Paper 2 Psychology

Abnormal Definition

Statistical deviation from the norm: similar to majority = normal/unusual = abnormal

Social norms criteria: “rules of society”/repeatedly violating social norms = abnormal/behaviour that goes against the rules that society has set for what is normal and expected

Rosenhaun and Seligman’s criteria for abnormality - MIS VOUV

Maladaptiveness: behaviour which makes life more difficult

Irrationality: the person is unable to communicate in a rational manner that is understood by others

Suffering: the behaviour causes suffering

Vividness/uncoventionality: the person experiences reality in an unconventional way

Observer discomfort: the behaviour makes other people uncomfortable

Unpredictability: the person’s behaviour is erratic and difficult to predict

Violation of moral standards: the behaviour violates accepted standards for right and wrong

Difficulty in defining normal

• Not all statistical unusual behaviour is considered undesirable or problematic

• Social norms criteria = simple and reliable/very between countries and evolve over time

• MIS VOUV = subjective/not clear how many items must be met for behaviour to be considered abnormal/ related to social norms and judgements which vary between countries/

The medical model

• The cause of abnormal behaviour is a mental disorder (depression, anxiety, eating disorders)

• Diagnostics and Statistical Manual in 1952: guide to all psychological disorders currently known/300 disorders currently

• Mental disorders are related to biological abnormalities in the brain/chemical imbalance

• No different than other diseases

• Can be treated by correcting the biological abnormalities that caused the disorder

• Normal behaviour = absence of any problems in the brain 

Evaluate medical model

• Removes blame: real biological illnesses

• Enables research into causes and treatments

• Uncertainty about which disorders are real (ADHD)

• No way to objectively diagnose mental disorders: process is subjective and unreliable

• Diagnosis can lead to stigmatization: people can perceive you differently

Ethical issues of diagnosis

• Stigmatisation: ‘mentally ill’ can have a negative effect on how people perceive you

• Stickiness of labels: difficult to shed the label of being ‘mentally ill’

• Confirmation bias

Rosenhan

A: experience of being labeled mentally ill and the ethical issues raised by psychiatric diagnosis

P: 8 healthy adults/checked into mental hospital/falsely claimed hearing voices saying ‘empty’, ‘dull’, ‘thud’/pseudo-patients acted normal after being admitted/reported voices stopped/answered truthfully in therapy

F: all diagnosed with schizophrenia/admitted to hospital/forced to take psychiatric meds/kept in hospital for average 19 days and 52 at the most/no symptoms of disorder after admission/no doctors or nurses suspected no mental disorder due to confirmation bias/released and diagnosed with ‘schizophrenia in remission'

C: once a person is diagnosed, others dehumanise them, misinterpreting behaviour, forever labeled as ‘mentally ill’

Evaluate Rosenhan

• High ecological validity

• Ethical concerns: deception/used time and medical resources that would have been used to treat actual patients

• Psychiatry relies on self-report of symptoms, psychiatrists don’t expect fake symptoms

Langer and Abelson

A: how stigma, labels and confirmation bias affects perceptions of the mentally ill

P: two groups of clinical psychologists/1. analytic psychologists who view mental illness as consequence of internal conflicts and childhood trauma/2. behavioural psychologists who identify and change negative patterns of behaviour/watched video of man being interviewed about feelings and experiences concerning past work/half told he was a job applicant/half told he was a patient/rated according to how disturbed or well-adjusted he was

F: behavioural psychologists rated fairly normal regardless of label/analytical psychologists rated as more disturbed when told he was a patient/realistic, unassertive, attractive and innovative/tight, defensive, dependent, passive, aggressive, conflict over homosexuality

C: labeled as mentally ill can cause psychologists to perceive evidence where no exists/power of labels and confirmation bias/analytical psychologists more influenced by labels

Evaluate Langer and Abelson

• clear casual relationship between label assigned and how psychologists described him

• High ecological validity

• Results may be different today (1970)/analytic psychological is less common

Symptoms of depression

Affective: feelings of sadness, guilt, worthlessness/lack of enjoyment of activities or company of other people

Behavioural: passivity, lack of initiative, self harm, suicide attempts

Cognitive: reoccurring automatic negative thoughts (hopelessness or self-blame)

Somatic: loss of energy, changes in sleep pattern, sudden changes in weight

Prevalence of depression

• In Western countries: 15% suffer from depression at some point

• Rate is 2-3x higher in females than males/20-25% of women become depressed at some point/7-12% men

• Rate higher in lower socioeconomic groups, young adults, divorced people

• Episode lasts 3-4 months

• 80% of people who experience a depressive episode will feel at least one more at some point/average is 4

• 12% of cases are chronic/average is 2 years

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Weisman et al

A: prevalence of depression in different countries

P: 10 countries (US, Canada, Puerto Rico, France, West Germany, Italy, Lebanon, Taiwan, Korea, New Zealand)/randomly selected using telephone registries/trained interviewed called and interviewed about mental health history, 38,000

F: rates varied between countries/lifetime prevalence was 1.5% in Taiwan but 19% in Lebanon/Paris: 16.4%/rate was 2-3x higher for women/separated or divorce = higher rate than married people

C: universal disorder/female or divorce risk factors are common/people from some countries suffer higher rates

Evaluate Weisman et al

• Large sample size + random sampling methods: generalisable

• risk of translation

• doesn’t explain why some countries seem to be more likely to become depressed

Reason for varied prevalence

• Different socioeconomic conditions

• Different rates of urbanisation

• Differences in cultural stigma (may not report)

• Differences in how depression is diagnosed (may not report)

Serotonin Hypothesis

The cause of depression is low levels of serotonin in the brain: more difficult for signals to be passed from one neuron to the next

SSRI’s

Inhibit the reuptake of serotonin, causing more of the neurotransmitter to remain in the synapse

Nurnberger and Gurshon

A: role of genetic factors in depression

P: meta-analysis of 7 studies/compared concordance rates for depression with MZ and DZ twins/based on the assumption that MZ and DZ twins shared the same environment/if MZ twins are more similar to each other on a particular trait than DZ twins, because of genes

F: concordance rate for MZ = 65%/concordance rate for DZ = 14%

C: genetic factors are very important for determining who will become depressed/although concordance rate for MZ twins is high (65%), it is far below 100%/more to depression that genes/life events and environmental factors​

Evaluate Nurnberger and Gurshon

• large amount of data from 7 studies

• twin studies are well-established and reliable for estimating the importance of genes in behaviour

• doesn’t identify which specific genes contribute towards depression

• doesn’t explain which environmental factors play a role

Diathesis-stress model

• Explains how genes and the environment interact to determine mental health

• Some people have genes that predispose them to depression but not all become depressed

• A combination of difficult life experiences and biological vulnerabilities result in depression

Capsi

A: how genetic vulnerability and negative life experiences can interact to cause depression

P: 847 New Zealand men/genetic testing/determine which version of serotonin transporter gene they carried/two alleles of 5HTT gene/1. short/2. long/long associated with higher levels of serotonin in the synapse/questionnaire on how many stressful life events they had experienced + if they suffered from depression

F: participants who had experienced few stressful life events = low rates regardless of genes/participants with at least one short version of 5HTT who experienced 3 or more stressful life events had highest rates of depression/participants with two long 5HTT alleles had low rates no matter how many stressful life events

C: risk of depression is highest for people who have both a genetic vulnerability (one or more short alleles of 5HTT gene) and multiple stressful life events

Evaluate Capsi

• strong support for diathesis-stress model

• large sample size: reliable

• correlational study: other factors may be involved

• indirect support for role of serotonin in depression

• suggests there are other factors in depression that have yet to be explored

Evaluate serotonin hypothesis

• SSRI’s increase levels of serotonin and are effective in treating depression for many people

• Research from Capsi suggests different alleles of 5HTT gene determine the risk of depression suggesting serotonin plays a significant role

• Antidepressants increases levels of serotonin, but most people don’t report feeling better for 3-4 weeks

• Antidepressents are only effective for 60%

• Low serotonin doesn’t necessarily CAUSE depression

Cognitive theory of depression

Depression is caused by cognitive distortions and illogical thinking processes

Illogical thinking processes

• Selective attention: only focusing on negative aspects of an event

• Magnification: exaggerating importance of negative life events

• Overgeneralisation: drawing broad conclusion on the basis of a single, negative life event

Cognitive distortions - negative triad

1. Negative thoughts about oneself

2. Negative thoughts about the world

3. Negative thoughts about the future

Evaluate Beck’s theory

• negative tried accurately describes how most depressed people think about themselves, the world and their future

• suggests it may be possible to change negative thought patterns through therapy and effectively treat depression (CBT)

• not clear why certain people develop negative thoughts in the first place

• not clear whether automatic negative thoughts and cognitive distortions are the CAUSE or SYMPTOM of depression

Alloy

A: determine if cognitive styles can predict who will become depressed

P: 347 American college freshman/no prior disorders/questionnaire to determine positive or negative thinking style/followed for 6 years/rates of depression compared between positive cognitive style and negative cognitive styles participants

F: participants with a negative cognitive style were more likely to become clinically depressed

C: having negative thoughts is associated with depression and cognitive style can predict who is likely to become depressed/suggests cognitive style may be a cause of depression

Evaluate Alloy

• supports Beck’s cognitive theory of depression/suggests patterns of negative thought can lead to depression

• large sample size: reliable

• correlational: can’t be sure cognitive style causes depression

• low generalisability: American college students

Haefell et al

A: whether thinking style and risk for depression can be influenced by the people around you

P: 103 college students/randomly assigned a roommate in first year/online questionnaire to measure cognitive vulnerability and depression symptoms after 1,3,6 months

F: participants randomly assigned to a roommate with high cognitive vulnerability caught negative thinking style and became more vulnerable/students that developed increased cognitive vulnerability after 3 months had nearly twice the level of depressive symptoms after 6 months compared to students who didn’t show an increase

C: cognitive style can be influenced by social environment/cognitive style is not a fixed trait

Evaluate Haefell et al

• supports Beck’s cognitive theory of depression

• highly applicable to real-life treatment of mental illness

• low generalisability: only American college students

Vulnerability model - protective factors

Decrease the risk of depression

Close bonds with other people

Strong sense of community

Vulnerability model - vulnerability factors

Increase the risk of depression

Unemployment

Social isolation

Three or more kids at home

Provoking agents: stressful life events

Brown and Harris

A: role of social factors and stressful life experiences in depression

P: 458 women in South London/questions regarding whether they had suffered any episodes of depression in the past year/describe any difficult life events

F: 8% experienced an episode of depression in the past year/90% who became depressed experienced stressful life events/ 30% who did not become depressed experienced stressful life events/social class played an important role in risk/lower class women with children = 4x more likely to develop depression as middle-class women with children

C: social factors play a significant role in depression/lower class women with children are particularly at risk (financial problems + stressful situations)

Evaluate Brown and Harries

• supports vulnerability model

• low generalisability: only women in South London

• correlational: cannot establish a casual relationship between stressful life events and mental health issues

• many women who experienced stressful life events did not become depressed: biological and cognitive factors are also important

Homes and Rahe

A: determine which events are most likely to lead to illness

P: medical records of 5,000 patients/investigate correlations between stressful life events and illnesses

F: positive correlations found between number of life events and subsequent illnesses/events which caused greater ‘life change’ associated with most risk of illness/scale to rank effect of life events: 1. death of spouse or child (100) 2. divorce (73) 3. marital separation (65) 4. imprisonment (63) 5. death of close family member (63) 6. personal injury or illness (53) 7. marriage (50) 8. dismissal from work (47) 9. marital reconciliation (45) 10. retirement (45)

C: major life changes can lead to stress and increase the risk of illness

Evaluate Homes and Rahe

• findings have been replicated in several countries such as Japan and Malaysia: cross-culturally valid

• measured associations between life events and illness without focus on depression

• scale is based on average correlation between life events and disease risk: likely to vary from one person to the next

Evaluate social explanations for depression

• considerable research showing association between stressful life events and onset of depression

• social explanations for depression are consistent with diathesis-stress model

• most of the research is correlational: cannot establish which factors cause depression

• many people experience negative life events without becoming depressed

SSRI’s

• SSRI's (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) are antidepressant drugs that help fight depression

• block the reuptake of serotonin back into the presynaptic neuron

• more serotonin remains in the synapse, leading to changes in mood, activity levels and appetite

• based on serotonin hypothesis of depression

Elkin

A: compare effectiveness of different treatments for depression

P: 280 depression people/28 clinicians/randomly assigned to 4 treatment groups/A. antidepressant drug (imipramine) B. interpersonal therapy C. cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) D. sugar pill (placebo)/double blind

F: participants on imipramine showed fastest improvement/participants on therapy showed signs of improvement after a few weeks/after several months, over 50% in each treatment group recovered from depression/29% in placebo group recovered

C: antidepressants, interpersonal therapy and CBT are equally effective treatments, all better than no treatment

Evaluate Elkin

• large sample size: reliable

• carefully controlled: casual relationship between type of treatment and outcome

• double blind reduced researcher bias

• cannot explain why nearly 50% did not respond to treatment

Kirsch

A; evaluate effectiveness of SSRI’s in treating depression

P: meta-analysis of 47 clinical trials of SSRI’s submitted to FDA/included studies whose findings were not previously reported

F: patients with mild to moderate depression had a small difference between SSRI’s and placebo: 75% improvement with both"/patients with severe depression had a larger difference between SSRI’s and placebo/half of studies failed to find statistically significant differences between SSRI’s and placebo

C: SSRI’s are not as effective as claimed/may not be worthwhile given side effects

Evaluate Kirsch

• analysed all data submitted to FDA: elimiates publication bias

• not all studies carefully carried out

Evaluate use of SSRI’s

• research consistently showed SSRI’s better at treating depression than placebo

• cheap and easy to prescribe

• patients given SSRI’s show faster improvement than therapy

• not everyone feels comfortable sharing feelings with therapists

• don’t work for everyone

• associated with many side effects (nausea, weight gain, insomnia)

• patients who stop taking SSRI’s are at a high rate of relapse

• alleviate symptoms but don’t treat the root cause of depression

Cognitive restructuring

• helping patient become aware of negative thoughts and identify cognitive distortions

• negative beliefs are challenged by therapist

• patient is encouraged to replace negative thoughts with positive, rational thoughts

​

Behavioural activation

• help in planning enjoyable activities, ideally with others

• overcoming obstacles in taking part in enjoyable activities

Riggs

A; effectiveness of CBT, on it’s own and in combination with an antidepressant

P: 126 teens who suffered from depression and substance use disorders/randomly assigned to receive CBT and placebo or CBT and SSRI/double blind

F: 67% who received CBT and placebo were ‘very much’ or ‘much’ improved/76% who received CBT and SSRI rated ‘very much’ or ‘much’ improved

C: CBT is an effective treatment for teens suffering from depression and substance use disorders /combining CBT with SSRI is the most effective treatment

Evaluate Riggs

• casual relationship between treatment and results: experiment

• double blind design eliminated placebo effect and researcher bias

• no control group

• low generalisability (only teens)

Evaluate CBT

• considerable research evidence that CBT is more effective than placebo in treatment of depression and as effective as antidepressants

• does not require endless years of therapy or digging into questionable childhood memories: focused, efficient, results-oriented

• helps patients develop life-long cognitive skills

• some research suggests antidepressants result in faster improvement

• only effective if there is a positive, trusting relationship between therapist and patient

• requires 10-12 hours of one on one therapy with a qualified therapist: expensive

Cultural barriers to treatment

• cognitive barriers: beliefs that seeking professional psychological treatment is unecessary/sign of weakness/ineffective

• affective barriers: feelings of shame at seeking psychological help/anxiety at being judged by others/stigma attached to mental illness

• sociocultural barriers: reluctance to share personal and family problems with a stranger/someone from a different culture

Kinzie et al

A: investigate cultural barriers to treatment for depression

P: 41 South-East Asian patients with depression who had been prescribed tricyclic antidepressants in US clinics/blood tests/measured compliance with prescribed treatment

F: 61% no sign of medication usage/15% (6) had therapeutic levels/after discussion session about benefits and side effects, compliance rates increased

C: cognitive and affective barriers to treatment of patients from different culture/doubt the efficacy of Western psychiatric medicine/ensuring patients are well educated can help overcome cultural barriers and improve treatment compliance

Evaluate Kinzie et al

• blood tests gave objective measures of patient compliance with treatment

• small sample size and only South-East Asian: low generalisability

Indigenous therapy

• increases accessibility of treatment for non-white patients

• takes into account the traditions, beliefs and cultural values of patient

• carried out by someone who is within the patient’s culture/carried out in the patient’s language

• incorporates beliefs and practices rooted within patient’s culture

Zhang et al

A: efficacy of Chinese Taoist cognitive psychotherapy (CTCP), an indigenous therapy combining aspects of cognitive therapy and Taoist philosophy, in treating patients with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)

P: 143 patients with GAD/randomly assigned to receive CTCP or anxiety relieving medication, or both/assessed 1 month and 6 months after beginning treatment

F: patients on medication improved rapidly after one month but not sustained after six months/patients with CTCP did not show much improvement after one month, but significant improvement after 6 months/patients receiving both showed improvement at both intervals

C: while medication can deliver short-term reduction, CTCP is more effective for long-term treatment of generalised anxiety disorder

Evaluate Zhang et al

• supports indigenous therapy that combines Western style cognitive therapy with traditional beliefs

• cause and effect relationship between treatment and outcome: well controlled

• did not involve a comparison group who received CBT

Attraction - Buss

A: role of evolution in attraction and mate selection

P: 29 countries/rate how important good looks are in choosing a partner/compared with degree of pathogen stress (number of parasites in the area) to see if there is a correlation

F: people living in countries with more pathogen stress placed more emphasis on good looks

C: countries with high pathogen stress find it important to choose a healthy partner with a strong immune system for successful reproduction/physical attractiveness is a sign of good health

Evaluate Buss

• supports evolutionary theory of attraction: attraction is shaped by the biological drive to survive and reproduce successfully

• correlational: no casual relationship between pathogen stress and importance of good look

• other differences between high pathogen and low pathogen countries that explain findings

Wedekind

A: role of MHC genes in attraction

P: men wore a T-shirt for 2 night/not to use scents or cologne/female participants/rated attractiveness of the small of 7 T-shirts without seeing men/3 were MHC-similar men, 3 were MHC-dissimilar men, 1 was not worn/MHC genes affect immune system/diverse MHC genes.- build better immune system

F: women who were fertile preferred scent of MHC-dissimilar men/women on birth control preferred scent of MHC-similar men

C: fertile women attracted to MHC-dissimilar men because it ensured children will have strong immune system/women on birth control prefer MHC-similar men as it is beneficial for pregnant women to stay close to biological family members (share the same MHC genes)

Evaluate Wedekind

• supports evolutionary theory of attraction

• supports the existence of pheromones in humans

• low ecological validity

• unclear how much of a role MHC genes play in determining attraction is real life compared to other factors

Evaluate evolutionary theory of attraction

• explains why certain physical features are attractive in every culture and time period

• many research studies that support the role of evolution in attraction

• considerable cultural variation in what is considered attractive

• reductionist: implies attraction is purely biological

Why similarity leads to attraction

• consensual validation: when other people share values, they feel validated in their attitudes

• cognitive evaluation: most people are proud of their beliefs and will evaluate other people positively if they share those beliefs

• opportunity for self-expansion: gaining new knowledge and experiences with another person, and sharing the same interests and goals helps to facilitate self expansion

​

Markey

A: how similarity affects attraction

P: 169 single American university students/survey on psychological characteristics, values and attitudes of ideal partner/survey describing personality and values

F: high correlation between description of ideal partner and self-description

C: perceived similarity is an important factors influencing attraction and mate selection/not much evidence for common belief that ‘opposites attract

Evaluate Markey

• large sample size: reliable

• low generalisability: American university students

• self-report rather than actual behaviour

• correlational: casual relationship cannot be established

Buss

A: investigate sex and cultural differences in what people look for in a mate

P: 10,000 participants in 37 countries/survey/rate importance of different qualities in a mate

F: sex differences found around world/women ranked good financial prospects more important than men in every country/men ranked importance of good looks higher than women/women preferred slightly older mates/men preferred younger mates/love ranked most important quality is US (individualistic)/love less important in traditional cultures/some cultures valued chastity in females

C: universal sex differences in what men and women look for in a partner/cultural different in importance of love and chasistity

Evaluate Buss

• supports evolutionary theory of mate selection

• indicates that culture plays an important role in mate selection

• ​large sample from wide variety of cultures: reliable and cross-cultural comparisons

• results based on self-report rather than behaviour

Communication

The exchange of information, ideas and feelings 

Social penetration theory

Explains how communication helps develop close relationships

• close relationships are formed over time/gradual process of self-disclosure

• communication moves from shallow levels to deeper levels

• when one person discloses deeper information, the second person will also disclose more personal information: disclosure reciprocity

Collins and Miller

A: relationship between self-disclosure, liking and intimacy

P: meta-analysis of 94 studies on self-disclosure/combining results of many different studies to reach an overall conclusion

F: people who shared more intimate facts were more generally liked/greater self-disclosure leads to being liked/people disclose more to people they like already/people tend to like others more after they have disclosed something personal to them

C: self disclosure can lead to a positive feedback loop, increasing the intimacy of a relationship/if self disclosure decreases in a relationship, this can lead to a negative feedback loop

Evaluate Collins and Miller

• supports self-disco lure theory

• based on a large amount of data from 94 studies: reliable

• does’t explain why some relationship follow a positive trajectory of increasing disclosure and liking and why others follow a negative trajectory of decreasing disclosure and liking

Four Horsemen

4 communication patterns that are destructive to relationships

1. criticism: verbally attacking partner’s personality or characteristics

2. defensiveness: seeing oneself as the victim in order to reverse the blame

3. stonewalling: withdrawing from the relationship to convey disapproval and distance

4. contempt: attacking partner’s sense of self with the intention to psychologically abuse them

Gottman

A: determine how communication affects marital satisfaction and likelihood of divorce

P: couple invited to lab/recall a recent disagreement while being filmed/videotaped analysed by coding verbal statements and ‘facial affect’ (emotions)/couples followed up to see which stayed together and which divorced

F: couples whose arguments were high in criticism, contempt, defensiveness and stonewalling were more likely to divorce/Gottman was able to predict with 91% accuracy which couples would stay together and which would divorce after viewing an argument

C: healthy communication patterns are essential to make a relationship last

Evaluate Gottman

• highly applicable

• process of coding verbal statements and facial affect is not completely objective: researcher bias

• participants were self-selected/middle class Americans: low generalisability

• correlational study: can’t determine that certain communication patterns cause relationship dissatisfaction

Social exchange theory

• the outcome of a relationship is defined as the rewards minus the costs

• the rewards and costs of a relationship are measured against a person’s comparison level (what they expect)

• the stability of a relationship depends on the comparison level for alternatives (the other options)

Ma-Kellams and Wang

A: how attractiveness can affect relationship longevity

P: 130 participants/half in a romantic relationship/shown a picture of an attractive person of the opposite sex/rank attractiveness from 1-7/two researchers rated attractiveness of each participant

F: participants below average gave low attractiveness ratings: not interested in relationship alternatives/participants above average in looks gave higher attractiveness rating: more open to pursuing relationship alternatives

C: people who are very good-looking are more interested in pursuing attractive members of the opposite sex, even if they are already in a relationship

Evaluate Ma-Kellams and Wang

• supports the predictions of social exchange theory

• only attractiveness rating were measured, not whether participants would actually flirt with or be unfaithful with the person in the photo

• low generalisability: only American

Evaluate social exchange theory

• explains why some people stay in unhappy, abusive relationships

• based on a number of assumptions: that people are completely motivated by self-interest in relationships/true commitment doesn’t exist

• impossible to objectively quantify relationship rewards, costs and the quality of alternatives

Prosocial behaviour

Action that benefits other people, or society as a whole

Kin selection theory

The reason people tend to help close family members comes down to evolutionary biology and the role of selfish genes/genes can make copies through successful reproduction which results in passing on genes to children or through prosocial behaviour towards family members

Madsen

A: how family relationships influence prosocial behaviour

P: maintain squatting with backs against a wall for as long as they were willing/the longer they help, the more money they get/in one condition, they were told they could keep the money/in another condition, they were told the money would be given to a brother, uncle, cousin or charity

F: participants held the position the longest when they could keep the money for themselves/participants help the position the longest when the money was going to a brother (50% common genes) and least to a cousin (12.%% common genes)/shortest amount of time when told it would go to charity

C: people are more likely to endure hardship to help close family members/least likely to endure hardship to help strangers​

Evaluate Madsen

• supports kin selection theory: more genetic similarity is associated with greater prosocial behavior

• Casual relationship between degree of genetic similarity and prosocial behavior

Theory of reciprocal altruism

• Prosocial behaviour is a type of social exchange

• More likely to help people with whom we have a close personal relationship, expect to see often in the future, will be able to return the favour

Axelrod and Hamilton

A: test theory of reciprocal altruism

P: 2 participants play prisoner’s dilemma several times in a row/2 options/1. confess 2. stay silent/best outcome is for both to stay silent

F: players adjust strategy according to players’ last decision/stay silent in first round to see if partner will do the same

C: when two players expect to play several rounds of the prisoner’s dilemma, it is possible to build trust and cooperate with each other by staying silent

Evaluate Axelrod and Hamilton

• supports theory of reciprocal altruism

• uncertain if the results of this study can be applied to real life prosocial behaviour: artificial game

Limitations to evolutionary approach to prosocial behaviour

• kin selection theory and theory of reciprocal altruism explain high degree of prosocial behaviour towards close family members and friends

• can’t explain why people help strangers

• assumes that biology is the ultimate cause of prosocial behaviour: could also be cultural expectations

• assumes genes are the ‘cause’ of altruism

Empathy-altruism model

• Batson 1981

• importance of empathy in prosocial behaviour

• empathy = ability to understand and feel what another person is experiencing

• how one responds depends on degree of empathy

• providing help out of genuine desire to relieve suffering = altruistic behaviour

• Helping people due to fear or anxiety at the sight of someone suffering to relieve own distress = egoistic helping

Batson

A: whether empathy influences altruism

P: American university students/watched video interview with another student at university/describes her struggles in keeping up with university classes after breaking both legs in car accident/asked to volunteer time to meet student and share lecture notes/two independent variables/1. level of empathy (focus on how she is feeling vs don’t be concerned with her feelings)/2. cost of not helping (will be in psychology class so they will see her everyday vs would finish class at home so will never see her)

F: participants in high empathy group offered to share notes regardless of whether or not they would see her/participants in low empathy group offered help only if she would be attending class

C: when people feel empathy, they will help even when there is no reward/when people do not feel empathy, people will consider rewards and costs of helping

Evaluate Batson

• supports empathy-altruism model

• high ecological validity

• low generalisability

Levine-Sympatico hypothesis

• prosocial behaviour is significantly influenced by social environment

• each city has a personality and affects how people go about their lives

• busy, competitive, fast-paced cities = individual achievement

• relaxed, unhurried lives = social obligations

Levine

A: compare prosocial behaviour towards strangers in cities around the world

P: field experiment/36 US cities/23 major world cities/measured how many strangers would be willing to perform tasks/1. returning a dropped pen to owner 2. helping injured man pick up dropped magazine 3. helping blind man cross intersection 4. providing change when asked 5. picking up dropped letter and taking to mail box

F: significant differences in helping behaviour between cities/cities with lower population density, lower economic productivity, slower pace and cultural values of harmony had more prosocial behaviour

C: supports simpatico hypothesis/some cultures favour social obligations over individual achievement = less economic productivity but more willingness to help others

Evaluate Levine

• high ecological validity

• several variables difficult to control: field experiment

• debatable whether 5 acts of kindness are the best measure of prosocial behaviour

Evaluate cognitive and sociocultural explanations

• explains prosocial behaviour towards strangers

• difficult to predict when a person will feel empathy

• methodological issues with Levine’s research

Bystanderism Definition

When an individual is less likely to help someone in an emergency situation when there are lots of other bystanders present

Theory of bystander effect (Latane and Darley)

• diffusion of responsibility = when there are many bystanders, responsibility is diffused amongst the crowd and nobody feels it is their duty to intervene

• informational social influence = behaviour of the crowd acts as a signal to whether a situation is a true emergency

Latane and Darley

A: investigate why people fail to intervene in an emergency situation when there are many bystanders present

P: University students/told they were being interviewed by intercom in separate rooms/midway through, heard another ‘participant’ cry for help, making choking sounds/1. only one other person 2. two other people 3. four other people

F: when participants were told there was just one other student who was choking 85% helped/65% for 2/31% for 4

C: many bystanders create a diffusion of responsibility/each bystander feels that someone else will probably help

Evaluate Latane and Darley

• casual relationship between number of bystanders and willingness to help

• high ecological validity

• ethical issues of stressful situation low generalisability

Arousal-cost-reward model

• when people see someone in distress, they feel arousal, an uncomfortable emotional state

• draws from economic theory, assuming that humans are rational actors that consider the costs and rewards when making decisions

• questionable whether bystanders deliberately calculate all the costs and rewards of helping before deciding whether to act

Pillavin

A: determine if rewards and costs influence helping behaviour

P: ‘victim’ collapses on the floor of a subway car/half the time, victim was an alcoholic, smelling of alcohol and carrying a whiskey bottle/half the time, victim was a disabled person, carrying a cane/frequency and speed at which bystanders helped was recorded

F: disabled person was helped 100% compared to 81%/disabled person helped after 5 seconds, compared to 109 seconds

C: support the arousal-cost-reward model/the costs of helping the alcoholic are higher (unstable or violent)/the cost of not helping a handicapped person are higher (guilt)

Evaluate Pillavin

• high ecological validity

• raises ethical issues of deception and participants did not consent

• social norms might explain why the handicapped person was helped more often