Human Relationships

Topic 3: Social Responsibility

Bystanderism

Bystanderism

Latané and Darley: To investigate the diffusion of responsibility in a perceived emergency.

Darley and Batson: To see if participants would help a person clearly in need while under the influence of personality and situational variables (under time pressure to get to a meeting).

Prosocial behaviour (biological)

• Kin selection theory is an extension of evolution theory

Madsen et al: To investigate the influence of kin selection on human altruism.

Simmons et al: To test the kin selection theory by seeing whether close relatives of a patient in need of a kidney transfer would become a kidney donor.

Prosocial behaviour (cognitive)

• Empathy-altruism model

Baston et al: To test the empathy-altruism model on the motivation of individuals to offer unconditional assistance.

Latané and Darley: To investigate the diffusion of responsibility in a perceived emergency.

Promoting prosocial behaviour (sociocultural)

Flook et al: To investigate the effects of a 12-week mindfulness-based kindness curriculum on the levels of prosocial behaviour in preschool children.

Nguyen and Parker: To identify the effectiveness of the Good Samaritan Law on the reduction of deaths caused by drug-related overdoses.