Chapter 8: Altruism (helping others)

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Why do we help?

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+ Lecture content from March 4th & 7th

49 Terms

1

Why do we help?

  1. Social exchange → we help those who have helped us

  2. Social norms dictate helping in some situations

  3. To aid our survival → helping kin and those who may help us makes it more likely for us to pass on our genes

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2

Under what circumstances will we help?

  1. When there are few bystanders

  2. When we observe someone else helping

  3. When we are not in a hurry

  4. When the person needing help is similar to us

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3

Who is most likely to help?

  1. People high in emotionality, empathy, and self-efficacy

  2. Men in risky situations BUT women in less risky situations

    • *Overall men and women do not differ in helpfulness

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4

How can we increase helping?

  1. Reducing ambiguity and increasing responsibility

  2. Evoking feelings of guilt

  3. Socializing prosocial behaviour

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5

Altruism

A motivational state

Goal = increase another’s welfare without conscious regard for one’s own self-interests

*NO alterior motives → you just want to help and be kind

Opposite of selfishness

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6

Social-exchange theory

Human interactions = transactions that aim to maximize one’s rewards and minimize one’s costs

Rewards can be internal (makes you feel good) or external ($$$)

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Weakness of the social-exchange theory

Circular explanations → “How did you know that there are internal rewards?”

*Egoism → self-interest motivates ALL behaviour

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8

Egoism

A motive (supposedly underlying all behaviour) to increase your own welfare

The opposite of altruism (which aims to increase someone else’s welfare)

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9

T or F: We are more likely to redeem ourselves with helpful behaviour when other people know about our misdeed

TRUE → related to guilt

Helpful deeds neutralize bad feelings

Feel bad-do good

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10

T or F: Happy people are helpful people

TRUE

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11

What are 2 social norms that motivate prosocial behaviour?

  1. Reciprocity norm

  2. Social-responsibility norm

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12

Reciprocity norm

The expectation that people will help those who have helped them (not hurt them)

We “invest” in others and expect dividends in return

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13

Social-responsibility norm

The expectation that people will help those who depend upon them → it is their responsibility

People should help those who need help (without regard to future exchange)

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14

How does gender affect receiving help?

Women = offered help equally to men and women

*Men = offered more help to women

  • Rooted in the sexist belief that women are less competent and they depend on strong men

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15

What are 4 evolution psychology factors that affect helping?

  1. Kin selection

  2. Direct reciprocity

  3. Indirect reciprocity

  4. Group selection

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Kin selection

Evolutionary-based theory

We show favouritism towards those who share our genes (e.g., family)

Selected altruism towards relatives → motivated to help make our mutually shared genes survive

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T of F: According to kin selection, parents will generally be more devoted to their children than their children are to them

TRUE

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18

What are the 3 main altruism theories? (explaining why we help)

  1. Social norms

  2. Social exchange

  3. Eviolutionaty

<ol><li><p>Social norms </p></li><li><p>Social exchange </p></li><li><p>Eviolutionaty </p></li></ol>
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19

Empathy

Vicarious experience of someone else’s feelings

Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes

Happens when we feel attached to someone OR when people we identify with

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20

How does the presence of bystanders influence helping?

The presence of other bystanders can greatly decrease helping interventions

If we see that other people are not helping = we are also likely not to help

*Bystander effect

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21

How do we interpret whether to help in situations?

*Informational influence → we look at what others are doing to help interpret whether or not we should help

<p>*Informational influence → we look at what others are doing to help interpret whether or not we should help </p>
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Bystander effect

A person is less likely to provide help when there are other bystanders

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23

T or F: Prosocial models do NOT promote prosocial behaviour

FALSE

“Prosocial models promote prosocial behaviour!” → we are more likely to help when someone else does

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24

How does similarity affect helping?

We are more likely to help people who are similar to us

Similarity → Liking → Helping

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25

How does gender affect helping in risky situations?

Men = more likely to help in risky situations

Women = less likely in risky situations

*Overall men and women do not differ in helpfulness

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26

Moral inclusion

Regarding others as within your circle of moral concern

Viewing people who differ from you as being within your human circle → your moral values and rules of justice apply to them

*Equality

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Moral exclusion

Perceiving certain individuals or groups as being outside the boundary within which you apply moral values and rules of fairness

*Inequality

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28

Diagram of how we can increase helping

knowt flashcard image
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29

Genuine altruism

Increasing another’s welfare when there is zero benefit to the self

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30

What are some self-focused (selfish) theories that explain why we help?

  1. Kin selection

  2. Signalling

  3. reciprocity

  4. Mood

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31

Are we more likely to help relatives or non-relatives?

Relatives → *kin selection theory

Difference becomes even more pronounced in life-or death situations

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Signalling theory

Evolution-based theory

Public behaviours = signals to others of our fitness and resources

Signals = costly → provides further evidence of fitness

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Signalling and doorholding experiment

Confederates displayed an emotional state (high or low) and followed people into a building

Findings = people were more likely to hold campus doors open for people who were happy (high in emotional resources)

  • People were more likely to push the door for people who were neutral/sad (lower in emotional resources)

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34

Direct vs. indirect reciprocity

Direct reciprocity = immediate, one-to-one exchanges of favours

  • "I scratch your back, you scratch mine."

Indirect reciprocity = helping others, even if they don't repay you right away

  • “What goes around comes around”

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Prisoner’s Dilemma

Shows the tendency for people to pursue their own self-interest EVEN THOUGH it leads to a suboptimal outcome for both parties . . .

<p>Shows the tendency for people to pursue their <u>own self-interest</u> EVEN THOUGH it leads to a suboptimal outcome for both parties . . . </p>
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Warm glow (mood affects helping)

Helping makes you feel good

Moral high ground

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Negative state relief (mood affects helping)

If you feel bad = you want to feel good → THUS you relieve bad feelings by helping

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Positive state maintenance (mood affects helping)

If you feel good = you want to maintain the good feelings → THUS you help

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39

Other-focused altruism

We help others to increase their welfare

*Even when benefit to self is not apparent or considered

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Empathic concern

Other-oriented emotion (tenderness, sympathy, compassion) that drives us to reduce another person’s distress

*Even when there is no benefit to the self

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41

What are 2 examples of how we help others for selfless reasons?

  1. Other-focused altruism

  2. Empathic concern

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42

Egotism vs. altruism experiment (will you help Carol Mercy)

Would people help out a student (Carol) who was in need to school help?

Results:

  1. People with high empathy & who were told to adopt Carol’s POV = equally likely to help Carol REGARDLESS of whether they saw her in class

    • *Genuine/other-focused altruism

  2. People with low empathy & who were told NOT to adopt Carol’s POV = more likely to help Carol when they saw her in class

    • *Worried about future guilt…

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43

T or F: Apes have empathetic concern

TRUE

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44

5 stage model of bystander apathy

There are 5 obstacles to overcome before you help in a bystander situation

<p>There are 5 obstacles to overcome before you help in a bystander situation </p>
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45

The “Good Samaritan” experiment (noticing the situation)

Seminary students were assigned to different conditions:

  1. Talk topic = (1) Good Samaritan vs. (2) job opportunities

  2. Arrival status = (1) On time vs. (2) Late

Situation = on the way to the talk building they pass a confederate slumped and moaning in the doorway → do they help?

Results:

  • When on-time = more likely to help

  • When talk topic is about good samaritan = more likely to help

<p>Seminary students were assigned to different conditions: </p><ol><li><p>Talk topic = (1) Good Samaritan vs. (2) job opportunities </p></li><li><p>Arrival status = (1) On time vs. (2) Late </p></li></ol><p><u>Situation</u> = on the way to the talk building they pass a confederate slumped and moaning in the doorway → do they help? </p><p><u>Results:</u></p><ul><li><p>When <u>on-time</u> = more likely to help </p></li><li><p>When talk topic is about <u>good samaritan</u> = more likely to help </p></li></ul>
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46

Interpretation fighting experiment

Situation = participants witnessed one of two staged fight between a man and a woman:

  1. Fight 1 = “Get away from me, I don’t know you!”

  2. Fight 2 = “Get away from me, I don’t know why I married you!”

Results = people were more likely to help during the 1st fight → because they interrupted the couple as being strangers

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47

Pluralistic ignorance

Situations where a majority of group members privately reject a norm

BUT they (incorrectly) assume that most others accept it

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48

Diffusion of responsibility

Tendency for each group member to diffuse personal responsibility for acting by spreading it among all other group members

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49

Smoke-filled room experiment

Situation = participants are complete a survey when smoke begins to fill the room

  • Participants are either:

    1. Alone

    2. With 2 confederates → *they did not react to the smoke

Results = participants were more likely to notify the experimenter when they were alone

*Demonstrates diffusion of responsibility

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