Lecture Notes on Helping Behavior

Flashcards for vocabulary review.

Altruism

This behavior puts others’ needs before your own

Social Exchange Theory of Helping

We help when the benefits outweigh the costs

Internal Rewards

Guilt relief or a boost to self-esteem can be this

External Rewards

Helping to boost your image or reputation involves this

Distress and Guilt

This combo of feelings motivates helping through personal discomfort

Anger and Grief

These emotions can shut people down instead of inspiring help

Reciprocity Norm

The social rule of ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’

Social Capital

Friends, networks, and trust—this is built on all of them

Social Responsibility Norm

A prosocial norm rooted in ethics and social obligation

Men in Helping

In risky situations, this gender tends to jump in

Women in Helping

More likely to offer support—and ask for it too

Kin Selection

Helping relatives helps our genes survive

Reciprocity (Evolutionary)

Helping relatives, not just out of love—but mutual support

Group Selection

This theory helps explain large-scale cooperation among unrelated individuals

Empathy

Seeing someone suffer and imagining how they feel triggers this

Egoistic Route to Helping

Feeling bad? You might help just to feel relief

Altruistic Route to Helping

Batson says this type of helping is motivated by concern for others

Bystander Effect

When a crowd watches, but no one steps in

Time Pressure

When people are rushed, they often ignore others in need

Good Samaritan Study

A study testing how being late changes your likelihood to help

Similarity

Shared traits or interests increase the chance of helping

Personality Traits

Empathy, agreeableness, and moral reasoning can lead to helping

Reducing Ambiguity and Increasing Responsibility

Pointing at someone and saying ‘Call 911!’ is doing this

Guilt and Concern for Self-Image

You help to maintain a positive self-concept or avoid social judgment

Moral Exclusion

It’s easier to ignore suffering when this mental boundary is in place