Prosocial Behaviour Flashcards
prosocial behaviour
any act performed with the goal of benefitting another person
altruism
- B aimed at helping others where there is no expectation of reward
- can be self-sacrificing when B can be detrimental to self
evolutionary persepctive on prosocial behaviour
- kin selection
- B that helps a genetic relative is favoured by natural selection
- in emergencies, we are more likely to help a genetic relative than non-relative - norm of reciprocity
- expectation that helping others will increase likelihood of them helping you in future
- reciprocity can be detected in 21 month old infants - learning social norms
- competitive advantage + more likely to survive when norms of society = learned
- has become part of genetic makeup
social exchange theory
argues that prosocial B
1. can be based on self-interest
2. stems from the desire to maximise our outcomes and minimize costs
negative state relief hypothesis
- idea that most people help in order to alleviate their own sadness + distress
- help in anticipation that they will feel distressed AFTER the event IF they don’t help
empathy
ability to experience events and emotion the way another person experiences them
empathy-altruism hypothesis: Batson’s theory
- idea that when we feel empathy for a person, we will attempt to help them purely for altruistic reasons
- regardless of what we have to gain
manipulating empathy levels: Toi and Batson (1982)
refer to study in notebook
altruistic personality
- aspect of a person’s makeup
- said to make them likely to help others in various situations
gender differences
men
- more likely to perform/suggest to perform acts of bravery and heroism
women
- more likely to give supportive long term help to individuals, groups, important causes
impacts of SES on prosocial B
- lower SES = more likely to be helpful than higher SES
- likely due that lower SES tend to develop more communal self-concepts
- higher SES more agentic and self-driven
- priming higher SES with film clip of child poverty increase helpfulness
- same effect IF primed to believe they are rich/priviledged
- higher SES more likely to disobey driving rules, ignore pleas of help, take more than needed
cultural differences pertaining to prosocial B
in all cultures
- more likely to help in-group
- less likely to help outgroup
in collectivist cultures
- even more likely to help in-group
- even less likely to help out-group
WHY?
mood + prosocial B
- “feel good, do good” effect
- people are more likely to help when they are in a good mood
1. makes us look on bright side of life
2. helping others prolongs our own good mood
3. good moods increase self-awareness - also more likely to help if we are feeling guilty, sad, distressed (negative state relief hypothesis)
bystander effect
greater the number of bystanders who witness an emergency, less likely they will help
bystander intervention: Latané & Darley model
if bystanders fail to take any of the 5 steps of decision-making, they will not help
1. noticing an event
- don’t help because: “In a hurry”, distracted
2. interpreting the event as an emergency
- don’t help because: pluralistic ignorance
3. assuming responsibility
- don’t help because: diffusion of responsibility
4. knowing an appropriate form of assistance
- don’t help because: lack of knowledge
5. implementing the decision to help
- don’t help because: danger to self, concern, etc.
