Chapter 8: Altruism (helping others)

+ Lecture content from March 4th & 7th

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

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

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

How can we increase helping?

1. Reducing ambiguity and increasing responsibility

2. Evoking feelings of guilt

3. Socializing prosocial behaviour

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

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 ($$$)

Weakness of the social-exchange theory

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

*Egoism → self-interest motivates ALL behaviour

Egoism

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

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

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

T or F: Happy people are helpful people

TRUE

What are 2 social norms that motivate prosocial behaviour?

1. Reciprocity norm

2. Social-responsibility norm

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

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)

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

What are 4 evolution psychology factors that affect helping?

1. Kin selection

2. Direct reciprocity

3. Indirect reciprocity

4. Group selection

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

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

TRUE

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

1. Social norms

2. Social exchange

3. Eviolutionaty

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

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

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

Bystander effect

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

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

How does similarity affect helping?

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

Similarity → Liking → Helping

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

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

Moral exclusion

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

*Inequality

Diagram of how we can increase helping

Genuine altruism

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

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

1. Kin selection

2. Signalling

3. reciprocity

4. Mood

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

Relatives → *kin selection theory

Difference becomes even more pronounced in life-or death situations

Signalling theory

Evolution-based theory

Public behaviours = signals to others of our fitness and resources

Signals = costly → provides further evidence of fitness

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)

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”

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 . . .

Warm glow (mood affects helping)

Helping makes you feel good

Moral high ground

Negative state relief (mood affects helping)

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

Positive state maintenance (mood affects helping)

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

Other-focused altruism

We help others to increase their welfare

*Even when benefit to self is not apparent or considered

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

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

1. Other-focused altruism

2. Empathic concern

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…

T or F: Apes have empathetic concern

TRUE

5 stage model of bystander apathy

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

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

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

Pluralistic ignorance

Situations where a majority of group members privately reject a norm

BUT they (incorrectly) assume that most others accept it

Diffusion of responsibility

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

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