Social Psych ch. 9 - prosocial behavior

What is prosocial behavior?

actions intended to benefit another person, regardless of the motive behind the action

What is the difference between prosocial behavior and benevolence?

prosocial behavior refers to any action that benefits others; benevolence involved intentionally benefiting others with no obvious external reward

What is pure altruism?

helping others for no obvious external or internal reward, driven purely by concern for the well being of others (ex. risking your life to save a stranger)

What are the 5 steps in the model of bystander intervention?

notice the situation, interpret the situation as an emergency, assume responsibility, know how to help, judge costs and benefits

What is the bystander effect?

the tendency for individuals to be less likely to help when there are more people present, due to diffusion of responsibility

What is pluralistic ignorance?

the belief that everyone else in the group thinks or feels the same way, which can prevent individuals from recognizing a situation as an emergency and taking action

What is diffusion of responsibility?

the tendency for people to feel less responsible for helping when others are present, assuming someone else will intervene

What is egoistic helping?

helping others for personal benefits, such as gaining rewards or avoiding negative feelings

What is altruistic helping?

helping others without expecting any benefits or rewards for oneself

What are two altruistic reasons for helping (according to Omoto & Snyder, 1995)?

values - “I believe helping is the right thing to do”

community concern - “I feel obligated to help my community”

What are three egoistic reasons for helping (according to Omoto & Snyder, 1995)?

understanding - “I want to understand the problem and its impact”

personal development - “I want to make new friends or meet new people”

esteem enhancement - “I want to feel better about myself”

What is the empathy-altruism hypothesis?

the idea that people are more likely to help others when they feel empathy for them

What are the three types of empathy?

affective empathy, somatic empathy, and cognitive empathy

which type of empathy is the strongest and most difficult to feel?

somatic empathy

What is the aversive arousal hypothesis?

the idea that people help others to alleviate negative emotions caused by seeing someone in distress

In Weyant (1978), which mood made people most likely to help?

people in a sad mood were most likely to help, especially when the benefit was high and the cost was low

What did Griskevicius et al. (2007) find about gender differences in helping?

men were more likely to say they would engage in heroic acts (e.g., fighting a bear) when motivated by mating (impressing a date), while women were more likely to say they would help with non-heroic acts.

what is moral licensing?

the concept that past moral behavior can make people feel justified in engaging in potentially immoral actions

what is moral credentialing?

reframing immoral behavior as not immoral because people believe their past good deeds allow them to do so

What are Kohlberg’s three stages of moral development?

pre-conventional, conventional, post conventional

What is the “elephant and the rider” metaphor in morality?

people often make moral decisions based on their emotional reactions (the elephant) and then rationalize those decisions (the rider), rather than reasoning logically from the start