Social Behaviour and Decision Making

Social behaviour

refers to any behaviour where interaction occurs between two or more people

Positive social behaviour is

pro-social behaviour

Negative social behaviour is

anti-social behaviour

Pro-social behaviour

is any voluntary behaviour intended to help or benefit another person, group or society

Factors influencing Prosocial Behaviour

situational factors
Social Norms
Personal factors

situational factors

1. Noticing the situation
2. Interpreting the situation
3. Taking responsibility for helping
The bystander effect

1. Noticing the situation

When individuals are on their own, they are quicker to notice something ‘different’ or unusual than when they are in a group

2. Interpreting the situation

Many situations in which help may be required are ambiguous or unclear and as a result, people cannot always be sure that a helping response is appropriate or required

- The less ambiguous the situation, the more likely help will be offered

3. Taking responsibility for helping

Although you may notice and correctly interpret a situation as one in which

help is required, you are unlikely to intervene and help unless you believe it

is your responsibility to do so

The bystander effect

is the tendency for individuals to be less likely to help another person in need when other by-standers are present, or believed to be present

• The greater the number of bystanders, the less likely any one of them is to help

social Norms

are standards, or ‘rules’, that govern what people should or should not do in different social situations

Two social norms that can influence us to help:

1. Reciprocity norm

2. Social responsibility norm

The reciprocity norm

prescribes that we should help others who help us

• To receive without giving in return goes against or breaks the reciprocity norm

The social responsibility norm

prescribes that we should help those who need help because it is our responsibility or duty to do so

However, we are selective in the way we apply this norm

• If someone has not been responsible for bringing about their hardship, we are more likely to help and be generous

• If we believe that someone is in some way responsible for bringing about their own problems, we are less likely to help

personal factors that can influence pro-social behaviour

1. Our ability to empathise with others

2. The mood we are in when help is needed

3. Whether we feel competent to give the help that is

required

Empathy

is the ability to identify with and

understand another person’s feelings or

difficulties

a good mood

increases helping, whereas a bad mood will sometimes increase and sometimes decrease helping behaviour

3. Competence

• We can’t help someone if we don’t have the skills required or don’t know how

• As a result, our actual or perceived ability to help can influence whether or not we help in a specific situation, as well as the type of help we may offer

• Research indicates that people with abilities or training relevant to a situation in which help is required are more likely to help

Altruism

refers to pro-social behaviour focused on the wellbeing or benefit of

others without any thought of personal gain or reward

Altruism is a sub-category

of pro-social behaviour

While all altruistic acts are pro-social,

not all pro-social behaviours are completely altruistic

Some psychologists say altruism differs

from ordinary helping behaviour

because it involves an element of

personal risk

Factors influencing reluctance to help

1. Diffusion of responsibility

2. Audience Inhibition

3. Cost-benefit analysis

Diffusion of responsibility

is the belief that, in a situation where help is required and others are present, one or more other people will or should take responsibility for helping

When other people are present,

responsibility

is divided up or

diffused across the whole group

Audience inhibition

is not helping another person because of a fear of appearing foolish in the presence of others

The presence of others at the scene provides

an audience and this increases the chance of being embarrassed or feeling foolish

Audience inhibition typically leads bystanders

to keep calm in an emergency and check to see how others present are reacting

• The problem is that if people observe that everyone else is keeping calm they will conclude that no-one else is concerned and therefore help is not needed

A cost-benefit analysis

involves an individual weighing up the personal and social costs of helping

against the benefits of helping

COSTS

• Effort & time required

• Risks such as personal injury

• Feeling bad (guilt or embarrassment)

• Worsening the situation

• Loss of resources (eg. damaged clothing)

BENEFITS

• Monetary reward -

• Gratitude of the victim

• Help in return (reciprocity)

• Feeling good

• An increase in self-esteem

• Social approval

Antisocial behaviour

Any behaviour that is disruptive or harmful to the well-being or property of another person or to the functioning of a group or society

What is aggression?

• Any behaviour designed to cause physical or psychological harm to a person, animal or object. Can be physical, verbal or other.

• Intention to harm*

The Biopsychosocial framework

biological factors

Amygdala

• Neural transmission – dopamine reward pathway

• Prefrontal cortex

• Testosterone

• Drugs and alcohol

The amygdala and hypothalamus

Play an important role in stimulating or inhibiting aggressive behaviour

where is the amygdala located?

The amygdala is located deep within the medial temporal lobe

what is the amygdala important for?

The amygdala is important for the expression and control of emotions, interpretation of others’ emotions, and helping trigger the ‘emotion’ of fear or aggression.

the amygdaka triggers what to lead into what?

The Amygdala triggers the hypothalamus which leads to a process that activates the fight flight response.

the role of prefrontal cortex

The prefrontal cortex plays a role in predicting the consequences of one's actions and control of impulses.

what triggers the prefrontal cortex to be less active? what does this cause?

The amygdala and hypothalamus activate the Fight/flight response which would be utilising oxygen and energy in the muscles away from the brain, so the prefrontal cortex is less active as a result thinking and decision making may be impaired.

what are neurotransmitters?

Neurotransmitters are chemicals stored at the end of the axons

what happens when the electrical charge reach the end of the axon?

neurotransmitters are released which initiates a message to the neighbouring neuron

Dopamine is involved

in pleasure and rewards (feeling good after acting aggressively).

what does a neural impulse travels along with?

A neural impulse travels along the axon and arrives at the terminal button of the pre

-synaptic neuron.

Neurotransmitters are released into

the synaptic gap

The neurotransmitters bind to

receptor sites on the dendrites of the post-synaptic neuron.

When the electrical charge has built up sufficiently in the post -synaptic neuron,

a neural impulse will travel down the axon of that neuron.

Scientists have found evidence that the brain processes aggressive behaviour

as it does other rewards such as sex, food and drugs.

The brain responds to aggression with the release of

the neurotransmitter dopamine.

The dopamine reward pathway connects the

ventral tegmental area (VTA), one of the principal dopamine-producing areas in the brain, with the nucleus accumbens an area that is strongly associated with motivation and reward.

This pathway may lead some individuals to seek

aggressive encounters solely because they experience a rewarding sensation from it.

Biochemical influences - alcohol

Alcohol disrupts cognitive executive functions that help us organise, plan, achieve goals, and inhibit inappropriate behaviours

Lowering impulse control (alcohol)

can increase the frequency of aggressive behaviour

testosterone

Is predominantly a male sex hormone, it is also found in females at lower levels.

aggressive behaviour increases significantly

when high levels of testosterone are present and low levels of testosterone result in less aggressive behaviour.

Psychological Contributing Factors for Aggression

• Freud’s psychodynamic model

• Cognitive biases

• Personality Traits Related

to Aggression

• Anonymity and deindividuation

Freud’s psychodynamic model

Freud emphasised the complex interaction of

mostly unconscious mental processes in explaining aggression.

Freud viewed aggression as a

powerful, instinctive force or urge to harm ourselves and others.

According to Freud, a ‘primitive’ aggressive urge

‘rages’ and builds up that we struggle to control

We mainly suppress or manage our aggressive urges because

we also have a survival or ‘life’ instinct that competes with the aggressive urge

Freud proposed this unconscious urge must at

some time be released in order to prevent a sudden, uncontrollable explosion of

violence.

If not, sometimes the primitive aggressive urge will overcome our ‘defences’.

We channel the built up aggression

into socially acceptable activities such as competitive sport, debating and other

activities.

According to Freud, we can also release the built-up aggression by

watching someone else be aggressive; for example, reading a violent novel, playing violent computer games and watching violence in a movie or boxing bout.

A cognitive bias is an

error in thinking that occurs when people are processing and interpreting information

These errors can affect a person’s

decisions and judgments

Aggressive behaviour can be explained by two types of cognitive bias:

1. Hostile attribution bias

2. Hostile expectation bias

People with hostile cognitive biases view

the world as a hostile place

The hostile attribution bias

is the tendency to perceive ambiguous actions by others as hostile actions.

The hostile expectation bias

is the tendency to expect others to react to potential conflicts with aggression.

Aggressiveness is almost as stable

as intelligence over time.

The components of the “Dark Triad of Personality”—

narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism—are also strongly linked to aggression.

Narcissists have

inflated egos (they believe the world should revolve around them. Often, they place their needs above the needs of others), and they lash out aggressively against others when their inflated egos are threatened.

Psychopathy

is characterised by an extreme lack of empathy. Psychopaths may also be manipulative, charming and exploitative, and behave in an impulsive and risky manner. They may lack conscience or guilt and refuse to accept responsibility for their actions.

Machiavellianism

sees a person so focused on their own interests they will manipulate, deceive, and exploit others to achieve their goals.

Deindividuation

is the loss of individuality or the sense of feeling anonymous that can occur in a group situation.

Anonymity

A sense of anonymity comes from being in a situation where individuals can’t be identified personally – they are deindividuated

Temperature can influence our tendency

to act aggressively; some violent crimes are more likely to occur when the temperature is hotter than normal

Crowding and invasion of personal space,

for example in night clubs or sports venues, can lead to brawls, and traffic jams can precipitate (trigger) ‘road rage.’

Natural disasters may lead to

stress (activate the FFF response) increasing the likelihood of conflicts over resources as well as overcrowding, therefore increasing the likelihood that aggression may occur.

Violence is built into

certain societies and legitimised; some cultures sanction (approve of) violent acts.