Helping & Altruism: Understanding Altruism, Social Context, and Other Influences

Altruism: Helping others out of pure concern for their well-being.
Kinship: Tendency to help those who are related to us.
Similarity: Tendency to help those who are similar to us.
Reciprocal Altruism: Helping others with the expectation that they will return the favor in the future.
Reciprocity norm: A social expectation that we should return help to those who have helped us.
Social Responsibility Norm: The belief that we have a moral obligation to help those in need.
Self-concern vs. Other-concern: Balancing our own needs and desires with the needs and desires of others when deciding whether or not to help.
Rewards vs. Costs: Weighing the potential benefits and drawbacks of helping before deciding to act.

Good mood & helping: People are more likely to help when they are in a good mood, as helping can maintain that positive mood.
Mimicry/Similarity: Feeling similar to others can increase feelings of empathy and helping behavior.
Negative moods & helping: Negative emotions can sometimes increase helping behavior:
- Guilt: Can motivate individuals to help in order to alleviate their feelings of guilt.
- Sadness: Can lead to helping as a way to improve one's own mood.
- Fear: Can increase helping behavior, especially if helping reduces the source of fear.
Personal distress: The negative emotions that we experience when we see someone else suffering; can inhibit helping if it becomes overwhelming.
Empathy: The ability to understand and share the feelings of another person; a strong motivator for helping behavior.

Latané and Darley's Stages of Helping:
- Notice the event
- Interpret the event as an emergency
- Assume responsibility
- Know appropriate form of assistance
- Intervene
Noticing: People in urban environments may be less likely to notice someone in need due to sensory overload, compared to rural environments.
Interpreting Ambiguity:
- Pluralistic Ignorance: When people look to others for cues about how to behave, and misinterpret others' inaction as evidence that no help is needed.
Taking Responsibility:
- Diffusion of Responsibility: The tendency for individuals to feel less personal responsibility to help when there are more people present.
- Table 9.2: Effects of Group Size on Likelihood and Speed of Helping:
  - Group size of 2 (Participant and victim): Average helping 85%, Average time to help 52 seconds.
  - Group size of 3 (Participant, victim, and 1 other): Average helping 62%, Average time to help 93 seconds.
  - Group size of 6 (Participant, victim, and 4 others): Average helping 31%, Average time to help 166 seconds.
Implementing Action:
- If you know how to help, you're more likely to intervene.

Altruistic or Prosocial Personality:
- Other-concern is a key component.
Religiousness:
- Quest-oriented individuals are more likely to help.
Attributions:
- Deserving of Help: People are more likely to help those they believe deserve it.
- In Need: Must perceive the person as genuinely needing assistance.
Receiving Help:
- Lower Status: Receiving help can imply lower status and create feelings of dependency.
- Dependency-oriented help: Providing help that makes the person dependent on the helper.
- Autonomy-oriented help: Providing help that empowers the person to help themselves in the future.
Culture:
- Individualism & Collectivism: Cultural values influence helping behavior.
- Help in Self-Interest: People are more likely to help when they perceive it to be in their self-interest.

Seminary students less likely to help a person in need when in a hurry, even if preparing a talk on the Good Samaritan.

Demonstrated the impact of personal distress vs. empathy on helping behavior, manipulating the possibility of escape from witnessing someone receive shocks.

People are more comfortable arguing for a position (e.g., preventing funding reductions for a disease) that influences them personally, suggesting a norm of self-interest in getting involved.