PSSO unit 4 Flashcards
(29 cards)
*Upstream reciprocity:
passing benefits on to third parties instead of returning benefits to one’s benefactors
‘Pay it forward’
Worldwide movement to send ‘ripples of kindness’ around the world
Is helping contagious?
Sometimes social psychologists seem to focus on the negative things
People can and actually do behave magnificently
Example: People endanger their own lives to help others in floods
What is prosocial behaviour?
doing something good for others or for society.
Includes behaviour that respects others or allows society to operate
Obeying rules, conforming to accepted standards of behaviour, and cooperating with others
The presence of others – other people are watching
*Reciprocity:
obligation to return in kind what another has done for us
Morality
Moral rules tell people what they should do
Rules about what is right vs wrong
Morals may contribute to inner conflict
o Moral reasoning:
using logical deductions to make moral judgements based on abstract principles of right and wrong
- Many people associate morality with reasoning from principles
Would you steal to save someone’s life?
o Moral intuitions:
judgments that occur automatically and rely on emotional feelings.
cooperation
working together with someone for mutual or reciprocal benefit
Vital for social groups to succeed
Cooperation is a vital foundation of culture
People don’t trust & cooperate with everybody indiscriminately
- Cooperation with gender
Both men & women cooperate equally
Men-men cooperation is better than female-female
Mixed gender interactions, females cooperate more
Forgiveness
Stopping to feel angry or seeking retribution against someone who has wronged you
Releasing the person from obligation to offset the bad deed
Benefits of forgiveness:
better mental and physical health
Downside of forgiveness
invitation to offend again
- Why people don’t forgive?
Severity of the offence
low level of commitment to the relationship
what you think of transgression
obedience
following orders from an authority figure
can be prosocial
Social psychologists have generally taken a negative view of obedience
- Milgram shock study
Majority of participants delivered extreme shocks to a screaming victim in obedience to an authority figure
Conformity
Going along with the crowd; saying or doing whatever other people are doing
When/why do people conform?
People conform more when others are watching
Helps people to function well in large groups
Trust
Strong belief in the reliability and validity of someone or something
Why/who do people trust?
Confidence that others will provide benefits and/or not harm you, even if they may be tempted to do otherwise
Trust is slow to build, but quick to destroy
people trust strangers with easier names to pronounce
- In general, people tend to be trusting
Perhaps a bit more than is entirely safe
Why do people help each other?
Kin selection: evolutionary tendency to help people who have our genes
Empathy: reacting to another person’s emotional state by experiencing the same emotional state.
Two motives for helping:
- Egoistic helping
o When a helper seeks to increase their own welfare by helping others. - Altruistic helping
o When a helper seeks to increase another’s welfare and expects nothing in return.
Who helps whom?
o Helpful personality: some people are clearly more altruistic
o Similarity: people are more likely to help those that are similar to themselves
o Gender: males are more publicly helpful, females feel more sympathy and empathy.
o Beautiful victims: people are more likely to help attractive individuals.
o Belief in a just world: assumption that life is essentially fair, people get what they deserve and deserve what they get
o Emotion and mood: positive feelings increase by helping
