Altruism Flashcards
altruism
a motivational state with the goal of increasing another’s welfare
genuine altruism
increasing another’s welfare when there is zero benefit to the self
Why do we help? (self-focused theories):
Kin selection
signalling
reciprocity
Mood
Kin selection
evolutionary-based theory
* we show favouritism towards those who share our genes
* more likely to help people who are related to us
signalling theory
another evolutionary based theory
public behaviours are signals to others of our reproductive & physical fitness resources
signals are often costly which provides further evidence of fitness
pronking
honest signalling by animals to predators showing them that they are young, fit, and not worth chasing
costly signals
sending honest signals that would be hard to fake like donation of money, biological signs
- must be costly to the actor
- behaviour must be easily observable by others
- signal must be a reliable indicator of some trait or characteristic of the signaller such as health, wealth, or intelligence
- must lead to some advantage for the signaller
signalling and doorholding
More door holding for those with happy emotional signal
reciprocity
direct: quid pro quo (direct exchange)
Indirect: what goes around comes around
- prisoner’s dilemma
Mood
*warm glow
*negative state relief
*positive state maintenance
helping feels good, not helping feels bad
Warm glow - helping makes you feel good, moral high ground
* helper’s positive affective state determines helpfulness
Negative state relief - if you feel bad, you want to feel good, so you relieve bad feelings by helping
positive state maintenance - if you feel good, want to maintain it so you help
is all help self-focused?
we help others for selfish reasons (to help ourselves) but also for selfless reasons (to help people who need it)
- other-focused altruism
- empathic concern
other focused altruism
help others to increase their welfare even when benefit to self is not apparent or considered
empathic concern
other-oriented emotion (tenderness, sympathy, compassion) that drives us to reduce another person’s distress even when there is no benefit to the self
- driving force behind genuine altruism
Egotism vs altruism study
girl in the wheelchair study
IV: empathy (objective) or target’s perspective
: guilt (same psych section or not)
DV: agreement to help
- when empathy is low, they would only help for selfish reasons, like not wanting to feel guilty if they see her in their section
- way less likely to help if they won’t see her in their section
- empathy-altruism hypothesis
empathy-altruism hypothesis
acts of genuine altruism can happen but is critical on empathic concern
bystander apathy
states that people are less likely to offer to help someone if there are other people around
Five-stage model of bystander apathy
Notice situation
interpret event as needing intervention
assuming responsibility
decide how to help/if you can
help
- each stage has to happen before the next one can occur
noticing the situation
Study completed (the Good Samaritan study) showed that time rush was a big determinant on if participants noticed the person that needed help or not
noticing the situation is one of the most important step to whether or not the person will help
Interpreting event as one that requires intervention
Participants witnessed a fight between a man and a woman
– either “get away from me, I don’t know you”
– or “get away from me, I don’t know why I married you”
** more people intervened when they think they don’t know each other
interpreting the situation as an emergency
*pluralistic ignorance
Pluralistic ignorance: a situation where a majority of group members privately reject a norm, but assume (incorrectly) that most others accept it
* example: when someone litters and you think you’re the only one that cares about it, when in reality, others feel the same but are also too scared to speak up
– people look at others to see if it’s an emergency or not
– most people wouldn’t help if no one else is helping
– informational influence
assume responsibility
Diffusion of responsibility: tendency for each group member to dilute personal responsibility for acting by spreading it among all other group members
– the more people there are, the less responsible people feel
– smoke in room study: when there’s other people in the room, only 10% of the participants get the experimenter because responsibility is diffused
deciding how you can help
two types of participants: students vs nurses when witnessing someone fall off a ladder
- nurses help 90% of time
- students help 50% of time, but more likely to go get experiment
