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pro and anti social behaviour1

Absolutely, Nas! Here’s a full set of word-for-word flashcards based on your Year 11 ATAR Psychology syllabus content for Social Influences – Pro-social Behaviour. I’ve kept everything structured and precise, just how you like it:

🧠 Flashcards: Pro-Social Behaviour in Response to Social Influence

Flashcard 1

Front: Pro-social behaviour
Back: Voluntary actions that promote social acceptance and benefit society and its members.

Flashcard 2

Front: Factors influencing pro-social behaviour
Back: Reciprocity principle, social responsibility, personal characteristics (empathy, mood, competence), altruism

Flashcard 3

Front: Helping as an example of pro-social behaviour
Back: Helping: voluntary actions that benefits others
Ensure you differentiate this from altruism
People are more likely to help if:

  • the other person is similar to them (e.g. family or close relative)

  • they feel empathy for a person

  • increases their own mood, self-image, can profit from it

  • they expect future reciprocation

  • to role model for others (particularly children)

Flashcard 4

Front: Reciprocity Principle
Back: The social norm where a person feels obligated to return the favour to a person that does something for them.
“I do something for you, you do something for me”
People feel obligated to return favours or acts of kindness because it:

  • Encourages helping behaviour

  • Builds social bonds

  • Promotes altruism

  • Influences reputation

Flashcard 5

Front: Social Responsibility
Back: The theory that individuals are accountable for acting in a way that benefits society.
Higher levels of responsibility to perform more pro-social behaviours than lower levels.

  • Sense of duty (feeling of moral obligation to help others)

  • Community well-being

  • Maintaining norms and values

  • Being a role model

Flashcard 6

Front: Empathy
Back: The ability to sense and share thoughts or feelings of another person.

Flashcard 7

Front: Mood
Back: A temporary state of mind or feeling
A positive mood may increase likelihood of carrying out pro-social behaviours (“the feel-good, do-good effect”).

Flashcard 8

Front: Competence
Back: The ability to do something successfully and efficiently.
An individual who believes they are highly competent is more likely to carry out pro-social behaviours.

Flashcard 9

Front: Altruism
Back: Helping others without expecting a personal reward
Ensure you differentiate this with the reciprocity principle
Altruistic behaviours may result in a person helping while putting themselves at risk or paying a cost.
E.g. giving shoes and jacket to a homeless person (without being videoed!)
Empathy-altruism hypothesis: the more empathy felt by an individual, the more likely they will display altruistic behaviour

Flashcard 10

Front: Empathy-altruism decision tree
Back:
Observe someone in need of help
Do you feel empathy for this person?

  • Yes → Will help regardless of cost to self

  • No → Will only help if rewards outweigh costs (self-interested)
    Do you feel distressed when you see another person distressed?
    Do you understand what the person is going through?
    Do you have experience in their stress?

Flashcard 11

Front: Helping as a pro-social behaviour
Back: Helping: voluntary actions that benefits others
Ensure you differentiate this from altruism
People are more likely to help if:

  • the other person is similar to them (e.g. family or close relative)

  • they feel empathy for a person

  • increases their own mood, self-image, can profit from it

  • they expect future reciprocation

  • to role model for others (particularly children)

Flashcard 12

Front: Practice Short Answer – Personal Characteristics
Back:
(a) Describe two personal characteristics which will influence the pro-social behaviour of Jack and Jill. (2)

Flashcard 13

Front: Practice Short Answer – Altruism Identification
Back:
(b) Identify which sibling is engaging in altruistic prosocial behaviour. (1)

Flashcard 14

Front: Practice Short Answer – Altruism Justification
Back:
(c) Justify your answer to (b). (3)

Flashcard 15

Front: Practice Short Answer – Social Norms and Responsibility
Back:
(d) Complete the table on the factors influencing pro-social behaviour. (6)
Factor | Definition | Example from Question

Flashcard 16

Front: Revision Checklist
Back:
Complete:
☑ Psychology (Cerny, 2023) pg 120–122
☑ Psychology Study Guide pg 57–60
☑ Atomi – Prosocial Behaviour

Let me know if you’d like these grouped by concept, turned into a printable format, or expanded with examples and diagrams. You’re building a seriously strong study toolkit!FLASHCARDS

Front: Antisocial behaviour

Back: Behaviour that harms society and its members by intentionally violating the rights of others.

Front: The Bystander Effect

Back: The Bystander Effect proposes that the more people present, the less likely help will be offered by individuals. A bystander is a person present at an event but not taking part.

Front: Audience Inhibition

Back: Failure to intervene in an emergency in the presence of others due to fear of being judged.

Front: Diffusion of Responsibility

Back: Reduction in personal responsibility in a group, resulting in the individual being less likely to act.

Front: Cost-Benefit Analyses

Back: Psychological process of weighing up the benefits of performing behaviour, and potential cost to bystander.

Front: Groupthink

Back: Group members conform to make a unanimous decision without any critical thinking.

Front: Bullying

Back: The purposeful use of a difference in power to repeatedly cause physical, psychological or social harm.

Front: Latané & Darley (1968) Aim

Back: To observe the behaviour of bystanders in an emergency.

Front: Latané & Darley (1968) Participants

Back: 87 male college students living on campus in Columbia University that were contacted over the phone and asked to attend.

Front: Latané & Darley (1968) Independent Variables

Back: Group size (alone or in a group); Presence of passive confederates

Front: Latané & Darley (1968) Dependent Variable

Back: If participant leaves room to report smoke.

SHORT ANSWER PRACTICE

(a) Define the ‘bystander’ effect. (1 mark)

The Bystander Effect proposes that the more people present, the less likely help will be offered by individuals.

(b) Using your understanding of the bystander effect, explain why no one went to help the person having a seizure. (2 marks)

Based on the Bystander Effect, the presence of multiple people meant that personal responsibility for helping was divided among them. Each person likely assumed that someone else would intervene, leading to a collective inaction.

(c) Define the ‘diffusion of responsibility’ and ‘audience inhibition’ and apply each to the scenario to explain why no one wanted to help. (8 marks)

  • Diffusion of responsibility is a reduction in personal responsibility in a group, resulting in the individual being less likely to act. In the scenario, each of the bystanders felt less personal responsibility to help the person having a seizure because they assumed that someone else in the crowd would take action instead.

  • Audience inhibition is the failure to intervene in an emergency in the presence of others due to fear of being judged. The bystanders may have been unsure if the person was actually having a seizure and felt embarrassed to intervene for fear of doing something wrong or overreacting. They may have also looked to others for cues on how to act, and seeing no one else helping, they conformed to the group's inaction to avoid standing out.

(d) List three (3) other explanations of antisocial behaviour that could account for the bystander’s inaction. (3 marks)

Three other explanations are:

  1. Social influence, which leads to conformity with the inaction of the group.

  2. Cost-benefit analysis, where individuals weigh the potential costs (e.g., embarrassment, personal harm) against the benefits (helping the person).

  3. Groupthink, where the bystanders' desire for group unity or the assumption that the group's inaction is the correct response leads to a lack of critical thinking and action.

PRACTICE EXTENDED RESPONSE

  • Define bullying as an antisocial behaviour. (2) Bullying is an antisocial behaviour that is the purposeful use of a difference in power to repeatedly cause physical, psychological or social harm.

  • Explain three (3) factors that contribute to the group of girls’ behaviour towards Claire. (6)

    1. Direct reinforcement: The group of girls may be bullying Claire for direct reinforcement, such as gaining social status and popularity within their peer group.

    2. Peer pressure to conform to group norms: The individual girls may feel pressure to conform to the group's behaviour to be accepted and avoid being targeted themselves.

    3. Lack of empathy: The girls may lack empathy for Claire, which allows them to cause her harm without feeling distressed about her suffering.

  • Propose why cyberbullying is a becoming a more common type of bullying. (2) Cyberbullying is becoming more common because of the use of digital platforms, which allows for anonymity through fake accounts and makes it easier to harass or threaten others without direct confrontation.

  • Describe the bystander effect. (2) The Bystander Effect proposes that the more people present, the less likely individuals are to offer help. It highlights the phenomenon that bystanders fail to help someone in need when in the presence of others.

  • Outline the possible thought process Beth would go through if she had decided to help Claire when she was pushed into a puddle. (5)

    1. Notice the Incident: Beth would first need to notice Claire being pushed into the puddle.

    2. Interpret Incident as Emergency: She would then need to interpret the incident as a genuine emergency, not a joke or accident.

    3. Take Personal Responsibility: Beth would need to overcome the diffusion of responsibility and decide that it is her personal responsibility to help Claire.

    4. Decide How to Help: She would then have to decide on the best course of action, for example, offering a hand to help Claire up.

    5. Provide Help: Finally, Beth would provide help, overcoming any audience inhibition or fear of being judged by others watching.

  • Describe the two (2) factors that affect the bystander effect with reference to a study. (4) The Bystander Effect is affected by diffusion of responsibility and audience inhibition.

    • Diffusion of responsibility is the reduction in personal responsibility in a group, as each individual assumes someone else will act. This was demonstrated in the Latané & Darley (1968) smoke-filled room study. Participants in a group were much less likely to report the smoke than participants who were alone, suggesting they felt less responsible to act.

    • Audience inhibition is the fear of being judged for intervening. In the Latané & Darley (1968) study, this was demonstrated by the participants who were with passive confederates. Only 10% of them reported the smoke, as they were influenced by the confederates' passive behaviour and likely feared appearing foolish or overreacting.