prosocial behaviour

Question 1

define prosocial behaviour

Answer 1

= voluntary behaviour intended to benefit another e.g. comforting, helping, sharing

Question 2

altruism

Answer 2

= prosocial behaviour that is performed for unselfish motives e.g. children engage in more with age, it isn’t uncommon in infancy

Question 3

comforting

Answer 3

the rate with which children comfort others rather than reacting with distress increases over 2nd year of life

Question 4

helping

Answer 4

• 18 months help others in simple tasks
• chimps help in similar situations where it is easy to infer the person’s goal
• evidence that altruism is something we are biologically prepared for

Question 5

sharing

Answer 5

communication is sharing info

• 12 months: point at object if they see someone searching for something
• 4.5-6yrs: more likely to share with friends, sharing depends on what it is and costs
• more likely to prefer equal division of resources if they were told they were sharing with nonfriend/no cost to self

Question 6

inequity aversion

Answer 6

• given choice to accept more sweets than friend or reject

- when it is your disadvantage you are more likely to reject

Question 7

what are factors that influence prosocial behaviour?

Answer 7

• biological

- socialization in family and at school, culture + discipline

Question 8

biological factors

Answer 8

• young MZ and DZ twins observed during 2nd year of life, recorded reactions to adult distressed–>genetic factors play a role in toddlers prosocial actions and concern
• genetic factors likely to be played out in terms of differences in temperament
• tendency to feel negative emotions, ability to regulate emotion and assertiveness affect how they act
• those who are not overwhelmed by emotions they experience are more likely to feel sympathy
• those who are not overly inhibited are more likely to act on their sympathetic feelings and behave prosocially

Question 9

socialization in family and school, culture

Answer 9

• parents promote prosocial beh by having secure attachment, modelling empathy/sympathy, discussing emotions + discipline: reasoning + pointing out consequences of anti-social beh effective
• authoritarian teaching–>lack of sympathy in children

Question 10

do extrinsic rewards undermine altruism?

Answer 10

• children helped an adult and adult either gave material reward, praised or responded neutrally
• given opportunity to help again with no reward
• children in material reward condition less likely to help in 2nd phase
• suggests early helping behaviours are intrinsically motivated

Question 11

prosocial behaviour and school

Answer 11

• preschoolers exposed to prosocial peers found to be more prosocial by end of year
• reinforce own behaviours by playing with children of similar prosocial levels
• peer support systems, trained pupil supports another who is new have been shown to be successful

Question 12

cultural influences

Answer 12

-children in collectivist cultures acted more prosocially than individualistic

Question 13

challenge of altruism

Answer 13

• natural selection tells us that species evolve bc genetic mutations give rise to traits that benefit survival
• h/e altruism benefits others

Question 14

kin selection

Answer 14

• proposes we help others who share genetic material with us
• more likely to aid close relatives
• doesn’t explain why we help strangers

Question 15

reciprocity

Answer 15

• around 3: children become more discerning about who should benefit from their act of kindness
• share with close people, people who have shared with them and others
• sensitivity to reciprocity explains evolutionary origins of cooperation

Question 16

group selection

Answer 16

• altruistic behaviours spread because they benefit the group as a whole
• difficult to explain how exactly this works and hard to reconcile with selfish gene accounts