Social Psychology Prosocial Behavior

prosocial behavior

any act performed with the goal of benefiting another person.

altruism

the desire to help another person even if it involves some personal cost to the helper.

evolutionary perspective

the attempt to explain social behavior in terms of genetic factors that evolved over time according to the principles of natural selection. Darwin recognized that altruistic behavior posed a problem for his theory: if an organism acts altruistically, it may decrease its own likelihood of surviving to pass on its genes.

kin selection

the idea that behaviors that help a genetic relative are favored by natural selection. Helping a kin member may decrease one's own probability for survival/passing on one's genes, but kin share the same genes, so saving a kin member may pass on one's own genes.

norm of reciprocity

the expectation that helping others will increase the likelihood that they will help us in the future.

social exchange theory

much of what we do stems from the desire to maximize our rewards and minimize our costs.

the empathy-altruism hypothesis

when we feel empathy for a person, we will attempt to help purely for altruistic reasons, that is, regardless of what we have to gain. If we do not feel empathy, then social exchange concerns will come into play.

Batson's research

students listened to a taped interview with a student who had ostensibly broken both legs in an accident and was behind in classes. As the empathy-altruism hypothesis predicted, people in the high empathy condition helped regardless of cost, while those in the low empathy condition helped only if the cost of not helping was high.

altruistic personality traits?

consists of the qualities that cause an individual to help others in a wide variety of situations.

gender and helping?

men are more likely to help in chivalrous, heroic ways, and women are more likely to help in nurturant ways involving long-term commitment.

the good mood effect

People who are in a good mood are more likely to help. Good moods can increase helping for three reasons: (1) good moods make us interpret events in a sympathetic way; (2) helping another prolongs the good mood, whereas not helping deflates it; (3) good moods increase self-attention, and this in turn leads us to be more likely to behave according to our values and beliefs (which tend to favor altruism).

Isen and Levin (1972)

did a study in a shopping mall where Ss either found or did not find a dime in a phone booth. As the person emerged from the booth, a confederate walked by and dropped a sheaf of papers; 84% of those who found the dime helped, compared with 4% of those who did not find the dime.

the bad mood effect: negative state relief

says that people help in order to alleviate their own sadness and distress; it exemplifies a social exchange approach. According to this theory, people in a sad or distressed mood will be more likely to help but in a way unrelated to the cause of the bad mood.

more helpful in small or large cities?

people living in cities are likely to keep to themselves in order to avoid being overloaded by all the stimulation they receive. The evidence supports the latter hypothesis, finding that where an accident occurs matters more in influencing helping than where potential helpers were born, and that population density is a more potent determinant of helping than is population size.

Rushton (1975)

Did a test where there was preaching and people donating money. People were impacted by the preaching when they donated right after instead of a week later.

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.

noticing the event

In order for people to help, they must notice that an emergency has occurred.

Darley and Batson (1973)

showed that seminary students who were in a hurry to give a sermon on campus were much less likely to help an ostensibly injured confederate groaning in a doorway than were those who were not in a hurry. They also found that helping was not predicted by personality scores or by the topic of the sermon (half were about to lecture on the parable of the Good Samaritan).

pluralistic ignorance

occurs because people look to see others' reactions (informational influence); when they see that everyone else has a blank expression, they assume there must be no danger.

Latané and Darley (1970)

where Ss were sitting in a room when white smoke began pouring out of a vent. The more other participants there were in the room, the less likely anyone was to seek help and the longer they took to do so. For ambiguous events, then, people in groups will gain false reassurance from each other and convince each other that nothing is wrong.

diffusion of responsibility

the phenomenon whereby each bystander's sense of responsibility to help decreases as the number of witnesses increases. Everyone assumes that someone else will help, and as a result, no one does, as happened with the Kitty Genovese murder.

Latané and Darley (1968)

The more other people the S believed were present, the less likely they were to help and the slower they were to do so.

communal relationships

are those in which people's primary concern is with the welfare of the other

exchange relationships

governed by equity concerns.

increasing likelihood of helping?

Simply being aware of the barriers to helping can increase people's chances of overcoming those barriers.

prosocial video game effects?

after playing a prosocial video game, researchers have found that they are more likely to help.

Beaman et al. (1978)

had students listen either to a lecture about Latané and Darley's work or to one about an unrelated topic; two weeks later, in a different context, they encountered a student lying on the floor, while a confederate lounged by, apparently unconcerned. Those who had heard the bystander intervention lecture were more likely to help.

Cherry (1995)

- reconsidered the Genovese murder

- suggested that Latané & Darley were influenced

by the "culture" of social psychology - factors ignored:

• the gender of the victim

• the perceived relationship to the perpetrator

• the race of the perpetrator

Shotland and Straw (1976)

Subjects showed up at a laboratory and started filling out questionnaires

Outside in the hall, a couple is heard arguing loudly and violently

- Femalesays:

• "I don't know you" or

• "I don't know why I ever married you"

DV: any form of intervention

When victim is stranger: 65% intervention When victim is married: 19% intervention