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Chapter 8 - Prosocial Behavior
What is Prosocial Behavior? Your Fair Share Cooperation, Forgiveness, Obedience, and Conformity Why Do People Help Others? Who Helps Whom? Bystander Help in Emergencies How Can We Increase Helping? This is an overview of the topics of the chapter. Before beginning the chapter there is a slide based on the chapter introduction that can be used to stimulate classroom discussion. Supplemental Lecture: See Roy Baumeister’s own PowerPoint© lecture on Prosocial Behavior under the “supplemental lecture” menu on your Multimedia Manager Instructor’s Resource CD, or visit the Book Companion Website for a downloadable file.
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Doing What’s Best for Others
Oskar Schindler – Holocaust rescues Why do humans behave in helpful and cooperative ways even when it is not in their own self interest to do so? Technology Tip: Additional stories of holocaust rescues are available at “To Save a Life: Stories of Holocaust Rescue” ( Technology Tip: Brief examples of various heroic stories are available at “Heroic Stories: Restoring Faith in Humanity One Story at a Time” ( Technology Tip: The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission provides detailed descriptions of the heroic acts of their award recipients ( Technology Tip: Excellent resources on the Avenue of the Righteous and on remembering the holocaust are available at ”Visiting Yad Yshem” (
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What is Prosocial Behavior?
Doing something good for someone or for society Builds relationships; allows society to function Includes helping others Obeying the rules Conforming to socially acceptable behavior Cooperating with others Discussion Tip: Ask students to brainstorm all of the reasons people engage in prosocial behavior. List these on the board and refer to them as you lecture.
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Factors in Prosocial Behavior
Effective rule of law Fairness and justice Public circumstances Wanting to make a good impression Discussion Tip: Ask students to consider whether truly selfless acts are possible or whether such acts always produce some gain for the actor.
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Obligation to return in kind what another has done for us
Reciprocity Obligation to return in kind what another has done for us Direct reciprocity Indirect reciprocity Willingness to request or accept help is often predicated on ability to return in kind Teaching Tip: The novel (and later film) Pay It Forward offers an interesting variation on the reciprocity norm. A 12-year-old boy does favors for three individuals and, when asked how they can repay him, tells them to “pay it forward” by doing favors for three others, who then are to be instructed to pay it forward to three more recipients. (Book: (Film:
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Norms that promote fairness Equity Equality
People desire a system based on fairness and social exchange Sensitivity about being the target of a threatening upward comparison Equity the idea that each person receives benefits in proportion to what he or she contributes Equality the idea that everyone gets the same amount Sensitivity about being the target of a threatening upward comparison interpersonal concern about the consequences of outperforming others Teaching Tip: The short story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin provides an interesting perspective on happiness, or lack thereof, when equality is not achieved. ( Teaching Tip: The play (and later film) Death of a Salesman forwards the idea that some think they are a burden on other people, that others do things for them that they cannot reciprocate; and so the others would be better off if they were dead as the main reason for the suicide of the central character, Willy Loman.
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Getting less than you deserve Overbenefited
Unfairness Underbenefited Getting less than you deserve Overbenefited Getting more than you deserve Fairness requires both and is found only in humans Survivor guilt Survivor guilt feeling bad for having lived through a terrible experience in which many others died
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Depletion of resources owned collectively Hoarding
Your Fair Share Tragedy of the Commons Depletion of resources owned collectively Hoarding Can be influenced by group and individual differences Technology Tip: Check out the special issue of Science magazine devoted to the idea of the tragedy of the commons. ( Technology Tip: A computer demonstration of the tragedy of the commons is available at “Tragedy of the Commons HubNet” (
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Cooperation Each person does their part and work toward a common goal Prisoner’s dilemma Forced to choose between competition and cooperation If one of the pair is not cooperative, then cooperation is typically doomed Communication improves cooperation
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Tradeoffs - Prisoner’s Dilemma
Choice is between cooperative response and an antagonistic response Choice is between what is best for one person versus what is best for everyone Non-zero-sum game Non-zero-sum game an interaction in which both participants can win (or lose). Zero-sum game situation in which one person’s gain is another’s loss Technology Tip: Various online versions of the prisoner’s dilemma are available on the web, including the relatively simple version “You Have Found the Prisoner’s Dilemma” ( and a more complex version, “The Prisoner’s Dilemma,” ( that allows for the manipulation of variables.
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Imprisoned In a Role PLAY VIDEO
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Forgiveness helps repair relationships
Ceasing to feel anger toward or seek retribution against someone who has wronged you Forgiveness helps repair relationships Provides health benefits to both parties Technology Tip: An interesting article available from Science Blog, “New Scientific Study Finds Forgiveness a Factor in Decreasing Spread of AIDS.” found that AIDS victims who forgave were less likely to endanger others through risky sex practices (
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Forgiveness When is forgiveness more likely? Minor offense Offender apologizes Who is more likely to forgive? Religious people People committed to a relationship Not self-centered or narcissistic
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Is Bad Stronger Than Good? Moral and Immoral
Establishing a good reputation can be shattered by one scandal A good impression, established by moral behavior, can be ruined by the slightest immoral behavior Very difficult to reverse an initial bad impression with subsequent good behaviors
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Following orders from an authority figure Milgram (1963)
Obedience Following orders from an authority figure Milgram (1963) Majority of participants delivered extreme shocks to a screaming victim in obedience to an authority figure Technology Tip: Check out stanleymilgram.com for additional information on Milgram and his research. Technology Tip: The film Obedience, which Milgram produced, contains powerful footage from his experiment and depicts the turmoil of the participants. It is available through Penn State’s media sales (
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Figure 8.1 Results from the Milgram experiment, showing that most participants (62.5%) would deliver severe shocks to someone even if it harmed that person.
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Without obedience, society would not function Obedience fosters
Milgram’s research represented obedience as a negative (negative outcome) Without obedience, society would not function Obedience fosters Social acceptance Group life Technology Tip: The “Soup Nazi” episode of Seinfeld (Season 7) provides a humorous look at the customer’s obedience. Technology Tip: NPR produced a segment, “Father Cares: The Last of Jonestown,” chronicling life during the final months of Jonestown. Details and entire audio are available online (
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Going along with the crowd May be good or bad Asch (1955, 1956)
Conformity Going along with the crowd May be good or bad Asch (1955, 1956) Normative social influence Conformity to be accepted by the group Informational social influence Conformity based on actions of others as evidence about reality Technology Tip: A New Yorker cartoon depicting conformity can be found by searching for “chew gum” at cartoonbank.com ( Technology Tip: A recent Scientific American article on the role of conformity in music preferences is “Hit Songs Unpredictable, Thanks to Peer Pressure” ( Technology Tip: Discussing fads can be a good entry point for the idea of normative social influence. See details on fads throughout the decades at crazyfads.com.
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Conformity People conform more when others are watching them Public conformity Going along with the crowd regardless of what one privately believes Private attitude change Altering one’s internal attitude
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Food for Thought - Restaurants, Rules, and the Bad Taste of Nonconformity
In restaurants we tend to be nonconforming People tend to order different menu items People who order the same item, when it is their first choice, enjoy it more than those who switch to avoid conformity
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Why Do People Help Others?
Evolutionary benefits Kin selection More likely to help others who share our genes Life-and-death helping is affected more strongly by genetic relatedness Supplemental Lecture: See Roy Baumeister’s own PowerPoint© lecture on Helping under the “supplemental lecture” menu on your Multimedia Manager Instructor’s Resource CD, or visit the Book Companion Website for a downloadable file.
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Figure 8.2 As genetic relatedness increases, helping also increases, in both everyday situations and life-or-death situations (Burnstein et al., 1994).
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Why Do People Help Others?
Egoistic helping Wanting something in return for helping Negative state relief theory – help to reduce your own distress Altruistic helping Expecting nothing in return for helping Motivated by empathy
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Figure 8.3 Two routes to helping: the top route is motivated by altruism, whereas the bottom route is motivated by egoism
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Why Do People Help Others?
Empathy-altruism hypothesis Empathy motivates people to reduce other’s distress Low empathy, people can reduce their own distress by escaping the situation Batson et al. (1981) Negative state relief theory Empathy-altruism hypothesis the proposition that empathy motivates people to reduce other people’s distress, as by helping or comforting. Negative state relief theory the proposition that people help others in order to relieve their own distress.
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Figure 8. 5 In the Batson et al
Figure 8.5 In the Batson et al. (1981) study, people in the high-empathy group helped regardless of whether escape was easy or difficult. In the low-empathy group, people helped mainly when they could not escape.
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Who Helps Whom? Helpful Personality Similarity Males are more helpful in broader public sphere, toward strangers and in emergencies Females are more helpful in family sphere, toward close relationships and in repeated contact
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Females feel more sympathy and empathy
Who Helps Whom? Females feel more sympathy and empathy Females are more likely to receive help Beautiful victims Discussion Tip: Perhaps a related phenomenon to beautiful victims is the publicity afforded Caucasian crime victims (e.g., Natalee Holloway, who disappeared while on a class trip to Aruba). See Dixon, T.L. & Linz, D. (2000). Race and the misrepresentation of victimization on local television news. Communication Research, 27, (
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The Social Side of Sex Helping, Sex, and Friends
Many people are introduced to sex partners by friends, co-workers, and relatives Spring break sex Men will support and help each other to engage in casual sex Women will support and help each other to avoid casual sex
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Life is essentially fair and people generally get what they deserve
Belief in a Just World Life is essentially fair and people generally get what they deserve Blaming the victim Fallacy of affirming the consequent People who hold belief in a just world will help if they think those people deserve help Fallacy of affirming the consequent a logical error of the form: If p then q. q. Therefore p. For example, if Mark Twain wrote this textbook then Mark Twain is a good writer. Mark Twain is a good writer. Therefore, Mark Twain wrote this textbook.
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Emotion and Helping Positive feelings increase helping Negative emotions may or may not increase helping Focus on self versus the victim
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Bystander Helping in Emergencies
Kitty Genovese Bystander effect – people less likely to help when they are in the presence of others Technology Tip: Check out the full text of Martin Gansberg’s award-winning New York Times article, “Ashamed for Humanity: The True Story of Kitty Genovese,” published two weeks after her death ( Teaching Tip: See the JoinIn on TurningPoint CD for an interesting activity regarding the Kitty Genovese incident.
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Thanks For Nothing: Bystander Apathy
PLAY VIDEO
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Notice that something is happening Interpret meaning of event
Steps to Helping Notice that something is happening Interpret meaning of event Pluralistic ignorance Taking responsibility for providing help Diffusion of responsibility Know how to help Provide help Pluralistic ignorance looking to others for cues about how to behave, while they are looking to you; collective misinterpretation. Diffusion of responsibility the reduction in feeling responsible that occurs when others are present.
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Figure 8.6 Five steps to helping and the obstacles encountered at each step (Latane & Darley, 1970).
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Too Busy to Help? People in a hurry, help less Even when thinking about helping The more time people had, the more likely they were to help
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How Can We Increase Helping?
Obstacles to helping can be overcome when you Reduce distractions Reduce pluralistic ignorance Reduce diffusion of responsibility Reduce concerns about competence to help Reduce audience inhibitions
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How Can We Increase Helping?
Helping can be increased by Reduce uncertainties of obstacles Educate others about bystander indifference Model helpfulness Teach moral inclusion
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Figure 8.7 Volunteer rates increased sharply just after September 11, 2001 (no comparable increase occurred in 2000). Figure adapted from Penner (2004).
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What Makes Us Human? Humans that help individuals and society Humans frequently exhibit prosocial behavior toward others who are not family Rule following, obedience, and conformity are prosocial acts Reciprocity and cooperation with strangers
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