pro social behaviour lecture 1

Question 1

why do people engage in pro social behaviour

Answer 1

-person based factors
-situation based factors

Question 2

why would people not want to help stranger in need

Answer 2

-unsure if emergency
-standing out/ embarrassment
-other people around so responsibility shared

Question 3

kitty genovese murder 1964

Answer 3

-kitty walking home, attacked with knife, crying for help, long time passed
-no one helped and she was murdered
-lots of people heard but no one helped
-kick started interest in helping behaviour

Question 4

what is prosocial behaviour

Answer 4

range of behaviour valued by society

Question 5

what are the two types of pro social behaviour

Answer 5

1. helping behaviour: helping person or group
2. altruism: helping behaviour costly to helper

Question 6

what are the person based factors to helping behaviour

Answer 6

-mood: positive mood, negative mood, guilt
-genetic factors
-empathy

Question 7

what are the genetic factors in helping behaviour

Answer 7

helping behaviour has been passed through the generations so suggests there is a genetic link
-targeted helping improves survival of genes
-relatives share genes so helping relatives enhances survival of shared genes so they can be passed on

Question 8

how does positive mood impact helping behaviour

Answer 8

Carlson 1988
-meta analysis found positive mood increases helping
-warm glow of success by Isen 1970: teachers successful on a task (good mood) are more likely to help with a fundraiser
-being in a positive mood makes people less self focused and sensitive to other’s needs

Question 9

how does negative mood impact helping behaviour

Answer 9

Carlson and Miller 1987
-there are different negative emotions which have different effects
-anger = aggression, NOT prosocial
-Van Doorn et al 2014 suggests anger can be prosocial when fighting an injustice

Question 10

guilt and helping behaviour

Answer 10

Regan 1972
-guilt induction study (broken expensive camera)
-immediately after pp left feeling they have broken the camera, there is an opportunity to help someone
-50% in guilt cond help compared to 15% in control (no guilt) condition

Question 11

why does guilt increase helping behaviour

Answer 11

Cialdini 1982
-negative state relief hypoth
-helping someone else is a way to combat guilt/ coping strategy

Question 12

how does empathy influence helping behaviour

Answer 12

Bateson 1991
-egoistic people: less concerned about others
-altruistic: empathy and concern for others
-if there is potential to escape helping…
-egoistically motivated people would escape
-altruistically motivated people help due to empathy, if they walk away they will feel psychologically guilty so it is better for them to help out

Question 13

Bateson study on empathy and helping behaviour

Answer 13

Bateson 1981
-students observe ‘elaine’ receive electric shocks in learning study
-pp offered chance to take place of elaine
1. they can walk out after 2/10 trials (high escape)
2. pp watch full 10 trials (low escape)
3. pp told elaine shares same values and beliefs (high empathy)
4. pp told elaine has diff values and beliefs (low empathy)

-low empathy (egoistic) have easy escape, less likely to take elaines place
-all other conditions are likely to help elaine

Question 14

perspective taking and empathetic concern

Answer 14

Oswald 1996: empathetic concern requires perspective taking
Bateson 1997, 2003: there is a distinction between imagining how someone else would feel in a certain situ verus how we would feel in the situ

Question 15

what is the situation based model to helping behaviour

Answer 15

-presence of others impacts helping behaviour
-more helpers = help less likely to be received

Question 16

what situaltional factor causes us not to intervene

Answer 16

Latarne and Darley 1968 cognitive model
-bystander effect/ apathy
-emergencies are unexpected and cause uncertainty
-people take cues from other when uncertain
-if everyone is doing nothing, this leads to inertia ( no activity) and inaction
-bystander effect due to social influence

Question 17

latarne and darley study

Answer 17

1970
- student pp fill out questionnaire about student life
- either alone, with 2 other pp, or with 2 confederates who take no action
- smoke pours into room
- alone pp = 75% raise alarm
- 3 pp = 38% raise alarm
- 2 confederates 1 pp = 10 % raise alarm
-presence of others prevents us taking positive action

Question 18

what is required to help according to latarne and darley 1970

Answer 18

-notice the situation
-interpret situ as an emergency
-feel responsible
-decide whether to help

Question 19

what makes bystanders apathetic

Answer 19

-diffusion of responsibility when with other potential helpers
(more onlookers = more diffusion = more disengagement)

-audience inhibition, fear of others watching, may feel/look silly if it wasnt an emergency, not wanting to make a fool of yourself

-social influence, if others arent doing anything maybe thats the thing to do (latarne and darley 3 in 1 study found that as these factors stack up, help becomes less likely)

Question 20

what are the limits to the bystander effect

Answer 20

1. latane and rodin 1969: apathy less likely if bystanders know each other
2. Gottleib and carver 1980: among strangers bystander effect reduced if they believe they will interact with each other and account for there actions

Question 21

when is the bystander effect the strongest

Answer 21

when observers are strangers with little prospect of interaction