Chapter 11

1. Chapter 11 Prosocial Behaviour: Why Do People Help? © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

2. Chapter Outline I. Basic Motives Underlying Prosocial Behaviour: Why Do People Help? © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

3. Basic Motives Underlying Prosocial Behaviour Why do people help others in some circumstances? And why do they not help others in different circumstances? Helping others is referred to as prosocial behaviour. Prosocial behaviour is defined as any act performed with the goal of benefiting another person. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

4. Basic Motives Underlying Prosocial Behaviour Some prosocial behaviour is motivated by altruism. Altruism is the desire to help another person even if it involves a cost to the helper. Another possibility is that prosocial behaviour is genetic i.e., there is an altruistic gene that has evolved through natural selection (survival of the fittest) over the years. This is the purview of evolutionary psychology. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

5. Basic Motives Underlying Prosocial Behaviour Evolutionary Psychology: Instincts and Genes Evolutionary psychology is the attempt to explain social behaviour in terms of genetic factors that evolved over time according to the principles of natural selection. According to Darwin’s (1859) theory of evolution, natural selection favours genes that promote the survival of the individual. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

6. Basic Motives Underlying Prosocial Behaviour Evolutionary Psychology: Instincts and Genes But there is a problem with evolutionary theory explaining altruism. If people’s overriding concern is to ensure their own survival, why would they ever help others at a cost to themselves? There are three ways in which evolutionary theory attempts to explain altruism: i) kin selection, ii) reciprocity, and iii) learning social norms. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

7. Basic Motives Underlying Prosocial Behaviour Evolutionary Psychology: Instincts and Genes Kin selection is the idea that behaviours that help a genetic relative are favoured by natural selection. Because people’s blood relatives share some of their genes, the more a person ensures his or her relatives’ survival, the greater the chance that his/her genes will be past on. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

8. Basic Motives Underlying Prosocial Behaviour Evolutionary Psychology: Instincts and Genes • There is empirical evidence for this notion from studies of: • bees (see Greenberg, 1979), and • humans (Burnstein et al, 1994) • One problem with the evolutionary explanation is that it does not explain why complete strangers sometimes help each other, even when there is no reason for them to assume that they share some of the same genes. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

9. Basic Motives Underlying Prosocial Behaviour Evolutionary Psychology: Instincts and Genes This led psychologists to consider the norm of reciprocity. The norm of reciprocity is the expectation that helping others will increase the likelihood that they will help us in the future. Because of its survival value the norm of reciprocity may have become genetically based (Baron, 1997). © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

10. Basic Motives Underlying Prosocial Behaviour Evolutionary Psychology: Instincts and Genes A third way in which evolutionary theory can explain altruism, offered by Simon(1990), is the ability to learn and follow social norms. Simon suggests that those who are the best learners of societal norms have a competitive advantage, and that one important societal norm is altruism. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

11. Basic Motives Underlying Prosocial Behaviour Evolutionary Psychology: Instincts and Genes Many researchers are skeptical of the idea that all social behaviours can be traced back to our ancestral roots and became instilled in our genes because of survival value (Batson, 1998). Thus, other possible motives behind prosocial behaviour come under consideration. One possibility is the costs and rewards of helping (social exchange theory). © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

12. Basic Motives Underlying Prosocial Behaviour Social Exchange: The Costs and Rewards of Helping Social exchange theory argues that much of what we do stems from the desire to maximize our outcomes and minimize our costs. Like evolutionary psychology, it is a theorybased on self-interest. Unlike evolutionary psychology, it does not assume that self-interest has a genetic basis. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

13. Basic Motives Underlying Prosocial Behaviour Social Exchange: The Costs and Rewards of Helping Helping can be rewarding in three ways: i) it can increase the probability that someone will help us in return ii) it can relieve the personal distress of the bystander iii) it can gain us social approval and increased self-worth. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

14. Basic Motives Underlying Prosocial Behaviour Social Exchange: The Costs and Rewards of Helping Helping can also be costly, as when there is physical danger, embarrassment, or time consumed. A basic assumption of social exchange theory is that people help only when benefits outweigh the costs. Furthermore, social exchange theory argues that true altruism does not exist. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

15. Basic Motives Underlying Prosocial Behaviour Empathy and Altruism: The Pure Motive for Helping Still, there are proponents of true altruism, e.g., Batson (1991). True altruism is the idea that people often help purely out of the goodness of their hearts. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

16. Basic Motives Underlying Prosocial Behaviour Empathy and Altruism: The Pure Motive for Helping Batson (1991) argues that pure altruism is most likely to come into play when we experience empathy for the person in need. That is, we are able to experience events and emotions the way that that person experiences them. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

17. Basic Motives Underlying Prosocial Behaviour Empathy and Altruism: The Pure Motive for Helping Batson’s empathy-altruism hypothesis states that when we feel empathy for a person, we will attempt to help purely for altruistic reasons, that is, regardless of what we have to gain (see Fig. 11.1). © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

18. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

19. Basic Motives Underlying Prosocial Behaviour Empathy and Altruism: The Pure Motive for Helping What if we do not feel empathy for another person in a given situation? Will we still help? Batson (1991) suggests that it depends on social exchange considerations. If the rewards outweigh the costs then we will help; if not then we won’t help. This notion has received empirical support in a study by Toi and Batson (1982) (see Fig. 11.2). © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

20. Basic Motives Underlying Prosocial Behaviour Empathy and Altruism: The Pure Motive for Helping A recent twist to the altruism-empathy hypothesis suggests that we will be helpful if we can cover up our altruism with a social exchange interpretation, making it look as though there was some gain to us. Why would we do this? Because if we saw ourselves as pure altruists, we would feel compelled to help on every occasion, which is impossible and which would lead to feelings of failure and despair. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

21. Basic Motives Underlying Prosocial Behaviour Empathy and Altruism: The Pure Motive for Helping If instead, we can view helping in exchange terms (eg, we receive candles for contributing to charity), we can help in some situations without feeling obligated to help in all situations. Holmes and colleagues tested this thinking. Results were supportive. As predicted, participants were most generous in the condition where they received something in exchange for helping when the need was high. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

22. Chapter Outline II. Personal Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour: Why Do Some People Help More Than Others? © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

23. Personal Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour Individual Differences: The Altruistic Personality Regardless of basic motives, it is clear that some people are more helpful than others. Thus, we need to consider personal determinants of prosocial behaviour that distinguish the helpful person from the selfish one—such as the altruistic personality. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

24. Personal Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour Individual Differences: The Altruistic Personality An altruistic personality refers to the aspects of a person’s makeup that are said to make him or her likely to help others in a wide variety of situations. Researchers who have studied both children and adults have not found much evidence that people with high scores on personality tests of altruism are more likely to help than those with lower scores. Personality is not a major determinant of whether people will help. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

25. Personal Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour The Effects of Mood on Helping: Feel Good, Do Good Mood is a determinant of whether people will help or not; People’s mood can strongly affect their helping behaviour. People who are in a good mood are more likely to help (see Isen & Levin, 1972 dime study). © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

26. Personal Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour The Effects of Mood on Helping: Feel Good, Do Good Researchers have found this ‘feel good, do good’ effect in diverse situations, and when people are in a good mood, they are more helpful in many ways, including contributing money to charity, helping someone find a lost contact lens, tutoring another student, donating blood, and helping co-workers on the job. What is it about a good mood that makes people more altruistic? © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

27. Personal Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour The Effects of Mood on Helping: Feel Good, Do Good Good moods can increase helping for three reasons: i) good moods make us interpret events in a sympathetic way ii) helping another prolongs the good mood iii) good moods increase self-attention, and this in turn leads us to be more likely to behave according to our values and beliefs, which typically include helping others. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

28. Personal Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour The Effects of Mood on Helping: Negative State Relief Hypothesis What about when we are in a bad mood, does this decrease the probability that we will help? No. Research shows that we are more likely to help if we are feeling guilty, sad, or distressed—in an attempt to alleviate this negative emotional state. This is called the negative-state relief hypothesis. Negative-state relief hypothesis says that people help in order to alleviate their own sadness and distress; it exemplifies a social exchange approach. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

29. Personal Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour Gender Differences in Prosocial behaviour Gender is another personal variable that comes into play. Though one sex is not more altruistic than the other, the ways in which men and women help often differ. • Men are more likely to help in heroic, chivalrous ways • Women are more likely to help in nurturant ways that involve a long-term commitment. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

30. Personal Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour Cultural Differences in Prosocial Behaviour Cultural difference is another variable that influences helping behaviour. In all cultures people are more likely to help a member of their ingroup than their outgroup. An ingroup is the group with which an individual identifies, and of which he/she feels a member. An outgroup is the group with which the individual does not identify. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

31. Personal Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour Cultural Differences in Prosocial Behaviour Members of collective societies where greater emphasis is placed on connectedness and needs of the ingroup, are • more likely to help ingroup members, and • less likely to help outgroup members than are people from individualistic societies. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

32. Chapter Outline III. Situational Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour: When Will People Help? © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

33. Situational Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour Rural Versus Urban Environments People in rural areas are more helpful. This effect holds over a wide variety of ways of helping and in many countries. One possible explanation is that people from rural settings are brought up to be more neighbourly and more likely to trust strangers. This experience enhances the altruistic personality. This seems unlikely to be true. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

34. Situational Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour Rural Versus Urban Environments An alternative hypothesis, proposed by Milgram (1970), is the urban-overload hypothesis. The urban-overload hypothesis is the idea that people living in cities are likely to keep to themselves in order to avoid being overloaded by all the stimulation they receive. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

35. Situational Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour Rural Versus Urban Environments If over-stimulation is the key, then one would expect that population density, not overall population, would produce more stimulation and less helping behaviour. This is what was found in a number of field studies conducted in the U.S. (Levine et al, 1994). Thus, research evidence supports the urban-overload hypothesis. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

36. Situational Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour Bystander Intervention: The Latané and Darley Model One would intuitively think that the greater the number of bystanders who observe an emergency, the greater would be the probability of those in need receiving help. But, this is not true. Indeed, research shows that the opposite is the case—the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that help will be offered. This is referred to as the bystander effect. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

37. Situational Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour Bystander Intervention: The Latané and Darley Model The bystander effect is the finding that the greater the number of bystanders who witness an emergency, the less likely any one of them is to help (see the Kitty Genovese example). Latané and Darley conducted a number of studies, all demonstrating the bystander effect (see Fig. 11.3). © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

38. Situational Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour Bystander Intervention: The Latané and Darley Model Why is it that people are less likely to help when other bystanders are present? Because there are many decision that have to be taken, each with an affirmative answer before help will be offered. Latané and Darleyoutlined a series of five decision steps that bystanders must consider before offering help in an emergency (see Fig. 11.4). © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

39. Situational Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour Bystander Intervention: The Latané and Darley Model These five decisions steps are (Latané & Darley, 1970): i) Noticing an event ii) Interpreting the event as an emergency iii) Assuming responsibility iv) Knowing how to help v) Deciding to implement the help © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

40. Situational Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour Bystander Intervention: The Latané and Darley Model Noticing an event: When people are in a hurry they are less likely to notice an emergency, or if they do they are still less likely to stop and offer assistance. Interpreting an event as an emergency: When other bystanders are present, people are more likely to assume an emergency is something innocuous. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

41. Situational Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour Bystander Intervention: The Latané and Darley Model Interpreting an event as an emergency: Often it is not clear whether a situation constitutes an emergency or not. When this happens we look to others for clarification. If they also look bewildered and unconcerned we interpret this as indicating that an emergency is not present. This is called pluralistic ignorance. Pluralistic ignorance is the phenomenon whereby bystanders assume that nothing is wrong in an emergency because no one else looks concerned. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

42. Situational Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour Bystander Intervention: The Latané and Darley Model Assuming responsibility: The number of bystanders present is crucial here as well. With others present we assume someone else has intervened; we don’t want to overreact and look foolish. There is a diffusion of responsibility. Diffusion of Responsibility: Each bystander’s sense of responsibility to help decreases as the number of witnesses increases. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

43. Situational Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour Bystander Intervention: The Latané and Darley Model Knowing how to help: Not knowing how, or not being qualified to help can deter people from offering assistance. Is the person ill? Has he/she had a heart attack? Does he/she need CPR? Implementing help: Not being qualified, fear of embarrassment (see Edwards, 1975 condom study), fear of doing the wrong thing and making matters worse can inhibit helping behaviour. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

44. Situational Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour The Nature of the Relationship: Communal Versus Exchange Relationships Most helping occurs between people who know each other well: family members, lovers, close friends. What determines whether people help in these kinds of relationships? One variable is the type of relationship between the parties, whether it is communal or exchange. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

45. Situational Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour The Nature of the Relationship: Communal Versus Exchange Relationships Communal relationships are those in which people’s primary concern is the welfare of the other. Exchange relationships are governed by equity concerns (see Clark et al, 1989 light study; Fig. 11.5). We are more likely to help a partner in a communal relationship than one in an exchange relationship. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

46. Situational Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour The Nature of the Relationship: Communal Versus Exchange Relationships Helping in exchange relationships appears to be governed by rules and norms that differ from those governing helping in communal relationships. -ie, In exchange relationships, people are conerned more with who is getting what, -ie, In communal relationships, people are concerned less with who gets what, and more with how much help the other person needs. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

47. Chapter Outline IV. How Can Helping Be Increased? © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

48. How Can Helping Be Increased? Instilling Helpfulness with Rewards & Models Prosocial behaviour occurs early in life. Even children as young as 18 months frequently help other, eg, trying to make a crying infant feel better. One powerful way to encourage prosocial behaviour is for parents and others to reward such acts with praise, smiles, and hugs, research shows. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

49. How Can Helping Be Increased? Instilling Helpfulness with Rewards & Models We must be careful and not over emphasize the reward aspect because this can lower the intrinsic value of performing the prosocial behaviour, and decrease the probability of acting prosocially in subsequent situations, in the absence of rewards. We want children to perceive themselves as altruistic people, so that they enhance the intrinsic value of acting prosocially. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

50. How Can Helping Be Increased? Instilling Helpfulness with Rewards & Models Another way for parents to increase prosocial behaviour in their children is to behave prosocially themselves. Children often model behaviours they observe in others, including prosocial behaviour. © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.