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Chap 12: Prosocial Behaviour - Coggle Diagram
Chap 12: Prosocial Behaviour
"any act performed with the
goal of benefitting another"
:one: Origins
Evolutionary Theory
Kin Selection
"behaviours that help a
genetic relative
are favoured by
natural selection
"
Blood relatives share
some of own genes
Genetic relatives survival and reproduction ensures some of own genes are passed down
Natural selection favours altruistic acts directed at genetic relatives
no difference between relatives and friends when situation is
not life-threatening
Norm of Reciprocity
"expectation that helping others increases the likelihood of others helping in the future"
Groups of completely selfish people
and completely selfless people would have struggled to survive
Understanding of reciprocity has innate
survival value
and may have become genetically based
Possible origins of
feelings of
gratitude
Group Selection
"natural selection operating
on the group level"
concerned with explaining social behaviour through genetic factors that have evolved as
a result of natural selection
Genes that :arrow_up: survival rate and sexual reproduction
remain in the gene pool
Genes that :arrow_down: survival rate and sexual reproduction
eliminated from the gene pool
Social Exchange
Theory
driven by the desire to maximise rewards and minimise costs in relationships
Rewards from
Helping
Reciprocity
Relieving Distress
Seeing suffering leads to
arousal
and
disturbance
Help relieves distress
:chart_with_upwards_trend: Feelings of
self-worth
Investment in
the future
reputation in
community improves
someone in the community
helps one day
Costs
Embarrassment or Pain
Length of time
Risk of physical danger
Empathy
Empathy-Altruism
Hypothesis
feeling empathy for someone
attempt to help for purely
altruistic reasons
regardless of rewards and costs
no empathy for someone
social exchange theory
comes into play
help when benefits
outweigh costs
"ability to put oneself in the shoes of another and experience events and emotions the way that person experiences them"
:two: Personal
Factors
Individual
Differences
Altruistic
Personality
"qualities that lead an individual to help
others in a
wide variety of situations
"
not sufficient to predict
likelihood of helping others
Cultural
Differences
Groups
Ingroup
more likely to feel empathy
for ingroup members
help regardless of cost
Outgroup
less likely to feel empathy
for outgroup members
help according to
social exchange theory
Cultures
strongly values friendliness
and prosocial behaviour
Gender
Differences
In Western cultures
:mens: social norms exemplify
chivalry
and
heroism
:mens: more likely to
help in heroic ways
:womens: expected to be
nurturing
and
caring
:womens: more likely to help when
long-term commitment involved
Value close long-term relationships
Mood
Feel good do good
helping
prolongs
the good mood
focus attention inward
on our values
Feel bad do good
Sad
Guilty
acting on idea that
good acts
negate
bad deeds
helping people reduces guilt
Religion
increased likelihood of helping when target shares religious beliefs
may have been responsible for large increase in human population 12000 years ago
no more likely to help members of
outgroup than non-religious people
:three: Situational Factors
Rural vs Urban
People in small towns
help more
than people in urban areas
Reasons
Urban overload
Hypothesis
people constantly
annoyed by stimulation
disengage
and keep to themselves
to avoid being
overwhelmed
has more research support
Altruistic Values
people living in small towns more
likely to internalise altruistic values
Bystander Effect
Five Step Model
:one: Noticing the event
:two: Interpreting as
emergency
:three: Assuming
Responsibility
:four: Knowing
how to help
:five: Implementing Help
not being able to implement help
costs outweigh benefits
lack of knowledge or competence
Diffusion of
Responsibility
people feel :chart_with_downwards_trend: responsibility with :chart_with_upwards_trend: bystanders
need to decide that emergency
is personal responsibility
ambiguous situations
Pluralistic
Ignorance
people unsure what to do
in
ambiguous
situations
look to others and
see lack of concern
1 more item...
effect more pronounced
in larger groups
when informational social influence backfires
Distraction
Time pressure
Residential
Mobility
More likely to help after
staying in one place
Greater attachment to community
More interdependence with neighbours
Increased concern for reputation
within the community
can be induced very quickly
in a laboratory setting
urban areas have
higher residential mobility
could explain lower rates
of prosocial behaviour
Media Effects
Prosocial games
Songs with prosocial lyrics
Reasons
increases empathy
increases accessibility of
thoughts about helping
:four: Promoting
Volunteerism
confers many health benefits
Mandatory Volunteering
strong external reasons cause underestimating extent to which behaviour caused by intrinsic reasons
overjustification effect
reduces likelihood of
volunteering in the future
Awareness
people may choose
to suffer in silence
receiving help can make
people feel
inadequate
do not want to
appear
incompetent
Altruism
"desire to help others even
at a cost to the helper"