Evolutionary and Motivational Factors Why Do People Help?

Evolutionary Factors in Helping: The “Selfish Gene” What is important is survival of the individual’s genes, not survival of the fittest individual. Kin selection is the tendency to help genetic relatives. Strongest when biological stakes are particularly high

Evolutionary Factors in Helping: Reciprocal Altruism What is the reproductive advantage of helping someone who isn’t related to you? Through reciprocal altruism, helping someone else can be in your best interests. Increases the likelihood that you will be helped in return. What is this called? The norm of ______________.

Rewards of Helping: Helping Others to Help Oneself More likely to help when the potential rewards of helping seem high relative to the potential costs. Arousal: Cost-Reward Model What are the costs and rewards associated with helping?

Rewards of Helping: Helping to Feel Good More likely to help if: self-esteem has been threatened by failure feeling guilty about something A relationship exists between helping and feeling better. Helping others to feel good is often not a conscious decision, but it can be. Negative state relief model: proposes that people help to counter their own feelings of sadness

Rewards of Helping: Helping to Be Good May help because we are motivated to behave in ways that are consistent with moral principles – e.g., “right thing to do”

Costs of Helping or of Not Helping Helping has its costs as well as its rewards. Helping can also be more sustained and deliberate. Courageous resistance Helping can have negative health effects if it involves constant and exhausting demands. Good Samaritan laws to reduce potential costs

Altruism or Egoism: The Great Debate Is helping motivated by altruistic or egoistic concerns? Altruistic: Motivated by the desire to increase another’s welfare. Egoistic: Motivated by the desire to increase one’s own welfare. Batson: The motivation behind some helpful actions is truly altruistic.

Bystander Effect Tragic stories of assault, violence, and murder Why does no one help? Latané & Darley: Are social psychological processes at work? Bystander Effect: The presence of others inhibits helping. How is this affected by the online experience?

The Five Steps to Helping Noticing Interpreting Overcome pluralistic ignorance Taking Responsibility Overcome diffusion of responsibility Deciding how to help Providing Help Overcome audience inhibition

Getting Help in a Crowd Make sure that you make your need for help very clear by singling out individuals in a crowd via Eye contact Pointing Direct requests This type of advice has been shown to work in cyberspace as well – How?

Time Pressure Time pressure can conflict with one’s good intentions of helping those in need. Darley & Batson’s (1973) Good Samaritan study

Culture and Helping Around the world, two factors correlate with helping Economic well-being: the more well off, the less help provided Notion of simpatico – a concern for well-being of others, which is an important element in Spanish and Latin American cultures Research has also found that individualistic cultures tend to exhibit more charitable and volunteering behavior than collectivistic

Scents and Sensibilities People walking in a mall were approached by someone who asked them for change. This encounter took place in areas of the mall with either pleasant ambient odors or no clear odors. The stranger also gave the individuals a questionnaire that measured their mood on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 (very bad) to 5 (very good). As shown on the left, the people approached in a pleasant-smelling area were in a better mood than those approached in neutral-smelling locations. In addition (right), people were more likely to help the stranger by giving him change if they were in a pleasant-smelling area than if they were in a neutral-smelling area. From Baron, R. A., “The sweet smell of...helping: Effects of pleasant ambient fragrance on prosocial behavior in shopping malls,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, vol 23 (pp. 498–503). Copyright © 1997 by Sage Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications, Inc.

Good Moods Lead to Helping: Limitations Why feeling good might not lead to doing good: Costs of helping are high. Positive thoughts about other social activities that conflict with helping.

Prosocial Media Effects Politicians, educators, researchers, and parents have voiced strong concerns about the negative effects TV, movies, music lyrics videos, and video games, on the attitudes and behaviors of adolescents and young adults

Helping: Role Models and Social Norms Role models are important in teaching children about helping. How do role models inspire helping? Provides an example of behavior to imitate directly. Teaches that helping is valued and rewarding. Increases awareness of societal standards of conduct.

Helping and Social Norms Norm of reciprocity Norm of equity Norm of social responsibility Concerns about justice or fairness

Are Some More Helpful Than Others? Some evidence of individual differences in helping tendencies. Tendency may be relatively stable over time. Differences are in part genetically based. Is there an altruistic personality?

Attractiveness of Person in Need More likely to help physically attractive people. More likely to help friendly individuals. Charisma of one person can determine how much help other people receive.

The Fit Between Giver and Receiver: Similarity More likely to help those who are similar. May be a form of kinship selection. Effects of racial similarity are highly inconsistent. Intergroup biases in helping can be reduced if they perceive selves as members of a common group.

Gender and Helping Classic male-helper scenario: “Knight in shining armor” Classic female-helper scenario: “Social support” Gender differences in willingness to seek help. Men ask for help less frequently than women

Culture and Who Receives Help Compared to individualists, collectivists may be more likely to help ingroup members but less likely to help outgroup members.

The Helping Connection A consistent theme appears repeatedly: a sense of connection. This connection has taken various forms—genetic relatedness, empathic concern, sense of responsibility for someone, perceived similarity, or shared group membership.