darley (1968) and what does it suggest about how we turn to others to inform our behaviour?
This experiment looked at participants who were asked to fill out a survey prior to an experiment and then smoke started to enter the room under a door.
When alone and smoke was entering the door the participant immediately did something.
When with confederates that did not react the participant was much less likely to do anything about it.
We look to others in social situations to inform the correct course of action. We we are on our own we can only rely on ourselves.
When it comes to giving help to others is it true that before we give help we need to perceive NEED and also WORTHINESS of the one in need for help?
Yes.
Are people more likely to help in-group members than out-group members?
Yes.
In an experiment done by Small et al. (2007) that looked at peoples’ willingness to donate to an identifiable or statistical recipient/s, what did they find?
They found that when donors were presented with a description of a singular child (including a photo) that would directly benefit from any donation made then they were more likely to give and give more than when they were presented with statistics of thousands of people in need of help.
This is thought to occur because the individual description evokes EMPATHY.
What are two attributes of a recipient for help that contribute to whether we will give help?
Whether they are an in-group member.
Whether they are identifiable or not.
What are attributes about the helper that make it more likely to help?
Individual differences, such as personality traits (e.g. agreeableness).
Accessibility and prevalence of prosocial thoughts.
In a study done by Greitemeyer and Oswald (2010) that looked at how prosocial thought accessibility contributed to prosocial behaviour, what did they find regarding those who played a prosocial video game (lemmings) or a neutral game (tetras)?
They found that those who played the prosocial game had more prosocial thoughts.
They also found that when the researcher knocked over a jar of pencils those who had more prosocial thoughts were more likely to help.
The Bystander Effect is exemplified in the study done Darley and Latane 1968, where pariticpants were under the impression they were having a discussion about college life over an intercom with 1, 2, or 5 others.
What did they find when one of the confederates made out they were having a seizure.
What they found was that when the participant thought they were the only one then they were more likley to help than when they thought there was someone else there. If they thought there were more people then they were less likely to help.
What is DIFFUSION OF RESPONSIBILITY when it comes to the bystander effect?
Diffusion of responsibility refers to this idea that the more people there are the less individual responsibility we feel.
In a study done i n1976 that looked at whether passers by would intervene when a male of being aggressive toward a female, what did they find when the woman said “I don’t know you.” compared to “I don’t why I ever married you.”?
They found that in the first condition 65% of passers by helped and in the second condition only 10% helped.
This was coined an example of the NORM OF PRIVACY, which refers to this culturally accepted idea that when things are a private matter then we do not so readily intervene - also cue mysoginy in this example - people thinking that a wife is a husband’s property to do with what he will.
In a study done in 1973 by Darley and colleague that involved looking at the effect of how much time we have and our tendency to help, what did they find when the participants had more or less time between when they were due to give a talk and when they were told where the talk was?
The study involved to manipulations:
1) seminaries were told they were to give a talk about job prospects or about the “good samaritan” parable.
2) They were told they were to give the talk in another building that they had to walk to and they either had to hurry, go quickly or take their time.
They found that whether the seminaries were to give a talk about the good samaritan or jobs did not alter whether they woud help the person in need on their walk to the other building. What did influence it was how much time they thought they had.
When they were in a hurry only 10% stopped to help.
When they felt only a bit short for time 45% helped.
And when they thought they had ample time 63% helped.
What is the NEGATIVE STATE RELIEF MODEL of helping?
Shaller and Cialding (1988) defined this model as saying that we help people to reduce the negative feelings that arise from seeing others suffering.
In an experiment done by Cialdini et al. (1973) they looked at this idea that people are more likely to help the worse they feel. They did this experiment by inducing a negative state and then either reducing the negative state or not. These people were then offered a chance to help another person.
Out of the two groups of people what did they find?
They found that those who had not had their negative state relieved or countered in some way were more likely to help than those who had had their negative state relieved in some way, e.g. through praise.
