Altruism

Definition of Altruism

any act of self-sacrifice intended to benefit another person with no expectations of reward

Definition of Prosocial Behaviour

any act performed by an individual with the goal of benefiting another person

Evolutionary Perspectives

argues that behaviour that emerged through natural selection

behaviours are though to be displayed to the extent that they are adaptive and contribute to ‘inclusive fitness’ and the gene is the unit of selection, not the individual

Bernstein et al (1994)

participants presented with hypothetical scenarios and asked whether they would help or not

manipulate degree of relatedness to the target, health of target and situation

findings - participants more likely to help someone in closer relation, under life or death = good health, everyday conditions = sick person

Kotchmaros and Kenny (2001)

replicated Burnsteins study but asked to imagine real family members

measure how emotionally close the participants felt with different relatives using mediation model (genetic closeness, willingness to to help and emotional closeness)

genetic closeness strengthens emotional closeness which strengthens willingness to help

Cultural Differences (Wu et al, 2016)

participants asked to imagine themselves as 30 year old, married and financially independent

presented its life or death scenario or everyday scenario and asked who they would help: mother or spouse

in taiwan - said mother for both

in US - said spouse for both

Limits to Evolutionary Approaches

demonstrating causal relationship is difficult

might help close kin more for other reasons (emotional attachment, cultural norms etc)

how do we explain instances of helping strangers

Social Exchange Theory

built on notion related to human learning - behaviour motivated by the desire to maximise rewards and minimise costs

rewards can be tangible, intangible or removal of aversive states

Negative State Relief Hypothesis

when we engage in alternative mood enhancing activities, we help less

Empathy-Altruism Theory

suggest that whether people help depends on hope they respond emotionally to the victims plight

if you do not feel empathy - help given if its in best interest to do so

if you do feel empathy - help given regardless

Empathy

the ability to sense another’s experiences, identifying with and experiencing another persons emotions, thought and attitudes

Toi and Batson

listened to a radio show about a fellow student on your course who broke both their legs in a car crash

found that in low cost of not helping situation and low empathy = least likely to help and high empathy = likely to help regardless

Empathy Joy (Bateson et al,1991)

participants told they would or would not hear back from the person they helped to learn about the success of their helping

findings - low empathy = if didn’t hear back had lower agreement high empathy = similar levels of willingness regardless of whether hear feedback or not

Bystander Effect (Latane and Darley, 1970)

students sit in a room to complete a series of questionnaire when smoke began to fill the room

75% approached experimenter when alone

38% approached when with strangers

10% approached if strangers ignore the smoke

Attribution Theory

argues that when people are approached for aid they ask themselves “why does this person need my help?”

1. responsibility - is person responsible for their situation

2. control - do they have control over their predicament

Victim Responsibility (Schmidt and Weiner, 1988)

presented participants with a scenario - classmates asks to borrow note because 1. had problem with eyes so couldn’t see the board or 2. gone to the beach instead of class

results showed that perceptions of personal control and responsibility positively correlated with anger and negatively correlated to empathy

Levine et al

recruited manchester united fans and asked to think about what means to you to be a man united fan

run into a victim in need of help in wither man united shirt, liverpool shirt or neutral clothes

findings - % increase of help for those in man united shirt but when asked to think about why a football fan % increased for liverpool shirt as well but not neutral clothes