Social Psyc

Morality (1)

• Moral      judgment  refers  to   judgments  about   what    we consider    to   be  universally      right    or   wrong about  human action  and       character  and       what  is    worthy       of   punishment    or   reward.

o Moral   psychology       is    a     young       branch of   social  psychology      that       focuses      on  how     people actually       make   moral  judgments,      which  is       often    guided by  feeling.

Morality (2)

• Social      Intuitionist      Model of   Moral      Judgment o the    idea      that      people      first      have     fast,      emotional reactions      to   morally      relevant     events that      in      turn      influence   their   

process      of   reasoning toward       a       judgment  of   right    or   wrong

Moral Intuition and Reason in the Brain

• Scientists      have     begun  to   map     how  specific      feelings      are associated with  moral  judgment  in   the brain   using  fMRI. o “Trolley   dilemma”

§    Participants       imagine       a     runaway trolley  headed for  five people  who      will be   killed    and the only      way       to save      them     is    to   hit  a     switch  that will turn      the trolley  onto      another set  of   tracks   and kill one person.

§    Is     it     appropriate      to   hit  the switch?

Moral Foundations Theory

• Moral      foundations    theory o a theory      proposing that      there   are five      evolved,     universal  

moral  domains    in   which  specific       emotions  guide   moral       judgments § care/harm

§   fairness/reciprocity

§   ingroup       loyalty

§   authority/respect

§   purity/sanctity

Moral Foundations and Political Divisions

Altruism

• Altruism

o prosocial     behavior   that      benefits       others without     regard to  

consequences      for oneself

Empathic Concern: A Case of Pure Altruism? (1)

•        Social    reward o a      benefit,      such     as  praise, positive     attention,  something  tangible,    or   gratitude,  that      may      be  gained from    helping      others, thus  serving      as   a     motive for altruistic  behavior

•        Personal     distress      o a motive for  helping      others in   distress      that  may      arise    from    a    

need   to   reduce one’s    own     distress

Empathic Concern: A Case of Pure Altruism? (2)

• Empathic      concern

o identifying  with     someone   in   need,       including  feeling and      

understanding    what    that      person is     experiencing, accompanied by  the     intention   to   help     the person

Empathy Versus Personal Distress

• How can researchers    document the fact  that      altruistic   action  can be  motivated  by  empathic  concern     alone,  independent  of   the desire  for social  rewards     or   to  reduce personal    distress?

Empathy and Altruism

Empathic Concern and Volunteerism

•        Research     shows  that      feelings      of  empathic  concern     and       sympathy  increase    the likelihood that      people will  act altruistically,  helping      those   who  suffer.

•        These    feelings      are also      a     primary  determinant   of   other   prosocial  behaviors, such     as   volunteerism:

o assistance   a     person regularly   provides    to       another     person or  

group with     no  expectation     of     compensation

Situational Determinants of Altruism: Kitty Genovese (1)

• In       1964,   Kitty    Genovese  was  murdered in   front    of   her  apartment building. o As she was  being   attacked,   she screamed  for  help     and      

several     of   her neighbors witnessed the  crime. o However,      no  one       intervened  to   help     her or   even     called  the police. o Why  did people fail to   help     in   such  an  obvious     emergency?

Situational Determinants of Altruism: Kitty Genovese (2)

• Kitty Genovese’s      murder      moved several  social  psychologists to   attempt     to  understand     the processes that      dampen  our empathic  concern,    inhibit altruistic  action, and       make   people reluctant   to  intervene  during emergencies.

The Presence of Other People (1)

• Bystander    intervention o Giving  assistance to   someone   in   need    on  the  part      of   those   who      have     witnessed an  emergency;     bystander intervention  usually       decreases as   the number     of  observers increases  because     each  person feels     someone   else      will  probably   help.

The Presence of Other People (2)

• Diffusion       of   responsibility o a reduction  of  the sense   of   urgency     to   help     someone  involved    in   an  emergency      or  dangerous situation,  based  on  the  assumption     that      others who      are  present      will      help

o    When      participants    believed    that    someone   was      having a     seizure,    85  percent      helped if    they      were    the only      other   person present;     only    62  percent      helped if    another    person was      present;     and       if    multiple    people were    present,     only    31  percent      helped.

Victim Characteristics • Some people are more   likely   to   receive help     than     others.

o    Bystanders  help     victims       who    scream       and       make   their    needs    known 75–100      percent      of   the time,    but they      help     silent   victims       only    20–40  percent      of   the time.

Construal Processes and Altruism

• Given      the ambiguity of   many  emergencies,  the decision    to   offer     help  means that      the potential   helper first  has to   believe       assistance is    actually  needed,      based  on  clues    from    the  victim’s      behavior.

Helping in Ambiguous Situations (1)

• Pluralistic    ignorance o occurs    when  people are unsure about   what    is  happening       and       assume      that  nothing      is    wrong because     no  one  else      is   

responding    or   appears     concerned

Helping in Ambiguous Situations (2)

• Pluralistic    ignorance results from  informational social  influence. o In  ambiguous      situations, we look     to  others to   decide how     we should act. o When    left in   a     room   that      began  to  fill  with     smoke, 75  percent      of  participants    left to   alert     an  authority,  but if    other   people were    present,  only      38  percent      left to   tell someone.

Combating Pluralistic Ignorance (1)

• Bystanders  are less       likely   to   fall prey     to  pluralistic ignorance when   they      can  clearly see one       another’s  initial  expressions     of   concern.

Combating Pluralistic Ignorance (2)

• How do  you       improve    the chances     of  getting help     when   you       need    it? 

o Make your     need    clear—“I’ve  twisted      my ankle   and       I      can’t  walk;   I      need    help.” o Select      a  specific      person—“You there,  can you  help     me?”

Culture and Altruism

• Altruism in   urban  and       rural    settings o People are  more   likely   to   receive       help     in   a     rural    area  than     an  urban  area.

Social Class and Altruism

• Social      class o How    does     social  class influence   levels   of   altruism?

§ When    it     comes  to   altruism,     it    turns     out that       those    who      have    less give       more,   at    least      in    terms    of   the proportion of   their     income    they      donate to   charity.

Wealth and Charity

• Nicki Minaj   has an  extensive  engagement    with     her philanthropy  and       has helped    pay       students’   debts   and       given    money to   a     village in   India.

Religion, Ethics, and Altruism

• The   world’s      major  religions   emphasize  compassion,   altruism,   and       treating  others—even strangers  and  adversaries—with     kindness.

The Golden Rule Across Cultures and Religions

Religion and Altruism

• As      this       study   showed,     being   primed    with     religious   concepts   leads    to    greater      generosity.

Being Watched

Prosocial Behavior and the Sense of Being Watched

• Swayambhunath Temple

o The  eyes     painted      at   the top of   the    dome   give      visitors      the feeling    they’re being   watched.  

Evolution and Altruism

• Evolutionarily,   we should behave  altruistically   toward       those   who  promote    the survival     and  reproduction  of   ourselves  and       our  genetic       relatives.

Kin Selection

• Kin    selection o an evolutionary  strategy     that      favors  the  reproductive 

success    of   one’s    genetic       relatives,     even     at   a     cost      to   one’s    own     survival     and       reproduction

§  Although   individuals die, genes    can be     passed  on  forever as   long      as   genetic     relatives     can reproduce.

§  We       are evolutionarily  inclined       to     help      people  more    if     they      are     more    genetically related to   ourselves.

Reciprocity

• How   would  an  evolutionary   account     make   sense   of   helping      non-kin?

Cooperation

• Cooperation       is    essential   to   human  functioning;    however,   individuals  must    balance      the desire  to   cooperate  with     the desire  not to   be  taken  advantage of. o The   inclination       to  cooperate for common    goals    is    almost  a     defining     attribute   of   humans.

Reciprocity and Cooperation

• Reciprocal   altruism    o helping  others with  the expectation     that      they      will  probably  

return       the favor    in   the future

The Prisoner’s Dilemma

• A situation   involving   payoffs       to   two  people,       who      must    decide whether  to   cooperate or   defect; in   the end,      trust  and       cooperation    lead      to   higher joint  payoffs       than     do  mistrust    and  defection. o Consider       the classic story  of   two       prisoners  who      have     to  choose between    sticking     to   their  story    or   betraying  their    partner,  without     knowing    what    their    partner  will      do.

o If  they      both     cooperate, both     win.      If   they      both     defect, both     lose.     But   if    one       defects       when   the other   cooperates,     one       wins     big and   the other   loses    big.

The Payoff Matrix for the Prisoner’s Dilemma

Situational Determinants of Cooperation

• People’s construals about   others with  whom  they’re interacting      are an  important determinant   of   whether  people will      cooperate.

Reputation

• Reputation

o  the  collective  beliefs,       evaluations,    and impressions    people

hold   about   an  individual within a     social     network

o  Gossiping   is    a     communicative    act in which  one       person comments on  the reputation       of   another     who      is    not present.

Construal Processes and Cooperation

•        Evidence     from    prisoner’s dilemma  games o People    who      are more  competitive    are more   likely   to   assume  that      others are competitive.

o  People become     more   competitive    after being   primed       with    

words       related       to   hostility.

o  There   was      greater      competition    when the prisoner’s dilemma   was      played in   a business    context      (for       example,   Wall Street) than     when   played as   a community     game.

Is Cooperation Contagious?

•       

The popular     movie  Pay       It    Forward  focuses      on  the theme of   how     one  person’s    generosity       leads    to   other  acts      of   generosity.

Culture and Cooperation (1)

• Cultural beliefs can influence   rates    of cooperation.

o Given how     labels—and    therefore     construals—shape     levels   of     cooperation,   you       might  expect     cultural     factors to   have     a     similar     influence   on  the inclination       to     either  cooperate or   defect.

Culture and Cooperation (2)

• The   ultimatum game

o  situation    where one       participant      is given   a     sum      of   money (or

other resource)  to   allocate     between     himself      and       another     person

o  can choose to   allocate     the resource   in any       way

§ can   keep     it     all   or   divide   it  evenly o The    ultimatum game   is  commonly used     in   psychology  experiments   to   test       cooperative  and       altruistic   behavior.

Culture and Cooperation (3)

• Cooperation       around       the world o People  who      live       in   cultures  requiring  high     amounts    of  

interdependence       for survival     (for       example,     food     sharing)    allocated   resources more   fairly     during an  ultimatum game   than     did people from     other   cultures.   

Evolution and Cooperation: Tit for Tat (1)

• Tit-for-tat     strategy o A    strategy     in  the prisoner’s dilemma   game   in  which  the

player’s    first      move   is    cooperative;     thereafter, the player mimics       the other     person’s    behavior,   whether     cooperative    or   competitive.   This     strategy     is    known to   encourage     cooperation.

Evolution and Cooperation: Tit for Tat (2)

• Tit-for-tat     strategy’s  five       factors o It  is    cooperative    and       thus  encourages     mutually   supportive      

action       toward       a     shared goal. o It is    not envious;    a     partner  using   this       strategy     can do 

extremely well      without     resorting   to       competitive    behavior.

o It is    not exploitable,     meaning    it’s not  blindly prosocial; if    you       defect  on  the  tit   for tat, it    will      defect  on  you. o It  is    forgiving;  that      is,   it    is    willing to  cooperate at   the first      cooperative  action  of   the partner,     even     after  long     runs     of   defection  and  competition. o It  is    easy     to   read;    it  shouldn’t   take      long     for others to  know   that      the tit-for-tat  strategy     is  being   played.