Prosocial behavior

prosocial behavior and altruism

prosocial behavior: behavior that benefits other people

altruism: selfless concern for the well being of others

motives underlying altruistic behavior (exam)

social reward: seeking praise, recognition, or status

personal distress: wants to reduce one’s own discomfort

empathic concern (true altruism)

empathic concern

imagining another’s feelings, feeling compassion and sympathy

empathy-altruism hypothesis

empathic emotion can lead to truly altruistic motivation to help others

empathy-altruism hypothesis study

watched a girl get shocked and had the opportunity to trade places wit her. if she was different than them, or it was easy to escape watching her, people would not help

how is altruism cultivated

family and cultural influences

bystander effect + studies

bystander intervention is less likely when others are present

seizure experiment: more people decreased amount of people who would help

smoke experiment: alone, people would report smoke. in groups, very little reported smoke, and misinterpreted it (pluralistic ignorance)

how do victim characteristics affect bystanders

screaming and similar victims increase likelihood of help

how does culture and norm effect altruism

• rural residents more likely to help than urban

• lower class has more empathy- more accurate emotion reading

• generosity to strangers when culture relies on cooperation

• norms may reduce helping (respect for privacy) or increase helping (reciprocity, self-sacrifice, exchange, and aiding the weak norms)

cooperation

humans have developed cooperation as part of our evolutionary heritage

situational determinants of cooperation

1. repeated interaction

2. nonverbal cues obtained through face-to-face contact

3. swift and natural cooperation

4. reputation and gossip

evolution and cooperation

t!t for tat (cooperate first, then mirror partner’s previous mood) wins and sustains cooperation. study was about strategies for computer tournaments.