PSY2001 SEMESTER 1 - WEEK 8

Question 1

define prosocial behaviour

Answer 1

acts that are positively viewed by society, defined by societal norms and have positive social consequences of contributing to physical/psychological wellbeing of another person

Question 2

name the 2 type of prosocial behaviour

Answer 2

helping behaviour and altruism

Question 3

define helping behaviour

Answer 3

acts that intentionally benefit someone else/group
helping can be antisocial (helping to make another person look bad)

Question 4

define altruism

Answer 4

acts that benefit another person rather than self
performed without expectation of one’s own gain. true altruism selfless (but difficult proving selflessness as sometime private rewards, like feeling good)

Question 5

what started prosocial behaviour research

Answer 5

Kitty Genovese Murder (1964), 37 people openly admitted heard screams, but failed to act

Question 6

name biological and evolutionary reasons for why people help

Answer 6

mutualism, kin selection

Question 7

name social psychological reasons for why people help

Answer 7

social norms and social learning

Question 8

summarise the biological/evolutionary perspective of why people help

Answer 8

human has innate tendency to help others to pass genes onto next generation, improving survival rates with prosocial behaviour being a trait with evolutionary survival values

Question 9

define mutualism

Answer 9

prosocial behaviour benefits cooperator as well as others= a defector will do worse than a cooperator

Question 10

define kin selection

Answer 10

prosocial behaviour is biased toward blood relatives because helps their own genes

Question 11

what is evidence of kin selection perspective

Answer 11

ppts more willing to help those with closer>distant kin and prefer to help sick>healthy in everyday situation, but help health>sick in life or death situation

Question 12

name issues of biological account of prosocial behaviours

Answer 12

1. doesn’t explain why we help non-relatives
2. lacks empirical evidence and impossible to assess in lab
3. doesn’t explain why we help in some circumstances/not other (eg; familial violence)
4. social learning theories ignores (behaviours learnt and not innate)

Question 13

define empathy

Answer 13

emotional response to someone else’s distress and appears to be innate

Question 14

how can empathy impact on prosocial behaviour

Answer 14

fails to act prosocially as actively engaging in avoiding empathy
however empathic concerns lead to motivation to help (Batson)

Question 15

women appear more empathetic than men, what account for this

Answer 15

socialisation as women values interdependence and more other-orientated but men more independence, self orientation

Question 16

outline social psychological accounts (norms) for prosocial behaviours

Answer 16

help due to feeling that we should
shaped and are sustained by societal norms (not innate)

Question 17

define societal norms

Answer 17

social guideline establish what most do in certain context, what’s socially acceptable

Question 18

why do social norms lead to socially appropriate behaviour (reward/punishment)

Answer 18

behaving in line with social norm rewarded and leads to social acceptance, but violating social norms means punishment and often results in social rejection

Question 19

is self-attribution or reinforcement more powerful in learning social norms in prosocial behaviours

Answer 19

causal attribution (internalising idea of helpful to guide our future behaviours when being helpful is an option) means self-attributions are more powerful
when telling child they are “helpful people”, results in greater helping behaviours than when using reinforcements

Question 20

what 3 social norms explain why we engage in prosocial behaviour

Answer 20

1. reciprocity principle
2. social responsibility
3. just world hypothesis

Question 21

define reciprocity principle

Answer 21

we should help others that help us

Question 22

define social responsibility

Answer 22

we should help those in need independent of their ability to help us

Question 23

define just-world hypothesis

Answer 23

world is just and fair place, if we come across anyone undeservedly suffering, help to restore our beliefs in just world

Question 24

name the 3 social psychological accounts of prosocial behaviours

Answer 24

norms
learning to be helpful
social learning theory

Question 25

summarise social psychological perspective of learning to be helpful for prosocial behaviour

Answer 25

childhood is critical period to learn our prosocial behaviours classical conditioning, instrumental conditioning and observational learning

Question 26

name 3 components in social psychological account of learning to be helpful for prosocial behaviour

Answer 26

giving instructions using reinforcement exposure to models

Question 27

a component of social psychological account of learning helpfulness, explain importance of giving instruction

Answer 27

telling child what's appropriate establish expectations, guide for later life if told to be good then teacher is inconsistent, this is pointless

Question 28

a component of social psychological account of learning helpfulness, explain importance of using reinforcement

Answer 28

rewarding younger children mean more likely to offer to help again, but if not rewarded/punished are less likely

Question 29

outline Rushton & Teachman (1978) study for using reinforcements to encourage helping behaviour

Answer 29

children 8-11 observes adults playing game, who donate token won in game to worse off child cdn1 = pos reinforcement cdn2 = no consequences cdn 3 = neg reinforcement child donated higher tokens if saw pos cdn

Question 30

a component of social psychological account of learning helpfulness, explain importance of exposure to model

Answer 30

modellings more effective in shaping behaviour than reinforcement

Question 31

in social psychological account of learning helpfulness, detail Gentile (2009) research into video games

Answer 31

either played prosocial, neutral, violent found playing prosocial video game increased short-term helping, decreased hurtful behaviour in puzzle game

Question 32

outline social psychological account for helping behaviour of social learning theory

Answer 32

against just imitating role models, and instead knowledge of what happens to model determines whether or not observer will help

Question 33

describe research of social psychological account for helping behaviour of social learning theory (Hornstein)

Answer 33

ppt observes model returning a lost wallet and model appears either pleased to help, displeased, no strong reaction found when ppt returned wallet, those observing pleasant helped most and observed negative helped least

Question 34

define bystander effect

Answer 34

people are less likely to help in an emergency when they are with others than when they are alone

Question 35

outline research as part of Latane & Darley cognitive model (1968) regarding emergency situations

Answer 35

presence of smoke in room, another ppt in medical emergency presence of others: cdn 1: confed, not intervening cdn 2: other ppts cdn 3: alone very few intervene in presence of others and especially if others did not intervene

Question 36

for Latane & Darley cognitive model, what are the 4 components adding up to give help

Answer 36

1. attend to what is happening 2. define event as emergency 3. assume responsibility (if med emergency and first aid trained, then you feel more confident to take on responsibility 4. decide what can be done

Question 37

name the 3 processes contributing to the bystander effect (cognitive models)

Answer 37

diffusion of responsibility audience inhibition social influence

Question 38

how does diffusion of responsibility contribute to the bystander effect

Answer 38

tendency of individual to assume that others will take responsibility

Question 39

how does audience inhibition contribute to the bystander effect

Answer 39

other onlookers may make individual feel self-conscious about taking action = people don't want to appear foolish by overreacting

Question 40

how does social influence contribute to the bystander effect

Answer 40

other people provide model for action if unworried then situation seem less serious

Question 41

in Latane & Darley (1976) study to test process underlying bystander effect, name the 5 condition

Answer 41

1. control= alone, cannot be seen/see other 2. diffusion of responsibility= aware of another ppt but cannot see them 3. diffusion of responsibility + social infleunce= aware of other ppt, see them in monitor but cannot be seen themselves 4. diffusion of responsibility + audience inhibition= aware of other ppts, cannot seen them and can be seen themselves 5.diffusion of responsibility + audience inhibition + social influence= aware of another ppt, see them and aware they can also be seen

Question 42

in Latane & Darley (1976) study to test process underlying bystander effect, what did they find?

Answer 42

most likely to least likely to give help were= alone, diffusion, diffusion + influence/inhibition, diffusion + influence + inhibition

Question 43

in the bystander calculus model, what 3 components are considered

Answer 43

1. physiological processes (empathetic response causing greater arousal so greater chance we will help) 2. labelling arousal as an eotion 3. evaluating consequences of helping (cost-benefit analysis)

Question 44

how does labelling arousal as an emotion impact bystander behaviour

Answer 44

personal distress when seeing someone suffer motivates help to reduce our own negative emotional experience

Question 45

when are empathetic concerns likely to be triggered

Answer 45

when similar to victim and can relate to them

Question 46

name costs of helping

Answer 46

time and effort personal risk

Question 47

name costs of not helping

Answer 47

empathy costs- distress to bystanders personal costs- guilt and blame

Question 48

summarise bystander calculus model

Answer 48

intervene in emergencies when finding arousal unpleasant, and seek relief suggesting altruism is misnomer and actually motivated by self-interest, egosim

Question 49

Shotland & Straw (1976) research with man/woman fighting gave support for bystander calculus model. explain why

Answer 49

cdn 1: married, vs stranger intervention rate measured: 19% married, 65% stranger high costs of helping married (personal business), low cost not helping (they will be fine) low cost of helping stranger as not getting involved in their personal business and high cost of not-helping as feel guiltyu

Question 50

why may bystander effect be a myth (Philpot)

Answer 50

CCTV recording of street dispute found at least 1 bystander intervene in 90% of cases, and presence of other increases likelihood

Question 51

give strengths of Philpot (research disproving the bystander effect)

Answer 51

1. large scale real-life test with ecological validity 2. consistent effect across different countries with slightly diff contexts (Cape town is more violent so has greater personal risk)

Question 52

give weaknesses of Philpot (research that disproving bystander effect)

Answer 52

1. only in cities, mostly western 2. intervention defined very broadly 3. lack of audio

Question 53

how may being a stranger actually increase bystander effect

Answer 53

inhibits helping as slower communication and less opportunity to interact later and explain action

Question 54

outline Levine's study into influence of group membership on helping

Answer 54

ManU fans, ppt walk and witness emergency incident ManU fan more likely help other ManU fan>liverpool/not wearing top but if told taking part in study focusing on positives of being football fan then equally likely to help manu/liv>plain means broadening boundaries of social cateogry increases helping behaviour

Question 55

what is just-world hypothesis connecting to helping

Answer 55

world is just, fair and if we come across anyone undeservedly suffering we help them to restore our beliefs in just world more likely to help someone not responsible for their misfortune

Question 56

outline Turner DePalma study into just-world hypothesis

Answer 56

ppt read booklet on fictional disease (genetic anomality cause/individuals action cause, no info given) and measured belief in just world, offering 12 helping options with differing commitment levels helping increased when believed not responsible those with high belief in just world helped more only when person not responsible for their illness

Question 57

what 3 components can separate helpers/nonhelpers

Answer 57

norm of social responsibility internal locus of control greater dispositional empathy

Question 58

name some personality traits that are more likely to be helping

Answer 58

agreeable, self-transcendence values, empathetic, more willing to forgive

Question 59

name some physical traits that seem to be present in helper

Answer 59

taller, heavier, physically strong, better trained

Question 60

name attachment styles of those who help

Answer 60

secure are more compassionate, and alturistic children who shared, helped, offer emotional comfort

Question 61

what environmental trait leads to helping

Answer 61

living in a smaller town, due to rural settings (less crowed, rushed and overwhelmed)

Question 62

what is Scrooge effect

Answer 62

become more caring when facing own mortality, feeling needs to repent

Question 63

what is terror management theory

Answer 63

most fundamental human motivation to reduce terror of inevitably death so self-esteem is implicated

Question 64

outline overall impact of mood on helping

Answer 64

those feeling good are more likely to help receiving good news

Question 65

outline Isen evidence for mood on helping

Answer 65

teacher more successful on task more likely to contribute later to school fundraising event as doing well creates "warm glow of success", making people more likely helpers as less preoccupied with self, more sensitive to others needs

Question 66

however, what is a weakness of mood impacting helping (research)

Answer 66

Isen, Clark, Schwartz= increased willingness only in first 7min of positive mood induction

Question 67

why can bad mood reduce helping

Answer 67

concentrate on self, problems, less concerned with others welfare

Question 68

when can self-focus actually increase our helping

Answer 68

if we feel guilty, or if given some positive feedback

Question 69

how can competence increase helping

Answer 69

feeling competent they can deal situation and know what they're doing

Question 70

name 2 research example for when competence increases helping

Answer 70

moving electrically charged object if told have high tolerance for electric shocks recapturing dangerous lab rat if told they were good at handling rats

Question 71

(Wakefield) when does stereotypes reduce want to receive help

Answer 71

female students made aware of stereotype of being dependent, then placed in situation where needed help and asked to solve set of anagrams those made aware less willing to seek help, those seeking help felt worse with more that was sought

Question 72

name conclusion of Philpot, regarding methodologies

Answer 72

case file/in situ obs unreliable and video footage more useful

Question 73

what was a conclusion of Philpot regarding those intervening despite personally costing behaviour

Answer 73

intervene to punish norm-violating individual to preserve social norm, even at a cost to alleviate own unpleasant arousal and to maintain empathy, peacekeeping behaviour