Slides Session 9 Flashcards
Prosocial behavior
describes any helpful action that will benefit another person. The helping person may not or may not receive any actual benefits for helping, and it may even pose a risk to him or her if they do help.
Empathy
refers to the capacity to be able to experience the emotional states of others, feeling sympathetic towards them and understanding their perspective
Altruism
refers to behaviour that reflects a total unselfish concern for the welfare of others
Describe Theories of prosocial behaviour - Why people help: Motives for Prosocial behaviour
1.1) The empathy-altruism hypothesis (Batson) – It feels good to help others
Proposes that at least some prosocial behaviour is motivated solely by the desire to help someone in need
This Hypothesis is based on a person’s capacity for Empathy and Altruism
1.2) The negative-state relief model – Helping can reduce unpleasant feelings
Proposes that prosocial behaviour is motivated by the bystander’s desire to reduce his or her own negative emotions
1.3) The empathic joy hypothesis – Feeling good by helping others
Proposes that prosocial behaviour is motivated by the positive emotion the person anticipates experiencing, as a result of successfully helping someone in need
1.4) Competitive Altruism Approach – Why nice people sometimes finish first
Proposes that people often help others to enhance their own status and reputation which results in large benefits for themselves
1.5) Kin selection theory - evolutionary perspective
Proposes that passing on our genetics is a key goal for all organisms and one way to accomplish this is by helping those who share our genetics
1.6) Reciprocal Altruism Theory – Helping those unrelated to us (Opposite Theory to Kin selection theory)
Proposes that we help others unrelated to us because helping is usually reciprocated
1.7) Defensive Helping – Helping out-groups to reduce their threat to our in-group
Proposes that one way of removing the threat posed by out-groups is to help them
what is bystander apathy
The bystander effect, or bystander apathy, is a social psychological phenomenon in which individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present. The greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that any one of them will help.
Who helps whom?
- People are more likely to help those who belong to their in-group
- People are more likely to help those who share a similar group membership with them e.g. race
- Bother genders have tendencies to be prosocial
- ->Men (dangerous activities) and women (NGO’s) differ in the contexts for which they would respond to help others
5 Crucial Steps in Helping
A) Notice
Noticing the emergency OR failing to notice the emergency
B) Interpret
Correctly interpreting an event as an emergency – when people are unsure about the situation they tend to believe it’s not serious and take no action
Pluralistic ignorance – Occurs when unsure about the situation - The tendency to do nothing (not help) when in a group for fear of making a mistake / responding inappropriately
C) Responsibility
Deciding whether it’s our responsibility to help e.g. fire fighters or teacher responsible for students
D) Capacity
Deciding whether you have the capacity to help (knowledge and skills) e.g. CPR
E) Decision
Making the final decision to help; weighing up the positive and negative consequences of helping
–>NIR CD
What are Factors that INCREASE the likelihood to help?
SES
1) Situational factors and helping
1. We help those we like, or are similar to us or are close to us
2. Holding similar values increase helping
3. Attribution of victim responsibility – help an injured well-dressed people but not an injured vagrant
4. Exposure to prosocial models - A helpful bystander serves as a Social model and therefore, increases the likelihood of others to help
5. A norm of helping can increase helping behaviour
6. Playing prosocial video games increases helping behaviour and can create remaining schemas for prosocial behaviour. Violent Video games decrease prosocial behaviour
B) Emotions/Feelings that reduce our focus on ourselves
A sense of awe (Feelings that shift our attention away from ourselves and our problems) seem to increase the tendency to engage in prosocial behaviour
C) Social class – the less financial resources people have the more generous they are
They feel dependent on others and therefore share their resources
Have less control over their lives and therefore, affiliate with others in the same position
People lower in socio-economic have a tendency to be more compassionate
What are factors that DECREASE the likelihood of helping
SDP
A) Social exclusion – Being left out hurts and may reduce the tendency to help others
When people feel socially excluded it decreases the likelihood that they would help others
While dealing with their feelings of rejection they might not have emotion left in order to show empathy towards others
It undermines their self-esteem, induces feelings of isolation and lowers life-satisfaction
B) Darkness – the feelings of anonymity reduce the tendency to help others
People are less likely to help others when alone because nobody will know that they didn’t
Darkness allows individuals the space to disobey social norms (e.g. the internet; trolling or cyberbullying)
C) Putting an economic value on our time reduces prosocial behaviour
The more we attach economic value to our time the less likely we are to use that time in helping others
