Test 4 (Chapters 11-13) Flashcards
Define Prosocial Behavior
any act performed with the goal of benefiting another person (helping behavior)
Define Altruism
the desire to help another person even if it involves cost to the helper
Why do people help?
Social exchange – it’s all about rewards and costs
(We try to maximize our rewards and minimize our costs)
Rewards of help
increases the chances that they’ll help us in the future, makes
us feel better, makes us look good to others
Costs of helping
could be dangerous, could be painful or embarrassing, could take too much time
Define Empathy
ability to put oneself in the shoes of another person and to experience events and emotions (e.g., joy and sadness) that way that person experiences them
Define empathy-altruism hypothesis
idea that when we feel empathy for a person, we will attempt to help that
person purely for altruistic reasons, regardless of what we have to gain
Toi & Batosn (1982) study
Participants were informed abt student (carol) who was in a car accident and asked to share there notes to her
Empathy was manipulated
-high (getting in her shoes)
-low (don’t think abt her feelings)
Self interest
-see her in class
-not see her in class
Results
-high empathy helped carol regardless of self
interest
-low empathy only helped if it was in there self interest (see her in class)
Altruistic Personality
the qualities that cause an individual to help others in a wide variety of situations
How does gender play a role in helping?
Both help but in different ways
-men are more likely to help in situations like helping pull someone out of a car after an accident (chivalrous/heroic)
-women are more likely to help with helping a disabled neighbor around the house (nurturing/caring)
Define in-groups
group with which an individual identifies as a member
Define out-group
any group with which an individual does not identify
when are people more likely to help?
When they are in a good mood
Owen & Lewis Study
Left dime change slot of pay phones
-ppl who found $ were in a good mood while those who found nothing were in a neutral mood
-after a confederate walked by and dropped papers to see who would help
Those who found money were 84% more likely to help while those that didn’t only 4 % helped
Are ppl less likely to help in a bad mood?
No certain bad moods can increase helping
-sadness can motivate people to help bc it can be rewarding and can help them feel better
-guiltiness would make a person more likely to help another person to reduce guilt feeling
The Bystander Effect
the finding that the greater the number of bystanders who witness an emergency, the less likely any one of them is to help
Latane & Darnley’s 5 step process to helping
- notice event
- Interpret the event as an emergency
- Assume responsibility to help
- Know how to help
5.decide to help
why you might not help?
Don’t notice that someone in need to help
• Ex: being in a hurry or distracted can cause you to not notice
Darley & Batson (Good Samaritan” study
When in a hurry people are less likely to help
Pluralistic Ignorance
the case in which people think that everyone else is interpreting a situation a certain way, when in fact they are not
-Bystanders assuming that nothing is wrong in an emergency because no one else
looks concerned
Lagan & Darley (smoky room study)
-ppl that were in the room alone 50% went to get help after 2 minutes and 75% after 6
-ppl in the room with others 12% got help after 2 mins while only 38% got help after 6 mins
Diffusion of responsibility
each bystander’s sense of responsibility to help decrease as the number of
witnesses increases
-The more witnesses there are, the less likely any one will help because they think
someone else is going to take responsibility and help
Why might people not help?
-don’t know how
Ex: see that someone is choking but do not know how to give the Heimlich maneuver
How to increase helping?
Teach people abt the bystander effect
Beaman, Barnes, Klentz, & McQuirk (1978) study
-one group heard about bystander effect while others was a random topic
-bystander lecture 48% helped
-random lecture 25% helped
Define Aggression
intentional behavior aimed at causing physical harm or psychological pain to another person
-can be physical or verbal
Hostile Agression
aggression stemming from feelings of anger and aimed at inflicting pain
Example of hostile aggression
in a football game, a player on the losing team tackling the quarterback harder than necessary because he wants to hurt him, not necessary for the game (late hits,
unnecessary roughness)
Define instrumental agression
aggression as a means to some goal other than causing pain
Example of instrumental aggression
a football player tackling the quarterback to get him to fumble the ball
Genetic Programming
Physical aggression is genetically programmed
Men
-To establish dominance over other males
- To ensure paternity of their children Women
-To protect their children
Testosterone
Hormone associated with aggression
-Higher levels in males
-Higher levels of testosterone are associated with-increased aggression
-Studies have found that violent criminals have higher levels of naturally occurring testosterone compared to criminals convicted of non-violent crimes