Prosocial behavior

Prosocial behavior

behavior intended to benefit another

When do people help?

B = f(PE)

• personality factors do matter - emotionality, empathy, self-efficacy

• however situational factors are often more powerful in predicting when people will help

Situational factors and help

Latane and Darley 1970 - the seizure study

• alone - 85% helped within 1 minute

• with 1 other - 62% helped within 1 minute

• with 4 others - 31% helped within 1 minute

Bystander effect

the greater the number of bystanders who witness an emergency, the less likely any one of them will help

Decision tree

• deciding to help occurs in stages

• aspects of the situation can inhibit helping at any one of these stages

Stage 1 of decision tree

noticing the event

• if people don’t notice, they can’t help

• smoke study, Latane and Darley (1968) - when more people are around, took longer to notice

• Good Samaritan study (time pressure/distraction) - the situation predicted more than personality

Stage 2 of decision tree

interpreting the event as an emergency

• ambiguity diminishes helps - ex. fight between man and woman

• pluralistic ignorance

Pluralistic ignorance

bystanders assume nothing is wrong in an emergency because no one else looks concerned - ex. smoke study (# of bystanders)

• alone - 50% in 2 minutes, 75% within 6 minutes

• with others - 12% in 2 minutes, 38% within 6 minutes

Stage 3 of decision tree

assuming responsibility

• personal responsibility - ex. radio in the park study

• diffusion of responsibility

Diffusion of responsbility

each bystander’s sense of responsibility decreases as the number of bystanders increases

• ex. Kitty Genovese

Stage 4 of decision tree

in order to help, we must know what kind of help is needed

• ex. elderly woman collapsed in the street

Stage 5 of decision tree

deciding to help

• must be capable - ex. CPR

• must not be afraid to help - ex. mugging

Summary of deciding to help

there are 5 stages in the decision to help and aspects of the situation can interfere at all 5

How can we increases helping?

• single out individuals

• clearly define an event as an emergency - “I need help”

• educate people about this research - research shows this works

• make people do volunteer work? - no, be careful of the overjustification effect

Altruism

any act to benefit another person for the sole purpose of benefiting that person - helping regardless of self-interest

Why do people help?

• mood

• evolutionary adaptation

• social exchange

• empathy

Mood

people are often more helpful when they are in a good mood

• dime study (Isen and Levin 1972) - 84% helping vs 4% helping

• why does this effect occur? - good mood makes us think positively, helping sustains a good mood, good mood makes us want to give back to the world

• evidence = if people are given another way to improve mood, helping decreases

When does mood influence helping?

when people feel that helping will affect their moods

Evolutionary perspective

our psychology and our behaviors have evolved like our physiology

• so how could prosocial behavior have survived? - kin selection, norm of reciprocity

Social exchange principles

people consider the rewards and costs when deciding whether to help

• rewards and costs can be internal and external

• people help when the rewards outweigh the costs

None of these theories suggest…

a true altruism

Empathy altruism model

• Daniel Batson

• empathy - the ability to adopt another person’s perspective

• model states - when people feel empathy, they help regardless of the rewards and costs - when people do not feel empathy, rewards and costs matter

Evidence of empathy-altruism model

radio show experiment

• when empathy was high, helping did not depend on costs

• when empathy was low, costs mattered - people helped more when costs of not helping were high

Problem with empathy-altruism model

• what about feeling distressed about someone else’s distress?

• when empathy people thought they would listen to a comedy tape, they helped less

Final note on helping

• is there a “true” altruism - maybe, maybe not

• but the fact that it makes us feel good to help others is one major difference between humans and other species that explains our success

• and at the very least, empathy increases that tendency