SP: Helping and Cooperation Flashcards
What is meant by prosocial behaviour?
Prosocial behaviour is behaviour intended to help someone else.
What does cooperation refer to?
Cooperation refers to two or more people working together toward a common goal that will benefit all involved.
What is meant by altruism?
Altruism refers to behaviour intended to help others without any prospect of personal reward for the helper.
What is meant by egoism?
Egoism refers to behaviour motivated by the desire to obtain personal rewards.
What three factors determine when we help?
Perceived help, deservingness of help and other’s presence
What is someone’s deserving of help based on?
the attribution of the cause and the norm of social responsibility. People should believe that it’s not people’s fault they need help (external attribution) and not that it is their fault (internal attribution).
What effect does other people have on helping or not?
People perceive the norm of either helping or not helping from others.
What is meant by the norm of social responsibility?
those able to take care of themselves have a duty and obligation to assist those who cannot.
What is meant by the diffusion of responsibility?
when others are present, responsibility is divided and each person feels less responsible for helping than when alone.
What is meant by the bystander effect?
The bystander effect states that the presence of more bystanders consistently decreases the likelihood of any person giving help.
When does the bystander effect not occur?
when the situation is perceived as dangerous
What can influence a personal norm of whether to help or not
Role Models
What is meant by a religious principle
whether you associate yourself with a religious group.
What is meant by the supernatural principle
The supernatural principle describes belief in a god
What is the link between the supernatural principle and prosocial behaviour
The supernatural principle (when activated) leads to more prosocial behaviour.
How may prosocial behaviour enhance the likelihood that genes will survive ?
If individuals help relatives who share their genes, the genes have a better chance of survival. Reciprocal helping can also occur, thus making prosocial behaviour evolutionary useful. Prosocial behaviour can also produce more indirect rewards such as a good reputation and that’s good for one’s reproduction chances.
How may egoism influence whether someone helps or not?
The desire to help often depends on perceptions of the potential rewards and costs of helping.
Why may people with the relevant skills be more inclined to help?
People with relevant skills for helping are more likely to help because the costs for helping are lower to them. Therefore perceived ability (e.g: skills or self-efficacy) influences helping.
How do emotions influence helping? (3)
Positive people and people who feel guilty are more inclined to help. People in a positive mood are less inclined to help if helping would result in a more negative mood. People in a negative mood are more likely to help if they are motivated to improve their mood. Intense emotional arousal makes individuals more likely to help regardless of rewards or costs.
What does the negative-state relief model of helping state?
The negative-state relief model of helping states that people help others to reduce their own distress because people hate to see others suffer.
Name and describe another model describing why people help
The empathy-altruism model states that feelings of emphatic concern lead to a motive to help someone in need for his own sake.
What two reactions can people have to seeing someone in distress and what do these individually lead to
If people see someone in trouble, they can either experience distress or empathic concern. Personal distress motivates egoistic helping and emphatic concern leads to altruistic behaviour.
How can emotional connection lead to a higher chance of helping?
The stronger the connection between two people, the more likely it is that someone feels empathy for the other. This can lead to an increased chance of helping
Why are people more likely to help an individual than a group?
because by focussing on a single individual, we tend to ignore the number of people needing help, as the degree of empathy and generosity is the same for one individual or an entire group. Thus, we donate one dollar to one person, but also one dollar to the group and not one dollar for every individual in the group.
