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Social psychology > Lectures 15 and 16: Helping behaviour > Flashcards

Lectures 15 and 16: Helping behaviour Flashcards

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1
Q

What is altruism?

A

Helping behaviour that benefits others but requires self sacrifice for the helper. No expectation or rewards, no regard for personal consequences

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2
Q

What is prosocial behaviour

A

Helping that benefits others, but the helper may have motives behind helping

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3
Q

What happened to Wilson Ross

A

He got in a crash and was suspended in his truck, which then caught fire. He was miraculously saved by Jason Stallcup seconds before the van exploded

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4
Q

What happened to Kitty Genovese?

A

She was murdered in the night, the murder taking half hour to complete. 38 neighbours heard her screaming that she was being murdered, some even witnessing it, but none of them responded, not even calling police

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5
Q

What were the excuses that people made about why they didn’t help Kitty Genovese?

A

‘lovers quarrel’ ‘we were afraid’ ‘i didnt want my husband involved’ ‘we went to look but the light from our bedroom made it hard to see’ ‘i was tired’

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6
Q

Why do people help? (5 perspectives on helping)

A
  1. decision making
  2. learning
  3. social norms
  4. evolutionary
  5. social exchange theory
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7
Q

Why do people help: decision making perspecive

What is the decision making perspective?

A

Darley and Latane
‘a number of decisions need to be made that influence whether we will help people in a potential emergency’

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8
Q

Why do people help: decision making perspecive

What are the 4 stages in deciding to help?

A
  1. percieving a need (noticing the situation, is it an emergency?)
  2. taking responsibility
  3. weigh costs and benefits
  4. how should i help?
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9
Q

Why do people help: decision making perspecive

Clark and Word (1972): noticing the situation

A
  • While you are in a room, man in the hall falls off a ladder – for some Ps he cries out

Result=
- More and faster helping when Ps hear a victim cry out

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10
Q

Why do people help: decision making perspective

Latane and Darley (1968): is it an emergency

A
  • students doing study in lab alone
  • an apparent emergency – smoke filled the room

Result=
- many Ps took no action → did not perceive event as emergency
- thought it was either an experiment or it was leaky air conditioning

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11
Q

Why do people help: decision making perspective

Moriarity (1975): taking responsibility

A
  • At the beach, the person next to you goes for a swim and asks you to look after their belongings/doesnt ask
  • Belongings are stolen by a confederate

Result = Pps 3x more likely to help when they said they would look after the stranger’s stuff

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12
Q

Why do people help: decision making perspective

Shotland and Straw (1976): weighing costs and benefits

A

-male pps watched a fight between a couple
- C1: ‘get away ive never seen you before in my life
- c2: ‘get away from me, i dont know why i married you
- Pps in C1 3x more likely to intervene ; percieved bigger cost

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13
Q

Why do people help: decision making perspective

Cramer et al 1998: how can i help?

A
  • nurses/controls heard a confederate fall off a ladder
  • Nurses helped more than controls
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14
Q

Why do people help: learning perspective

Why do we help according to learning perspective?

A

We learn to help through reinforcement, modelling and observational learning
Evidence suggests modelling and reinforcement has impacts on adults and children

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15
Q

Why do people help: learning perspective

In what 3 ways do we learn to help others

A

reinforcement, modelling and observation

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16
Q

Why do people help: learning perspective

Mills and Grusex 1989: reinforcement

A
  • Children asked to share toys
  • Children rewarded with dispositional praise (you’re nice) had a more pronounced and long term effect on prosocial behaviour (as opposed to general praise)
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17
Q

Why do people help: learning perspective

Bryan and Test 1967: modelling

A
  • when driving, pps saw a driver helping another person on the hard shoulder
  • 1 mile later, pps see someone with a flat tyre

Result = Pps were more likely to help you had just seen helping behaviour

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18
Q

Why do people help: learning perspective

Schnall et al 2010: observation and elevation

A
  • Elevation: uplifting positive feelings after seeing another person do something virtuous
  • Pps see a clip of musicians thanking their music teachers (elevation) / fawlty towers clip (humour) / ocean documentary (control)

Result = Pps more likely to help in another experiment after being elevated

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19
Q

Why do people help: social norms perspective

Why do we help according to social norms perspective?

A

We internalise social rules about helping, and we help because society dictates that we help

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20
Q

Why do people help: social norms perspective

What 3 key norms do we follow to guide helping behaviour?

A
  1. social responsibility= help those dependent on us
  2. reciprocity= help those who help us
  3. social justice= norms about fairness and equity
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21
Q

Why do people help: evolutionary perspective

Why do we help according to evolutionary perspective?

A

we are more likely to help people genetically close to us ; we are most likely to help healthy offspring

We sometimes help strangers due to the norm of reciprocity (helps survival)

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22
Q

Why do people help: exchange theory

Why do we help according to exhange theory?

A

We help to maximise rewards and minimise costs

Helping can be rewarding because:
- we may need help in the future,
- it relieves the stress of seeing people suffer
- We get positive feedback
- It can alleviate physical pain

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23
Q

Why do people help: exchange theory

Describe benefits and costs of helping and not helping according to Pilivan 1981

A
  • Costs of helping = being late, being legally liable if someone is hurt, hurting yourself, etc
  • Costs of not helping = loss of self esteem, legal liability for not helping, social disapproval, you may not be helped in future
  • Rewards for helping = improved self esteem, social approval, justice, helping promoted
  • Rewards for not helping = avoiding injury, avoiding victim dependency, avoiding long term and short term time loss
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24
Q

Why do people help: exchange theory

What are the benefits of helping according to Weinstein and Ryan 2010 and Wang 2020

A
  • Volitional prosocial actions results in increased wellbeing for helper and recipient
  • After perfoming altruistic actions, pp brain activity in response to pain was significantly reduced
25
Q

Why do people help: exchange theory

What is Batsons empathy-altruism model, and how does this guide behaviour

A
  • Batson empathy altruism model = helping reflects self serving and selfless goals.
  • Helping is mediated by empathetic concern, social reward and personal distress
  • Empathetic concern = imagining how others feel and having positive regard towards them
  • If we see a homeless person, and we feel no empathy for them, we may only help them because it is in our self interest to (if rewards outweigh costs)
  • If we see a homeless person, and we do feel empathy, we will help them because we care, even if costs outweigh benefits
26
Q

Why do people help: Exchange theory

What did Toi and Batson 1982 find in relation to the Batson empathy-altruism model?

A
  • pps learned about a student in a car accident, finding out they have to leave uni
  • empathy and costs of not helping manipulated
  • IV1= high/low empathy (imagine how she feels)
  • IV2= high/low costs of help (guess we will see her in class)
  • DV = % that help
    RESULTS= pps who had high empathy, no matter the cost. Pps in high cost low empathy also helped.
27
Q

Why do people help: exchange theory

What did Depow et al 2021 find concerning how every day empathy impacts wellbeing and behaviour?

A
  • Pps prompted via phone 7 times a day for a week
  • At each point, they were asked about their currrent happiness, wellbeing, empathy opportunities, whether they recieved/offered empathy, and whether they had recently performed a kind act

Results=
- Opportunities to express empathy were common.
- Pps who noticed more opportunities/empathised more had better health/wellbeing.
- Women empathised more than men.
- People overconfident in their empathising abilities had lower wellbeing.

28
Q

What 3 situational variables dictate when people help?

A
  1. the presence of others
  2. the physical environment
  3. salient cues`
29
Q

When do people help- situational variables: the presence of others

What is the bystander effect/diffusion of responsibility (Darley and Latane)?

A

A reduction of the sense
of urgency to help someone involved in an emergency
or dangerous situation, based on the assumption that others who are present will help

Inspired by murder of Kitty Genovese (38 people did nothing)

30
Q

When do people help- situational variables: the presence of others

How does being in a group influence our perception of danger? Latane and Darley 1968 experiment.

A
  • Students work alone/with 2 strangers
  • Smoke fills the room

Results=
- 50% of pps working alone report to experimenter within 2 mins
- When in group, only 12% of pps reported to the experimenter in 2 mins. Less likely to report at all.

conclusion- we look to others to interpret situations

31
Q

When do people help- situational variables: the presence of others

How does being in a group affect how we take responsibility for helping? Darley and Latane 1968 experiment.

A
  • intercom study; pps talk to others over intercoms
  • pps left in a room alone for ‘anonymity’, the experimenter not listening to their conversation
  • On the recording, another person has an epileptic seizure
  • IV= how many others the pp thinks are present (other than victim) (0,1,5)
  • DV= time taken to respond, how often help was immediately offered

Results: pps who percieved less people (0 moreso than 1) helped faster, and more people immediately offered help.

32
Q

When do people help- situational variables: the presence of others

Do percieved others need to be real to impact helping behaviours? Garcia et al 2002.

A

Study 1
- pps asked to imagine they are having dinner with 30/10/no people.
- pps then asked to estimate % salary they think they will donate to charity upon graduation
Results= pps donate less when they imagine themselves in a larger group

Study 4
- Pps asked to imagine they are having dinner with 30/1/no people
- Presented with letter strings, asked to say if they are words
- Shown neutral words, words related to accountability, nonwords
(i.e. impenetrable, whimsical, unaccountable, exempt)
Results= pps imagining themselves in larger groups reacted faster to words related to unaccountability

33
Q

When do people help- situational variables: the presence of others

Are bystanders more likely to respond when they know the others in the group? Does group size still matter here? Levine and Crowther 2008

A
  • yes and yes
  • Pps asked to imagine they are walking through town next to 1 person/ 5 people, who are either friend(s) or stranger(s).
  • Asked to imagine that as they walk, they see a couple arguing; they begin to scuffle and the man hits the lady, grabbing her like he will hit her again
  • DV= how likely to intervene?

Results=
- people with 1 stranger are more likely to help than with 5 strangers
- People with 5 friends are more likely to help than with just 1 friend

34
Q

When do people help- situational variables: the presence of others

Does the presence of real life danger affect whether bystanders intervene? Lindegaard et al 2022

A
  • Examined whether danger affects bystander intervention in real-life conflicts by using CCTV evidence
  • Used CCTV provided by UK, Netherlands and South African police, in nightlife/tourist spots
  • Clips contained cues such as agitated talking/gesturing, pointing, pushing, grabbing
  • Coded bystander intervention and level of aggression every 5 seconds (small time intervals)

Results=
- bystanders 19 times more likely to intervene when people displayed targeted aggression
- Consistent with theories that increases in potential harm motivate bystanders

35
Q

When do people help- situational variables: the presence of others

How does feeling accountable affect bystander intervention? van Bommel et al 2012

A
  • Pps on an online forum, believe they are in group of 30/1.
  • Pps name appears in the same/different colour as everyone elses. (name in same= not standing out, name in different=standing out
  • Pps then have a chance to help someone in distress

Results= when pps name stood out, they were more likely to intervene

36
Q

When do people help- situational variables: the presence of others

How does feeling like you are being watched affect bystander intervention? van Bommel 2014

A

If bystanders believe there is a security camera present, they are more likely to help in the presence of other strangers- even if they haven’t explicitly seen the camera. Increases accountability.

37
Q

When do people help- situational variables: the physical environment

Cunningham 1979 - impact of weather

A
  • more likely to help (e.g., leave bigger tips) on a nice day compared to rainy days
38
Q

When do people help- situational variables: the physical environment

Liljenquist, Zhong, & Galinsky (2010) - impact of smells/cleanliness

A
  • more likely to return found money and donate to charity in a
    clean-scented room
  • The smell of cleaning products are linked to physical cleanliness → being in a clean scented room evokes a sense of general cleanliness in a person, making them engage in prosocial behaviour
39
Q

When do people help- situational variables: the physical environment

Amato 1983 - The impact of being in a small town/ big city

A

the bigger the population of an area, the less people:
1. donate to charity
2. help someone with a hurt leg
3. help people with directions

40
Q

When do people help- situational variables: the physical environment

What is the urban overload hypothesis (Milgram 1970) and how does this impact helping behaviour

A

People in cities are more likely to keep themselves to avoid being overloaded by information

People in cities are therefore less likely to help people

41
Q

When do people help- situational variables: the physical environment

How do norms in the environment affect helping behaviour? Cialdini 2003

A

Descriptive norms (what people normally do), injunctive norms (what people should do) and norm salience influence prosocial behaviour

  • People park their car in a car park; the floor of the car park is either clean or dirty (flyers on the floor)
  • People returning to their car (later) see a model go past, who litters/just walks by
  • Once people return to their car, they see a flyer on their car; do they litter or do they put it in the bin

Results =
- when the model reinforces the norm (littering in dirty, just walking by in clean), people tend to follow the norm by doing the same.

42
Q

When do people help- situational variables: salient cues

What did Nelson and Norton 2005 find in relation to priming and superheroes?

A
  • Primed people with superheroes or control
  • Asked to imagine helping situations
  • After this, people were asked whether they would volunteer and help a cause
  • DV= how much time people would give up

Results=
- People who thought about superheroes gave up 2 times as much time for this volunteering
- 3 months later, people primed with superheroes were much more likely to have completed volunteering hours compared to controls

43
Q

When do people help- situational variables: salient cues

What did Rosenberg et al 2013 find in relation to superheroes and priming?

A
  • Pps use virtual reality to pretend they are superman (prime) or flying a helicopter (control)
  • When they finished, the experimenter dropped a pen

Results=
- People who pretended to be superman took less time to help pick up the pen
- People who pretended to be superman overall helped more (picked up more pens)

44
Q

When do people help- situational variables: salient cues

How do superhero studies influence prosocial behaviour?

A

Superhero studies= priming people with the idea of an individual who is associated with helpfulness and kindness led people to be more likely to help themselves. Makes the idea of being helpful salient.

45
Q

When do people help- situational variables: salient cues

Does thinking about children lead us to be more prosocial generally? Wolf et al 2022

A
  • Participants were asked what would it be like to have a child? What would the child look like (making the concept of a child salient) vs baseline
  • Measured prosocial motives and values afterwards using Shwatz value theory
    –> self transcendent values: focus on welfare of others, prosocial
    –> self enhancement values: focus on promotion of personal interest, power and success
  • Wanted to see whether there would be a difference between self transcendent value ratings vs self importance value ratings depending on prime

Results
- People who were primed with the salient cue (children) made people think that prosocial motives were more important

46
Q

When do people help- situational variables: salient cues

Does child salience affect donation behavior? Wolf et al 2022

A
  • Field study
  • Looking into bone marrow disease; affects both children and adults
  • Measured the amount donated every 2 mins and number of adults and children in the area at these 2 minutes
  • Looking into whether the presence of children increases donations

Results
- Found a significant correlation suggesting that as the percentage of children in the area increased, the amount donated increased
- When children are salient, there is a positive prosocial behaviour effect

47
Q

Who is more likely to give and receive
help?

When are males more likely to help?

A
  • Victim is a stranger
  • There is an audience
  • There is potential danger
  • Victim is female
48
Q

Who is more likely to give and receive
help?

When are females more likely to give help?

A
  • Victim is a friend
  • Help involves caretaking
49
Q

Who is more likely to give and receive
help?

What 3 things about the victim determine whether one will be helped?

A
  • Victim similarity: we are more likely to help people similar to ourselves
  • Victim likeability: we are more likely to help people we like
  • Victim legitimacy: we are more likely to help people who we believe need help
50
Q

Who is more likely to give and receive
help?

Are there certain types of people who are more likely to give help? Hibashi et al 2016

A
  • looked into whether certain personality traits make people more likely to engage with prosocial and helping behaviour
  • Used big 5 measures to predict empathetic concern and personal distress

Results
- People who are high in the trait agreeableness are more likely to help others (agreeableness predicts empathetic concern and

51
Q

Who is more likely to give and receive
help?

Do individual differences between attitudes towards children predict helping behaviours? Wolf et al 2023

A
  • Assessed via reflections of affection towards children and reflections of stress associated with children
  • High affection = liking children, High stress = disliking children
  • Asked pps how they felt towards children in need, whether they watch it, whether they would contribute, etc.

Results=
- People who are affectionate towards children see children in need favourably, are more likely to watch and contribute towards it
- People who feel more stress toward children dislike children in need, not watch it, and not want to contribute towards it

52
Q

In what 6 ways can we increase helping?

A
  • Reducing ambiguity and increasing responsibility
  • Increasing guilt
  • Modelling
  • Listening to prosocial songs
  • Meditation
  • Being in green spaces
53
Q

How can we increase helping?

How does reducing ambiguity and increasing responsibility impact helping?

A

By increasing people sense of personal responsibility, people are more likely to engage in helping

54
Q

How can we increase helping?

How does guilt make people more likely to help? (Cialdini et al 1975)

A
  • Cialdini et al 1975 ‘door in the face’ technique
  • Starting with a big request, then going smaller; even a penny will help
  • Guilt trip into helping
55
Q

How can we increase helping?

Provide an example of where modelling can improve helping behaviours

A

children’s TV shows often show prosocial behaviour, which influences children to be prosocial

56
Q

How can we increase helping?

What did Greitemeyer 2009 find in relation to listening to prosocial songs?

A
  • Experiment 1: participants listened to either a positive song or a neural song, then were asked to finish a word completion task (i.e. HE__)
    Results= participants in the positive song condition were more likely to generate helpful words
  • Experiment 3: People listened to positive vs control songs, then were given money for participation. They were then asked whether they would like to donate this money to a charity instead
    Results: Results: people who listened to the prosocial songs were more likely to donate the money
57
Q

How can we increase helping?

What did Cordon et al 2013 find in relation to meditation and helping behaviour?

A
  • Participants randomly assigned to take part in meditation training for 8 weeks or not
  • They were then asked to go to the lab to take part in a study after; In the waiting room, there are 3 confederates; one with crutches, 2 sitting down.

Results= People who completed meditation were much more likely to give up their seat compared to those who didnt
Concl: meditation increases prosocial behaviour

58
Q

How can we increase helping?

How do green spaces impact helping behaviours? Gueguen and Stefan 2016

A
  • Field experiment: confederate drops glove while walking
  • Passersby tested before or after been in an urban park

Results= people who walked through the park were much more likely to help the confederate
Conc. being in green spaces makes prosocial behaviour more likely

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