psych 4 Flashcards
“Selfless” Acts of Helping
Attempt to save others from harm while knowingly putting own life at risk
Thorndike’s Law of Effect
If our helping is rewarded, more likely to help in future
Social Learning Theory
We learn many of our behaviors by observing (and later imitating) others. So if you saw someone else doing something helpful and they were rewarded for their actions, then you’d learn to do the same.
REGAN (1971)
Norm of reciprocity
Participant seated next to a confederate (posing as a fellow participant).
Confederate leaves the room and returns with either:
Two cans of Coke (one for the participant).
One can of Coke (only for himself).
Confederate asks participant to buy raffle tickets for a fundraiser.
Findings:
Participants who received a Coke bought twice as many tickets as those who did not.
Dan Batson Views
altruism
Robert Cialdini Views
egoism
Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis
The idea that people help others out of genuine concern and empathy, not just for personal gain or benefit.
Batson et al. (1981) Elaine study
Purpose:
Investigate the effects of empathy and escape difficulty on the willingness to help someone in distress.
Procedure:
Participants watched a confederate (Elaine) perform a task and receive electric shocks for incorrect answers.
Two Independent Variables:
Empathy Level:
High Empathy: Participants believed Elaine shared similar values and interests.
Low Empathy: Participants believed Elaine had different values and interests.
The study found that participants with high empathy for Elaine were willing to help regardless of whether it was easy or difficult to escape the situation. In contrast, participants with low empathy were more likely to help only when escape was difficult, indicating they might be motivated more by a desire to reduce their own distress rather than by genuine concern for Elaine.
Toi & Batson 1982
Purpose:
Investigate how empathy and personal cost influence the willingness to help someone in need.
Procedure:
Participants listened to a recording of Carol Marcy (C.M.) discussing her struggles after a car accident left her in a wheelchair. She needed lecture notes to avoid dropping her psychology course.
Two Independent Variables:
Empathy Level:
High Empathy:
Participants were asked to imagine how C.M. felt and how her life changed
Low Empathy:
Participants were told to be objective and not consider C.M.’s feelings.
Results:
High Empathy:
Participants were likely to help C.M. regardless of the cost of not helping.
Indicates altruistic motivation driven by empathy.
Low Empathy:
Participants were more likely to help if they thought they would see C.M. in class (high cost of not helping).
Less likely to help if they wouldn’t see her (low cost of not helping).
Suggests egoistic motivation based on personal cost and benefits.
Negative-state relief hypothesis
people help others to alleviate their own distress (enhance their mood)
Cialdini et al. (1973)
Purpose:
To examine if people help others primarily to alleviate their own negative feelings (negative state relief hypothesis).
Results:
Participants who received a positive experience (money or praise) after feeling guilty were less likely to help compared to those who only felt guilty, supporting the idea that helping behavior was motivated by a desire to improve their mood.
Arousal/Cost-Reward Model (Piliavin)
Explains that helping behavior is influenced by both empathy and the desire to reduce personal distress.
Empathy and Personal Distress:
Feeling empathy for someone in need and wanting to alleviate your own distress both increase the likelihood of helping.
Arousal:
High emotional arousal in response to an emergency, such as seeing children in danger, leads to more helping if the arousal is attributed to the victim’s plight.
“We” Connection:
People are more inclined to help those they identify or share similarities with, like fans of the same sports team.
Cost Consideration:
If the potential costs of helping (like physical harm or embarrassment) are too high, people may choose to relieve their distress by other means, such as leaving the situation.
Why do people volunteer
Other oriented
Self-oritented
Luks & Andrews (2001)
majority acknowledged that volunteering made them feel good (resulted in “helper’s high”: inner warmth & energy spike)
Philip Zimbardo’s “Virtuous Authority” experiment
- “reverse-Milgram”
- setting created where people comply with prosocial actions that intensify over time (eg., 15 minutes writing thank you note –> 1 hr cleaning garbage –> evening babysitting)
- ends when person does something that they never would have imagined before)
- related to cognitive dissonance theory
