Scribd
Upload
3 views32 pages

Psyc2540_Chapter10

The document discusses the factors influencing prosocial behavior, including altruism, social exchange theory, and the impact of empathy. It highlights the role of situational determinants, such as urban vs. rural environments and the bystander effect, in determining whether individuals will help others. Additionally, it suggests methods to increase helping behavior through education, media, and modeling prosocial actions.

Uploaded by

kiximi3670
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
3 views32 pages

Psyc2540_Chapter10

The document discusses the factors influencing prosocial behavior, including altruism, social exchange theory, and the impact of empathy. It highlights the role of situational determinants, such as urban vs. rural environments and the bystander effect, in determining whether individuals will help others. Additionally, it suggests methods to increase helping behavior through education, media, and modeling prosocial actions.

Uploaded by

kiximi3670
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 32

Activity (not an in class activity)

• What is the first three things you would do if you were given
a million dollars?
Chapter 10:
Helping
Behaviour
Brandon Burgess, MA., MSc.
June 04, 2025
PSYC 2540: Social Psychology
• Why Do People Help?
• Why Do Some People Help More than
Chapter Others?
Outline • When Will People Help?
• How Can Helping Be Increased?
• Prosocial behaviour is any act
performed with the goal of
Why Do benefiting another person.
People Help? • Altruism is the desire to help
others, even if it involves a cost to
the helper.
Evolutionary
Psychology: • Evolutionary psychology suggests that
altruism may have evolved via:
Instincts and
• Kin selection
Genes (1 of
• Reciprocity
4)
• The ability to learn social norms
Evolutionary Psychology:
Instincts and Genes (2 of 4)

• Kin selection: behaviour that


helps a genetic relative is
favoured by natural selection.
• People are more likely to
help genetic relatives than
non-relatives in emergency
situations.
Evolutionary Psychology: Instincts
and Genes (3 of 4)

• The Norm of reciprocity: the


expectation that helping others will
increase the likelihood they will help us
in the future.
• Reciprocity can already be detected
in infants as young as 21 months
(Dunfield & Kuhlmeier, 2010).
• Learning Social Norms: learners
Evolutionary of societal norms have a
competitive advantage (Simon
Psychology:
1990) and are more likely to
Instincts and survive.
Genes (3 of • The ability to learn social
4) norms has become part of our
genetic makeup.
Social • Social exchange theory argues that
Exchange: prosocial behaviour:
• Can be based on self-interest.
The Costs
• Stems from the desire to
and Rewards
maximize our outcomes and
of Helping minimize our costs.
• Rewards
• Reciprocity
• Reduce our own discomfort
Social • Build our self-esteem and self
Exchange: worth
The Costs • Costs
and Rewards • Could be dangerous
of Helping • Take too much time
• Could be embarrassing
• Says true/pure altruism does not
exist.
Examples of pure
altruism?
Empathy and Altruism: The Pure
Motive for Helping (1 of 2)

• Empathy:
• The ability to experience events and
emotions the way another person
experiences them.
• Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis (Batson,
1991):
• The idea that when we feel empathy for
a person, we will attempt to help him or
her purely for altruistic reasons,
regardless of what we have to gain.
Socioeconomic Status Differences in
Prosocial Behaviour

• American and Canadian studies by Piff and colleagues (2010) demonstrated that
people of lower socioeconomic status (SES) were more helpful than those of
higher SES.
• Likely due to the fact that low SES people tend to develop more communal
self-concepts.
• Priming high SES participants with a film clip on child poverty increased their
helpfulness.
Cultural Differences in
Prosocial Behaviour (1 of 2)

• In all cultures people are:


• More likely to help a member of their in-
group, the group with which an individual
identifies and of which s/he feels a member.
• Less likely to help a member of an out-
group, a group with which the individual
does not identify.
Cultural Differences in
Prosocial Behaviour (2 of 2)

• Compared to members of individualist


cultures, members of collective societies
are:
• More likely to help in-group members.
• Less likely to help out-group members.
Religion and
Prosocial Behaviour
• “Golden Rule” is common theme in
world religions.
• Religious people are more likely to
help in public situations.
• Priming with religion increases
prosocial behaviour (shariff et al.,
2016) – meta-analysis
The Effects of Mood on
Prosocial Behaviour (1 of 2)

• Researchers have found a “feel


good, do good” effect in diverse
situations. People are more likely to
help when they are in a good mood.
Why? (Isen & Levin, 1972) – find a
dime
• A good mood makes us look on
the bright side of life.
• Helping others prolongs our
own good mood.
• Good moods increase self-
awareness.
The Effects of Mood on
Prosocial Behaviour (2 of 2)
• We are also more likely to help if
we are feeling guilty, sad, or
distressed.
• Negative-state relief hypothesis
• The idea that people help in
order to alleviate their own
sadness and distress.
Situational Determinants of Prosocial
Behaviour: When will People Help?

• Rural vs. Urban


• As compared to people in urban areas, people
in rural areas usually help more. (Amato, 1983) –
bleeding shin man
• Urban-overload hypothesis (Milgrim, 1970):
• Because people living in cities are
constantly bombarded with stimulation,
they keep to themselves to avoid being
overloaded by it.
Environment:
Rural vs. Urban
• Residential mobility
• People who live in a place for a long time
are more likely to help a community.
• Membership in a community increases
prosocial behaviour
Bystander Intervention: The
Latané and Darley Model (1 of 5)

• Bystander Effect:
• The greater the number of bystanders who witness an
emergency, the less likely any one of them will help (see
the Kitty Genovese example).
Bystander Intervention: The
Latané and Darley Model (2 of 5)
• Latané & Darley (1970) showed that:
• People go through five decision-making steps before they
help someone in an emergency.
• If bystanders fail to take any one of the five steps, they will
not help.
Bystander Intervention: The
Latané and Darley Model (3 of 5)

• The five decision-making steps are:


• Noticing an event.
• Interpreting the event as an emergency.
• Assuming responsibility.
• Knowing an appropriate form of assistance.
• Implementing the decision to help.
Bystander Intervention: The Latané and
Darley Model (4 of 5)
(Adapted from Latané & Darley, 1970)
Bystander Intervention: The
Latané and Darley Model (5 of 5)

• Pluralistic Ignorance
• The phenomenon whereby bystanders assume that nothing is
wrong in an emergency because no one else looks concerned.
• Diffusion of Responsibility
• Each bystander’s sense of responsibility to help decreases as
the number of witnesses to an emergency or crisis increases.
How Can Helping Be
Increased? (1 of 3)
• Teaching people about the
bystander effect and determinants
of prosocial behaviour (Savitsky,
1998):
• Makes them more aware of why
they sometimes don’t help.
• Leads them to help more in the
future.
How Can Helping Be
Increased? (2 of 3)
• Studies show that playing a prosocial
video game or listening to prosocial
song lyrics make people more
cooperative by increasing (Greitemeyer
et al., 2010; 2014):
• Empathy toward someone in need
of help, and
• Accessibility of thoughts about
helping others.
How Can Helping Be
Increased? (3 of 3)
• In order to encourage prosocial
behaviour, parents and others can:
• Reward prosocial acts with praise,
smiles, and hugs.
• Behave prosocially themselves to
represent a model of those
behaviours for the children.

You might also like