Understanding Prosocial Behavior and Altruism

Prosocial Behavior: Any act performed with the goal of benefiting another person.
Antisocial Behavior: Any act performed that harms another person.
Asocial Behavior: Behavior that is not social ("a" = without).
Altruism: An act performed with the goal of benefiting someone else despite an anticipation of no significant personal gain, and often involving a personal cost.

Kin Selection: Helping family members increases gene success. The hypothesis predicts that the closer the genetic relation, the more likely helping will occur.
Reciprocity Norm: Helping others increases the chances of survival because it establishes a norm where others will return the favor.
Theoretical Issues: The kinship hypothesis makes simplistic predictions and is difficult to test/verify. Reciprocity cannot explain why people help strangers they will never meet again.

Social Exchange Theory: Helping is based on a cost-benefit analysis where individuals help only when \text{Rewards} > \text{Costs}. * Benefits: Social approval, self-esteem boosts, relief of guilt/tension, and reciprocity. * Costs: Personal danger, time, money, and pain. * Personal Distress: A self-focused response where people help to relieve their own discomfort.
Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis: Empathy involves taking another's perspective and is other-focused. * If empathy is felt, a person will help regardless of the costs. * If empathy is not felt, the decision to help is governed by Social Exchange or Personal Distress. * Toi & Batson (1982): In an experiment regarding a student named Carol who was in a car accident, high-empathy participants helped even when escape from the situation was easy.

Altruistic Personality: Individual differences such as Agreeableness and a tendency toward empathy predict helping behavior.
Belief in a Just World: People who believe in a "Just World" may help less, as they perceive rewards and punishments as being deserved.
Mood: Being in a good mood significantly increases helping behavior. * Isen & Levine (1972): $\text{84\%}$ of people who found a dime in a payphone helped a confederate, compared to only $\text{4\%}$ who did not find a dime.
Biological Factors: Research indicates that kidney donors (highly altruistic individuals) tend to have a greater amygdala volume.
Zero-Sum Beliefs: The "mythical fixed-pie" belief that one person's success balances another's failure. According to Chernyka-Hai & Davidai (2022), these beliefs reduce Autonomy-oriented help (assisting someone to succeed on their own) but do not change Dependency-oriented help (solving problems for them).

Developed by Latane & Darley (1970), this five-step model highlights obstacles to helping:

Notice the Event: Obstacles include distraction or being in a hurry. * Good Samaritan Study (Darley & Batson, 1973): $\text{63\%}$ of seminary students helped when ahead of schedule, but only $\text{10\%}$ helped when in a hurry.
Label as Emergency: Observers often look to others to define the situation, which can lead to pluralistic ignorance. * Smoke Study (Latane & Darley, 1970): People were much more likely to report smoke when alone than when in a group with unresponsive confederates.
Assume Responsibility: In a group, Diffusion of Responsibility occurs, where each person feels less personal responsibility to help. * Amato (1983): Found $\text{50\%}$ of people in small towns stopped to help in a staged emergency compared to $\text{15\%}$ in large cities. * Kitty Genovese: A classic case study for the Bystander Effect.
Know how to Assist: The helper must have the necessary skills or knowledge.
Implement Decision: The final choice involves a cost-benefit analysis and consideration of personal or litigious danger.

Collectivistic vs. Individualistic: Collectivistic cultures are more likely to help ingroup members, while individualistic cultures are more likely to help outgroup members.
Weiss-Sidi & Reimer (2023): For individualists, helping is linked to happiness (hedonic rewards), whereas for collectivists, helping is focused on duty to the recipient. Individualists reported higher happiness after helping than collectivists did.