Prosocial Behaviour

Question 1

what is prosocial behaviour?

Answer 1

acts with positive social consequences that benefit the wellbeing of others

Question 2

what is helping behaviour?

Answer 2

a category of prosocial behaviour

Question 3

what is altruism?

Answer 3

a specific form of helping behaviour that benefits another person without the expectation of personal gain

Question 4

what does evolution see prosocial behaviour as?

Answer 4

an innate adaptive trait because it has links to cooperation and communication in humans and animals

Question 5

evolutionary explanations

Answer 5

• mutualism-reciprocity
• kin-selection

Question 6

mutualism-reciprocity

Answer 6

cooperative behaviour increases survival probability more than non-cooperation

Question 7

kin-selection

Answer 7

biased to help those who we share our genes with, which can be extended to ‘inclusive fitness’

Question 8

individual explanations

Answer 8

• arousal
• empathy

Question 9

arousal

Answer 9

there is a biological negative arousal response to witnessing suffering which can predispose action

these negative feelings can be avoided by looking away

Question 10

empathy

Answer 10

prosocial behaviour can be impacted if we engage in or avoid empathy

Question 11

who designed the bystander-calculus model?

Answer 11

pillavin et al (1981) in order to weigh up the consequences of helping which results in a cost-benefit calculated decision

Question 12

three-stage process of the bystander-calculus model

Answer 12

1. physiological arousal
2. label arousal (either as empathy or other emotion)
3. evaluate the consequences

Question 13

empathy costs

Answer 13

failing to help causes distress

Question 14

personal costs

Answer 14

failing to help causes the feeling of blame

Question 15

what does the bystander-calculus model aim to do?

Answer 15

resolve distress at the lowest possible cost, showing it is motivated by egosim

Question 16

why do people help friends more than strangers?

Answer 16

association increases empathy costs

Question 17

who proposed the empathy-altruism model?

Answer 17

baston et al (1991) hypothesised people will help regardless of benefit, as long as they feel empathy towards another person

Question 18

what is there evidence of in the empathy-altruism model?

Answer 18

altruistic motivation, as prosocial behaviour was exclusively to reduce distress of the person in need

Question 19

what do these models show?

Answer 19

egoism and altruism as two different mechanisms that form pluralistic explanations of prosocial behaviour

Question 20

is there a prosocial personality?

Answer 20

no one set of characteristics, but there are differences between helpers and non helpers

Question 21

differences between helpers and non-helpers:

Answer 21

• emphasis on social responsibility and high internal locus of control
• greater dispositional empathy and extensivity

Question 22

mood

Answer 22

people in good moods have increased likelihood of helping behaviour except for guilt

Question 23

why is guilt the exception for bad moods?

Answer 23

explained by negative relief state model, where doing good relieves the negative affect felt by guilt

Question 24

what happens if all bystanders experience different emotional states?

Answer 24

this is not likely to decrease the bystander effecr

Question 25

competence

Answer 25

people with helping skills/competence are more likely to help, and even the perception increases this likelihood

Question 26

social explanations of prosocial behaviour:

Answer 26

- reciprocity principle - social responsibility norm

Question 27

reciprocity principle

Answer 27

we should help those who help us, either in the past or future

Question 28

social responsibility norm

Answer 28

we have a duty to help those in need without the expectation of future help

Question 29

what is the social responsibility norm selective on?

Answer 29

the just world hypothesis- whether people are deemed responsible for their own situation

Question 30

social learning theory

Answer 30

observation only influences prosocial behaviour if there is a positive outcome - increases prosocial thought and immediate action

Question 31

what was the bystander effect prompted by?

Answer 31

the murder of kitty genovese in 1961 with 37 unresponsive witnesses

Question 32

when does the bystander effect occur?

Answer 32

when a bystander is less likely to help in an emergency when in the presence of other people rather than alone

Question 33

what cognitive decision model did latane and darley develop?

Answer 33

1. notice the event 2. interpret it as an emergency 3. assume responsibility 4. evaluate potential decisions 5. implement decisions emergency situations/the bystander effect interrupt elements of this process

Question 34

what did their studies show?

Answer 34

- the seizure experiment - lady in distress - smoke filled room all provided evidence of the bystander effect, with the exception of when around friends

Question 35

what have real life emergencies suggested about the bystander effect?

Answer 35

bystander apathy is mitigated by real life context, and bystanders are less passive than assumed

Question 36

why do people not help?

Answer 36

- audience inhibition - fear of social blunders - diffusion of responsibility

Question 37

social influences of the bystander effect?

Answer 37

- social norms - strongest effect during a mixed anonymous group of strangers - decreased effect when people were friends, shared some social identity, or were likely to meet again

Question 38

why is altruism an area of research?

Answer 38

it contradicts evolutionary theories of prosocial behaviour

Question 39

examples of altruism

Answer 39

- volunteering - risk of loss of own life - martyrdom

Question 40

why is volunteering not altruistic?

Answer 40

selfish oriented motives of egoism, altruism, collectivism, and principlism contextual factors- climate and economics- can affect altruism-egosim

Question 41

why are big self-sacrifices not altruistic?

Answer 41

even costly altruism is not even to explain behaviour interaction with empathy, social norms, attitudes, and personality

Question 42

why is martyrdom not altruistic?

Answer 42

motivated by politics, religion, and ideology

Question 43

real world examples of altruism

Answer 43

medical donation suggests people are motivated by benevolence and egoism - also motivated by helping others and personal benefits

Question 44

benevolence

Answer 44

awareness of mutual beneficial aspects for recipient and donor

Question 45

issues with research into egoism

Answer 45

can be tautological and non-falsifiable

Question 46

how do prosocial researchers encourage pluralism?

Answer 46

by studying altruism in a pragmatic way, through cost-benefit analysis this means altruism and egoism will always interact