Helping and Altruism - Social Psychology Lecture 15

Practice flashcards covering key concepts from the lecture on Helping and Altruism in Social Psychology.

Egoistic helping

Helping behavior motivated by the desire to reduce one's own distress.

Altruistic helping

Helping behavior motivated by the desire to reduce the suffering of others.

Identifiable Victim Effect

The tendency for people to offer more help to a specific individual than to a group of individuals identified only by statistics.

Bystander Effect

The phenomenon where individuals are less likely to help a victim when other people are present.

Latane & Darley’s Five-Step Model of Helping

A model outlining the steps individuals take before helping: 1. Notice the event, 2. Interpret it as an emergency, 3. Assume responsibility, 4. Decide how to help, 5. Provide help.

Empathy-altruism hypothesis

The theory proposing that empathy evokes altruistic motivation to help.

Diffusion of responsibility

The reduction of personal responsibility felt by individuals in a group, often leading to a lack of action.

Audience inhibition

The reluctance to help for fear of embarrassment or being judged by onlookers.

Pluralistic ignorance

A situation in which individuals in a group misinterpret others' inaction as evidence that intervention is not needed.

Personal distress

The emotional reaction of the helper to another's distress, which can lead to egoistic helping.