Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff THINK SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Chapter Prosocial Behavior: Why We Help, and Why We Don’t 13

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Why do We Help? Prosocial behavior – positive social actions intended to help others  Egoistic model – when behaviors are done for selfish reasons  Altruistic model – when behaviors are done for selfless reasons

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Evolutionary Factors in Helping: Kin Selection 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

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff 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.

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Evolutionary Factors in Helping: Group Selection Can altruism exist beyond specific genes or specific reciprocal relationships between individuals?  Indirect reciprocity – “I help you and somebody else helps me”  Group selection – groups that have altruistic members may be more likely to survive than groups with only selfish members

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff 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.

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Figure 10.3: The Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis From C.D. Batson, The Altruism Question, Reprinted with permission of Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Egoistic Models of Helping Egoism encourages helping because of a concern about the costs to one’s self if help is not provided.  Egoism seeks to reduce personal distress.  Egoism highlights the potential rewards for helping others.

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Altruistic Models of Helping Empathy-altruism model of prosocial behavior  We are more likely to help others’ whose welfare is threatened  This can occur even when there are great costs to the helping person  Some argue that there is no "true" self-less help, while others contend that this can occur

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Altruism vs. Egoism: Limits Strong evidence for the empathy-altruism hypothesis. Limitations to empathy-altruism hypothesis:  Not all helping is altruistically motivated.  Motives do not guarantee behavior.  Is the assumption that there is a clear divide between the self and the other a valid one?

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Moral Element in Helping Moral cleansing – engaging in actions that are meant to restore a sense of order  Neurobiological explanation – the mesolimbic reward system is activated when we give or receive rewards

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Cost-Benefit Model of Helping Cost-benefit analysis  We are more inclined to help others when it will help us as well  We weigh others’ needs with our own. If helping "costs" too much, we won’t.

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Norms Two social "rules" for when people behaving in prosocial ways Reciprocity norm  We help others who have helped us  Even in babies there seems to be an instinctive drive to "repay" a favor

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Norms (continued) Social responsibility norm  Prosocial behavior can be inspired by pressure from society and its members  Why did Americans donate nearly $308 billion dollars in 2008 during a recession?  If we think a victim is to blame for their situation, however, we won’t help  Cultural norms also influence our likelihood to help

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Sudan 1993 Kevin Carter was preparing to photograph a starving toddler trying to reach a feeding center when a vulture landed nearby. He waited 20 minutes to see if the vulture would flare its wings. He finally took a picture and then chased off the vulture. However, he came under criticism for failing to help the girl:

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Sudan 1993 Sold to the New York Times, the photograph first appeared on March 26, Hundreds of people contacted the newspaper to ask the fate of the girl. The paper reported that it was unknown whether she had managed to reach the feeding center.

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff When Do We Help? The decision model of bystander intervention  Kitty Genovese in 1964  Sandra Zahler in 1974  Deletha Ward in 1995  Dewayne Taylor in 2008

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Kitty Genovese and Deciding to Help In March, 1964, a New York City woman named Catherine “Kitty” Genovese was raped and stabbed to death as she returned home from work late at night. 38 people had witnessed some or all of the attack, which took place in two or three distinct episodes over a period of about a half hour—and yet no one did anything to stop it No one even reported it to the police until the woman was already dead.

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Kitty Genovese and Deciding to Help Although the murder itself was tragic, the nation was even more outraged that so many people who could have helped seemingly displayed callous indifference. And so the failure of bystanders to intervene became known as “Kitty Genovese Syndrome” “Social psychologists sometimes call it the “Bystander Effect.”

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff When Do We Help? All of these attacks had many witnesses, yet nobody intervened The five step decision model states that several criteria must be satisfied for a bystander to intervene and help

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff When do We Help? One: Notice the emergency  Can be affected by personal life concerns and proximity to the event Two: Interpret the need for help  Pluralistic ignorance – if nobody else helps, we might believe help is not needed

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff When do We Help? (continued) Three: Feel a sense of responsibility  The bystander effect – the more people present, the more we experience a diffusion of responsibility Four: Decide how to help  Do we know what is needed and are we capable of providing it?  If we feel competent to help, we are more likely to do so

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff When do We Help? (continued) Five: Provide help  It is best to do so in a way that does not compromise your own safety (if possible)  Do we fear risk of liability? Good Samaritan protection

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Factors Affecting the Decision to help: Pluralistic Ignorance Pluralistic Ignorance  The tendency not to respond to a potentially dangerous situation because of a collective uncertainty about what is happening that is reinforced by the fact that no one else seems concerned or is responding

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Factors Affecting the Decision to help: Evaluation Apprehension Bystanders may feel evaluation apprehension, concern about what others expect of them and how others will evaluate their behavior.  In addition, if others are present and not reacting it may seem to infer that others do not see the need to intervene.  Intervention in this case would seem foolish

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Factors Affecting the Decision to help: Diffusion of Responsibility This process occurs when a bystander does not take action to help because other persons share the responsibility for intervening.  This occurs at the third step in the process of deciding to help.  If others are present, personal responsibility to act is diminished the number of others present.

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What are Other Influences on Helping? Mood  As noted, being in a good mood increases the chance of prosocial behavior -The mood can increase self-awareness -We match our actions with our actual self Attractiveness – sadly, we are more likely to help attractive people. Why do you think that is?

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What are Other Influences on Helping? (continued) Similarity  We are more likely to help those similar to ourselves  Similarity = attraction? (see ch. 12)  Race – this tendency holds for both black and white people Mimicry – acting the same way that others do  More prosocial behavior is demonstrated toward those who mimic our actions

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What are Other Influences on Helping? (continued) Altruistic personality – 5 traits that correlate with prosocial behavior  Empathy  Internal locus of control  Belief in a just world  A sense of social responsibility  Low egocentrism

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What are Other Influences on Helping? (continued) Modeling  When we observe other people (family, peers, role models) behave prosocially, we are likely to as well  The media is a big factor in this area

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Modeling Prosocial Behavior. If we are exposed to role models who exhibit prosocial behavior, we are more likely to exhibit such behaviors ourselves.

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff What are Other Influences on Helping? (continued) How it feels to he helped  Help can make us feel threatened if it is critical or comes with "attitude."  Help provided by an enemy? Forget about it ﾉ (say that in a New York accent!)

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff How Can We Increase Prosocial Behavior? Prosocial television programs for kids  Increases helping behavior  Decreases aggression  Helps reduce stereotypes Teach good "citizenship" in classrooms

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff How Can We Increase Prosocial Behavior? (continued) Attributions  If we feel the help is needed because of situations out of a person’s control, we are more likely to act prosocially Education  Enlightenment effect – learning about barriers to prosocial behavior helps remove them

Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. THINK Social Psychology Kimberley Duff Enlightened About Pluralistic Ignorance. By learning about psychological theories that help you understand your own thought processes and behaviors, you can avoid falling prey to the obstacles that may prevent you from helping others in need.