Prosocial Behaviour Flashcards
Prosocial behaviour
Doing something that is good for other people or for society as a whole
Rule of law
When members of a society respect and follow its rules
Reciprocity
The obligation to return in kind of what another has done for us
Gratitude
A positive emotion that results from the perception that one has benefitted from the costly, intentional, voluntary action of another person
Norms
Standards established by society to tell its members what types of behaviour of typical or expected
Equity
What idea that each person receives benefits in proportion to what he or she contributes
Equality
Idea that everyone gets the same amount, regardless of what he or she contributes
Sensitivity about being the target of threatening upward comparison
Interpersonal concern about the consequence of outperforming others
Corporation
When each person does he or her part, and together to work towards a common goal
Prisoner’s dilemma
A game that force people to choose between corporation and competition
Non-zero sum game
An interaction in which both participants can win or lose
Zero sum game
Situation in which one person‘s gain is another’s loss
Forgiveness
Ceasing to feel angry toward or seek retribution against someone who has wronged you
Kin selection
The evolutionary tendency to help people who have our genes
Empathy
Reacting to another persons emotional state by experiencing the same emotional state
Egotistic helping
By helping others to decrease own distressed
Altruistic helping
By helping other to reduce other’s distressed
Empathy-altruism hypothesis
The idea that empathy motivates people to reduce other peoples distress, as by helping and comforting
Empathy-specific reward hypothesis
The idea that empathy triggers the need for social rewards that can be gained by helping
Empathy specific punishment hypothesis
The idea that empathy triggers the fear of social punishments that can be avoided by helping
Negative state relief hypothesis
The idea that people help others in order to relieve their own distress
Who helps the most?
Helpful personality (altruistic) Similarity Gender Beautiful victims Belief in a Just world Emotion and mood (positive)
Belief in a Just world
The assumption that life is essentially fair, that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get
Men will support and help each other…
To engage in causal sex
Women will support and help each other to…
Avoid causal sex
Can be explained by the social exchange theory
Women want to keep sex to be special
Men just want to have causal sex
Bystander helping in emergencies
Five steps to help
Time pressure
Bystander effect
The finding that people are less likely to offer help when they are in a group then when they are alone
Kitty Genovese
5 steps to helping
Notice that something is happening
Interpret event as an emergency (pluralistic ignorance)
Take responsibility for providing help (diffusion of responsibility)
Decide how to help
Provide help
Pluralistic ignorance
Looking to others for cues about how to behave, while they are looking to you
Collective misinterpretation
Diffusion of responsibility
The reduction in feeling responsible that occurs when others are present
Time pressure - Good Samartian study
Darley & Batson, 1973
Student walk across campus to an appointment and passed a man who was coughing and groaning
They either late or have plenty of time
Students who have plenty of time help the most
The more time they have, the more likely they help
How can we increase help
Reduce distraction Reduce pluralistic ignorance Reduce diffusion of responsibility Reduce concerns about a lack of competence to help Reduce audience inhibition
Audience inhibition
Failure to help in front of others for fear of feeling like a fool if one’s offer of help is rejected
What make us human
Help individuals and society
Frequently exhibit prosocial behaviour towards other who are not family
Rule following obedience and conformity are prosocial acts
Reciprocal and cooperation with strangers
Batson et al. (1981): the effect of stress on task performance (rigged lottery)
Participants asked to watch Elaine (confederate) to receive electrical shocks during a 10 trails task
Participants were either in low empathy condition (no similarity) or high empathy condition (high similarity)
Assigned to easy escape condition watched 2 trials then leave) or difficult escape condition (watch all the trails)
Participants high empathy condition traded places with Elaine in both easy and difficult to escape
Low empathy condition: left in easy escape, and moe than a half would help Elaine in difficult escape
This provides evidences for both egotistic and altruistic helping
Low empathy condition people help to…
People only help to reduce owns distress
If they can walk away and ignore the victims suffering, they will do
High empathy condition
People help to reduce others distress, even though they can escape they won’t because they concerned others need
