Social and dispositional factors affecting prosocial behaviour

Question 1

what 2 social factors affect prosocial behaviour

Answer 1

cost of helping

presence of others

Question 2

explain presence of others as a factor

give one weakness of this explanation

Answer 2

the amount of people is inversely proportional to amount of help given.

the more people there are the less likely help is offered this happens because of diffusion of responsibility

research like piliavins study shows that amount of bystanders does not affect amount of help

Question 3

explain cost of helping as a factor

give one weakness of this explanation

Answer 3

this is how it affects the helper, is it gonna waste time? is it dangerous? will it cause embarrassment?

this also involves feeling guilty or being scared of judgement from others

interpretation of the situation also affects this, if its not perceived as an emergency there’s a lower chance they’ll be helped

Question 4

what 2 dispositional factors affect prosocial behaviour?

Answer 4

similarity to victim

expertise

Question 5

explain similarity to victim as a factor

give one weakness of this explanation

Answer 5

piliavin found a small race effect in the study. if we perceive the victim as similar we are more likely to help because we empathise with them

similarity alone doesn’t explain why bystanders help, in an emergency there is little evidence to support this

Question 6

explain expertise as a factor

give one weakness of this explanation

Answer 6

having more expertise increases rate of help as they would know what to do

expertise don’t always matter, studies have shown that people with and without had the same likelihood of helping