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Chapter 12 – Helping Behaviors. April 20. Altruism . Motivation to help others without concern over your well-being. Why do we do it? Theories: 1) Social exchange theory – all of our interactions minimize costs & maximize rewards. 2) Empathy - Vicarious experience of another’s feelings.
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Chapter 12 – Helping Behaviors April 20
Altruism • Motivation to help others without concern over your well-being. • Why do we do it? Theories: • 1) Social exchange theory – all of our interactions minimize costs & maximize rewards. • 2) Empathy - Vicarious experience of another’s feelings
2) Empathy • If empathy help others regardless of our gain • No empathy social exchange comes into play • How does this work?
3) Social Norms • Beliefs that we ought to help others • A) Norm of reciprocity – expect that we’ll help those who help us. • B) Social responsibility norm – • belief that we should help, regardless of whether people can return the favor. • Cultural differences?
4) Evolutionary Explanations • Kin selection – altruistic towards our relatives to enhance survival of our genes. • What research evidence supports this?
When do we help? • Kitty Genovese murder – NYC, 1964 • What were the details of this incident? • Situational influence of presence of other bystanders reduces our likelihood of helping • Called Diffusion of Responsibility
Latane & Darley - bystanders • Diffusion of responsibility effect: • Confederate appears to have seizure • Whether subject helped depended on presence of others
Why the Bystander Effect? • Darley & Latane – smoke filled room • 3 explanations of their results: • 1) • 2) • 3)
Other Situational Influenceson Altruism • Rural/Urban areas – • More likely to get help in rural area • “Urban Overload” – what is it? • How does it affect helping others?
Fear of Disapproval? • May explain lack of intervening in male-female conflicts • Shotland (’76) experiment w/staged fight • How did the experimental manipulation work? • What were the results?
Personal Influences on Helping • Large impact of guilt – feel need to redeem ourselves by helping. • Impact of mood – • Negative mood reduces helping in kids • …but increases helping for adults • Why? • Does a positive mood then reduce helping?
Gender, Culture, & Helping • Gender effect • There is a gender difference in helping based on the type of situation • How does it work? • Another gender diff in helping based on who needs help • How does it work? • Culture effect • Ingroup/Outgroup effects – how?
Increasing Helping • Personal appeals for help are effective; especially if from friends • What do lab results show? • Door-in-the-face technique also effective • How does this work? • Socialization • Modeling helping • Get people to commit • Teaching about altruism