Prosocial Behaviour Flashcards
What is prosocial behaviour?
Voluntary behaviour intended to benefit another e.g. comforting, helping, sharing, providing helpful information
What is altruism?
Prosocial behaviour that is performed for unselfish motives
Research has shown that children engage in more prosocial behaviours with age
What patterns of comforting have been found?
The rate with which children comfort others increases over the second year of life
How does helping develop in children?
18 month olds help others in simple tasks
Chimpanzees also help in similar situations where it is easy for them to infer what the person’s goal is
Taken as evidence that altruism is something we are biologically prepared for
What are infants like at sharing?
From about 12 months if infants see someone searching for something they point to the object to tell them where it is
At 4-6 years old children’s sharing reflects their assessment of the recipient and sometimes the cost to themselves
Outline inequity aversion
Disadvantageous inequity aversion is when children sacrifice rewards to reject distributions that place them at a disadvantage relative to a peer
Advantageous inequity aversion is when children sacrifice rewards to reject distributions that place them at an advantage relative to a peer
Outline how biological factors might influence prosocial behaviour
MZ twins and DZ twins observed during 2nd year of life
Recorded their reactions to adults pretending to be distressed
Heritability estimates indicated that genetic factors play some role in explaining prosocial actions and concerns
Argue that genetic factors likely to be played out in terms of differences in temperament
Outline how socialisation and culture might influence prosocial behaviour
Socialisation in the family has a major impact on child’s behaviour
Parents promote prosocial behaviour by”
1. Having a secure attachment
2. Modelling empathy, sensitivity and prosocial behaviours
3. Arranging opportunities to engage in positive behaviours
4. Discussing emotions and how behaviour impacts on others
5. Constructive and supportive discipline
What are the most effective methods of discipline?
Reasoning and pointing out consequences of anti-social behaviour is more effective especially when conducted by parents who are generally warm and supportive
Inductive parenting is effective when an emotional tone is used
Physical punishments and authoritarian parenting and the use of material reward to promote good behaviour are associated with a lack of sympathy and prosocial behaviour in children
Do extrinsic rewards undermine altruism?
Children in the material reward condition were less likely to help the adult when told they wouldn’t get a reward
Suggests early helping behaviours are intrinsically motivated
Does prosocial behaviour at school have an impact?
Preschoolers exposed to prosocial peers at the start of school were found to be more prosocial by the end of the year
Children choose to play with other children who are about as prosocial as they are - reinforcement of their behaviours
Peer support systems have been shown to be successful in the UK
Are there any cultural differences in prosocial behaviour?
Children from Kenya, Mexico and the Philippines acted more pro-socially than those from Japan, India and the US
Argued that cultures where mothers gave out household chores to younger children encouraged more prosocial development whereas those that valued individual success fostered competitiveness
What is the challenge of altruism?
If only mutations that aid the survival of the phenotype will spread, how could a mutation resulting in behaviours that benefit others at a cost to oneself propagate?
What does kin selection propose?
That we help others who share genetic material with us
Predicts that we should be more likely to aid close relatives
But doesn’t explain why we help unrelated friends and even strangers
What does group selection propose?
That altruistic behaviours spread because they benefit the group as a whole
Most biologists have railed against group selection arguments
Difficult to explain exactly how this works
