1. Social Psychology David Myers 10e Copyright 2010 McGraw-Hill Companies1

2. Chapter Twelve Helping 2

3. Why Do We Help? Social Exchange – Theory that human interactions are transactions that aim to maximize one’s rewards and minimize one’s costs Rewards – Internal – External 3

4. Why Do We Help? Social Exchange – Internal rewards Reduction of guilt (Feel bad-do good) Exceptions to the feel bad-do good scenario – Effect occurs only with people whose attention is on others Feel good, do good – Positive mood can dramatically boost helping 4

5. Why Do We Help? Social Norms – Reciprocity norm Expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them Helps define the social capital – Supportive connections, information flow, trust, and cooperative actions—that keep a community healthy 5

6. Why Do We Help? Social Norms – Social-responsibility norm Expectation that people will help those needing help – Gender and receiving help Women offer help equally to males and females Men offer more help when the persons in need are women 6

7. Why Do We Help? Evolutionary Psychology – Kin protection Genetic relatedness predicts helping – Kin selection » Idea that evolution has selected altruism toward one’s close relatives to enhance the survival of mutually shared genes 7

8. Why Do We Help? Evolutionary Psychology – Reciprocity Predicted by genetic self-interest Works best in small isolated groups 8

9. Comparing and Evaluating Theories of Helping Table 12.19

10. Why Do We Help? Genuine Altruism – Our willingness to help is influenced by self- serving and selfless considerations Empathy – Vicarious experience of another's feelings 10

11. Egoistic and Altruistic Routes to Helping Figure 12.411

12. When Will We Help? Number of Bystanders – Noticing We are less likely to notice a situation if we are not alone – Interpreting Illusion of transparency Bystander effect – Finding that a person is less likely to provide help when there are other bystanders 12

13. When Will We Help? Number of Bystanders – Assuming responsibility Responsibility diffusion – Revisiting research ethics After protecting participants’ welfare, social psychologists fulfill their responsibility to society by giving us insight into our behavior 13

14. When Will We Help? Helping When Someone Else Does – Prosocial models do promote altruism Elevation Similarity – We tend to help those whom we perceive as being similar to us 14

15. Who Will Help? Personality Traits – Individual differences – Network of traits Positive emotionality Empathy Self-efficacy – Particular situations 15

16. Who Will Help? Religious Faith – Predicts long-term altruism, as reflected in volunteerism and charitable contributions Surveys confirm the correlation between faith engagement and volunteering 16

17. How Can We Increase Helping? Reduce Ambiguity, Increase Responsibility – Personalizing bystanders Personal request Eye contact Stating one’s name Anticipation of interaction 17

18. How Can We Increase Helping? Guilt and Concern for Self-Image – Door-in-the-face technique Strategy for gaining a concession – After someone first turns down a large request, the same requester counteroffers with a more reasonable request 18

19. How Can We Increase Helping? Socializing Altruism – Teaching moral inclusion Moral exclusion – Perception of certain individuals or groups as outside the boundary within which one applies moral values and rules of fairness Moral inclusion – Regarding others as within one’s circle of moral concern 19

20. How Can We Increase Helping? Socializing Altruism – Modeling altruism Prosocial TV models – Learning by doing Helpful actions promote the self-perception that one is caring and helpful, which in turn promotes further helping 20

21. How Can We Increase Helping? Socializing Altruism – Attributing helpful behavior to altruistic motives Overjustification effect – Result of bribing people to do what they already like doing; they may then see their actions as externally controlled rather than intrinsically appealing 21

22. How Can We Increase Helping? Socializing Altruism – Learning about altruism Can prepare people to perceive and respond to others’ needs 22