PSY2001 SEMESTER 1 - WEEK 8 Flashcards
define prosocial behaviour
acts that are positively viewed by society, defined by societal norms and have positive social consequences of contributing to physical/psychological wellbeing of another person
name the 2 type of prosocial behaviour
helping behaviour and altruism
define helping behaviour
acts that intentionally benefit someone else/group
helping can be antisocial (helping to make another person look bad)
define altruism
acts that benefit another person rather than self
performed without expectation of one’s own gain. true altruism selfless (but difficult proving selflessness as sometime private rewards, like feeling good)
what started prosocial behaviour research
Kitty Genovese Murder (1964), 37 people openly admitted heard screams, but failed to act
name biological and evolutionary reasons for why people help
mutualism, kin selection
name social psychological reasons for why people help
social norms and social learning
summarise the biological/evolutionary perspective of why people help
human has innate tendency to help others to pass genes onto next generation, improving survival rates with prosocial behaviour being a trait with evolutionary survival values
define mutualism
prosocial behaviour benefits cooperator as well as others= a defector will do worse than a cooperator
define kin selection
prosocial behaviour is biased toward blood relatives because helps their own genes
what is evidence of kin selection perspective
ppts more willing to help those with closer>distant kin and prefer to help sick>healthy in everyday situation, but help health>sick in life or death situation
name issues of biological account of prosocial behaviours
- doesn’t explain why we help non-relatives
- lacks empirical evidence and impossible to assess in lab
- doesn’t explain why we help in some circumstances/not other (eg; familial violence)
- social learning theories ignores (behaviours learnt and not innate)
define empathy
emotional response to someone else’s distress and appears to be innate
how can empathy impact on prosocial behaviour
fails to act prosocially as actively engaging in avoiding empathy
however empathic concerns lead to motivation to help (Batson)
women appear more empathetic than men, what account for this
socialisation as women values interdependence and more other-orientated but men more independence, self orientation
outline social psychological accounts (norms) for prosocial behaviours
help due to feeling that we should
shaped and are sustained by societal norms (not innate)
define societal norms
social guideline establish what most do in certain context, what’s socially acceptable
why do social norms lead to socially appropriate behaviour (reward/punishment)
behaving in line with social norm rewarded and leads to social acceptance, but violating social norms means punishment and often results in social rejection
is self-attribution or reinforcement more powerful in learning social norms in prosocial behaviours
causal attribution (internalising idea of helpful to guide our future behaviours when being helpful is an option) means self-attributions are more powerful
when telling child they are “helpful people”, results in greater helping behaviours than when using reinforcements
what 3 social norms explain why we engage in prosocial behaviour
- reciprocity principle
- social responsibility
- just world hypothesis
define reciprocity principle
we should help others that help us
define social responsibility
we should help those in need independent of their ability to help us
define just-world hypothesis
world is just and fair place, if we come across anyone undeservedly suffering, help to restore our beliefs in just world
name the 3 social psychological accounts of prosocial behaviours
norms
learning to be helpful
social learning theory
summarise social psychological perspective of learning to be helpful for prosocial behaviour
childhood is critical period to learn our prosocial behaviours
classical conditioning, instrumental conditioning and observational learning
name 3 components in social psychological account of learning to be helpful for prosocial behaviour
giving instructions
using reinforcement
exposure to models
a component of social psychological account of learning helpfulness, explain importance of giving instruction
telling child what’s appropriate establish expectations, guide for later life
if told to be good then teacher is inconsistent, this is pointless
a component of social psychological account of learning helpfulness, explain importance of using reinforcement
rewarding younger children mean more likely to offer to help again, but if not rewarded/punished are less likely
outline Rushton & Teachman (1978) study for using reinforcements to encourage helping behaviour
children 8-11 observes adults playing game, who donate token won in game to worse off child
cdn1 = pos reinforcement
cdn2 = no consequences
cdn 3 = neg reinforcement
child donated higher tokens if saw pos cdn
a component of social psychological account of learning helpfulness, explain importance of exposure to model
modellings more effective in shaping behaviour than reinforcement
in social psychological account of learning helpfulness, detail Gentile (2009) research into video games
either played prosocial, neutral, violent
found playing prosocial video game increased short-term helping, decreased hurtful behaviour in puzzle game
outline social psychological account for helping behaviour of social learning theory
against just imitating role models, and instead knowledge of what happens to model determines whether or not observer will help
describe research of social psychological account for helping behaviour of social learning theory (Hornstein)
ppt observes model returning a lost wallet and model appears either pleased to help, displeased, no strong reaction
found when ppt returned wallet, those observing pleasant helped most and observed negative helped least
define bystander effect
people are less likely to help in an emergency when they are with others than when they are alone
outline research as part of Latane & Darley cognitive model (1968) regarding emergency situations
presence of smoke in room, another ppt in medical emergency
presence of others:
cdn 1: confed, not intervening
cdn 2: other ppts
cdn 3: alone
very few intervene in presence of others and especially if others did not intervene
for Latane & Darley cognitive model, what are the 4 components adding up to give help
- attend to what is happening
- define event as emergency
- assume responsibility (if med emergency and first aid trained, then you feel more confident to take on responsibility
- decide what can be done
name the 3 processes contributing to the bystander effect (cognitive models)
diffusion of responsibility
audience inhibition
social influence
how does diffusion of responsibility contribute to the bystander effect
tendency of individual to assume that others will take responsibility
how does audience inhibition contribute to the bystander effect
other onlookers may make individual feel self-conscious about taking action = people don’t want to appear foolish by overreacting
how does social influence contribute to the bystander effect
other people provide model for action
if unworried then situation seem less serious
in Latane & Darley (1976) study to test process underlying bystander effect, name the 5 condition
- control= alone, cannot be seen/see other
- diffusion of responsibility= aware of another ppt but cannot see them
- diffusion of responsibility + social infleunce= aware of other ppt, see them in monitor but cannot be seen themselves
- diffusion of responsibility + audience inhibition= aware of other ppts, cannot seen them and can be seen themselves
5.diffusion of responsibility + audience inhibition + social influence= aware of another ppt, see them and aware they can also be seen
in Latane & Darley (1976) study to test process underlying bystander effect, what did they find?
most likely to least likely to give help were=
alone,
diffusion,
diffusion + influence/inhibition,
diffusion + influence + inhibition
in the bystander calculus model, what 3 components are considered
- physiological processes (empathetic response causing greater arousal so greater chance we will help)
- labelling arousal as an eotion
- evaluating consequences of helping (cost-benefit analysis)
how does labelling arousal as an emotion impact bystander behaviour
personal distress when seeing someone suffer motivates help to reduce our own negative emotional experience
when are empathetic concerns likely to be triggered
when similar to victim and can relate to them
name costs of helping
time and effort
personal risk
name costs of not helping
empathy costs- distress to bystanders
personal costs- guilt and blame
summarise bystander calculus model
intervene in emergencies when finding arousal unpleasant, and seek relief
suggesting altruism is misnomer and actually motivated by self-interest, egosim
Shotland & Straw (1976) research with man/woman fighting gave support for bystander calculus model. explain why
cdn 1: married, vs stranger
intervention rate measured: 19% married, 65% stranger
high costs of helping married (personal business), low cost not helping (they will be fine)
low cost of helping stranger as not getting involved in their personal business and high cost of not-helping as feel guiltyu
why may bystander effect be a myth (Philpot)
CCTV recording of street dispute found at least 1 bystander intervene in 90% of cases, and presence of other increases likelihood
give strengths of Philpot (research disproving the bystander effect)
- large scale real-life test with ecological validity
- consistent effect across different countries with slightly diff contexts (Cape town is more violent so has greater personal risk)
give weaknesses of Philpot (research that disproving bystander effect)
- only in cities, mostly western
- intervention defined very broadly
- lack of audio
how may being a stranger actually increase bystander effect
inhibits helping as slower communication and less opportunity to interact later and explain action
outline Levine’s study into influence of group membership on helping
ManU fans, ppt walk and witness emergency incident
ManU fan more likely help other ManU fan>liverpool/not wearing top
but if told taking part in study focusing on positives of being football fan then equally likely to help manu/liv>plain
means broadening boundaries of social cateogry increases helping behaviour
what is just-world hypothesis connecting to helping
world is just, fair and if we come across anyone undeservedly suffering we help them to restore our beliefs in just world
more likely to help someone not responsible for their misfortune
outline Turner DePalma study into just-world hypothesis
ppt read booklet on fictional disease (genetic anomality cause/individuals action cause, no info given) and measured belief in just world, offering 12 helping options with differing commitment levels
helping increased when believed not responsible
those with high belief in just world helped more only when person not responsible for their illness
what 3 components can separate helpers/nonhelpers
norm of social responsibility
internal locus of control
greater dispositional empathy
name some personality traits that are more likely to be helping
agreeable, self-transcendence values, empathetic, more willing to forgive
name some physical traits that seem to be present in helper
taller, heavier, physically strong, better trained
name attachment styles of those who help
secure are more compassionate, and alturistic
children who shared, helped, offer emotional comfort
what environmental trait leads to helping
living in a smaller town, due to rural settings (less crowed, rushed and overwhelmed)
what is Scrooge effect
become more caring when facing own mortality, feeling needs to repent
what is terror management theory
most fundamental human motivation to reduce terror of inevitably death so self-esteem is implicated
outline overall impact of mood on helping
those feeling good are more likely to help
receiving good news
outline Isen evidence for mood on helping
teacher more successful on task more likely to contribute later to school fundraising event
as doing well creates “warm glow of success”, making people more likely helpers as less preoccupied with self, more sensitive to others needs
however, what is a weakness of mood impacting helping (research)
Isen, Clark, Schwartz= increased willingness only in first 7min of positive mood induction
why can bad mood reduce helping
concentrate on self, problems, less concerned with others welfare
when can self-focus actually increase our helping
if we feel guilty, or if given some positive feedback
how can competence increase helping
feeling competent they can deal situation and know what they’re doing
name 2 research example for when competence increases helping
moving electrically charged object if told have high tolerance for electric shocks
recapturing dangerous lab rat if told they were good at handling rats
(Wakefield) when does stereotypes reduce want to receive help
female students made aware of stereotype of being dependent, then placed in situation where needed help and asked to solve set of anagrams
those made aware less willing to seek help, those seeking help felt worse with more that was sought
name conclusion of Philpot, regarding methodologies
case file/in situ obs unreliable and video footage more useful
what was a conclusion of Philpot regarding those intervening despite personally costing behaviour
intervene to punish norm-violating individual to preserve social norm, even at a cost to alleviate own unpleasant arousal and to maintain empathy, peacekeeping behaviour
