Lesson 29: Helping and Prosocial Behavior

Prosocial behavior

Social behavior that benefits another person

Bystander effect

Look at how many people are around

Reciprocal altruism

Golden rule/Karma

Kin selection

According to evolutionary psychology, the favoritism shown for helping our blood relatives, with the goals of increasing the likelihood that some portion of our DNA will be passed on to future generations

Negative state relief model

An egoistic theory proposed by Cialdini et al. (1982) that claims that people have learned through socialization that helping can serve as a secondary reinforcement that will relieve negative moods such as sadness

Arousal: cost-reward model

An egoistic theory proposed by Piliavin et al. (1981) that claims that seeing a person in need leads to the arousal of unpleasant feelings, and observers are motivated to eliminate that aversive state, often by helping the victim. May lead observers to react in ways other than offering direct assistance, including indirect help, reinterpretation of the situation, or fleeing the scene

Empathy-altruism model

An altruistic theory proposed by Batson (2011) that claims that people who put themselves in the shoes of a victim and imagining how the victim feel will experience empathic concern that evokes an altruistic motivation for helping

Personal distress

According to Batson’s empathy–altruism hypothesis, observers who take a detached view of a person in need will experience feelings of being “worried” and “upset” and will have an egoistic motivation for helping to relieve that distress

Pluralistic Ignorance

You rely on the inaction of others around and conclude that maybe no intervention is necessary

Diffusion of Responsibility

I don’t need to get involved, I’m sure someone else will help

Cost-Benefit Analysis

You decide if the costs of help are worth getting involved

Prosocial Personality

Some people are just high in ‘other oriented empathy’ and have the characteristic of helpfulness

Personality Traits

Agreeableness

Gender

Fairly equal, but men and women help in different ways and in different circumstances, maybe we are socialized to help in different ways

Egoistic motivation

What’s in it for me?

Evolutionary forces

Evolutionary theory says that being a good helper is good for our own survival and reproductive success (people like helpers)

Altruism motivation

Prosocial behavior with no desire or expectation of reward or reciprocation (even if risky to helper)