Pro- and Anti- Social Behaviour

Chapter 10Pages 323-350

Pro Social Behaviour

• What is it?

Pro Social Behaviour

Any behaviour that is performed with the intention

of helping someone else..

• What are some examples???Giving blood.....

Factors influencing pro-social behaviour

Situational factors

Bystander intervention

and effect

Social factors

Reciprocity principle

Social responsibility

norm

Personal factors

Empathy

Mood

competence

Factors influencing pro-social behaviour

• Situational Factors: Bystander effect: the more witnesses that are present

at an emergency the less likely people will help. (kitty Genovese case)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJqhWkTGu5o

Diffusion of responsibility: a tendency for us not to help those in need when there are other people present because we believe that other people will help.

Social Factors• Social norms: the rules that a group uses for

appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours. Failure to stick to these rules can result in severe punishments such as being excluded from a group. (helping others because of the rules that society enforces upon us)

• Reciprocity principle: help others who have helped us or help them if they are willing to help us in return.

• Social responsibility norm: we should help those who are worse off than us.

Personal Factors• Empathy: the ability to understand and

experience situations and emotions from another person’s perspective.

• Mood: how we feel. We are more likely to help if we are in a good mood.

• Competence: having the ability to help those in need. If you know you are competent enough to help then you are more likely to help.

Did you know that attractive people are more likely to be helped than people who are

considered to be unattractive.

ALTRUISM• Unselfish concern for the welfare of others.• Altruistic acts are performed often at the

expense of the person executing the act. • This is different to pro-social behaviour because

an altruistic act requires nothing in return.

Can you think of any examples of altruistic behaviours?

Anti-Social Behaviour

Anti-social behaviour is any behaviour intended to damage interpersonal relationships or is culturally undesirable...

Any act that is performed with the intention of causing deliberate pain, discomfort or disruption to an individual, group or property.

For an act to be anti-social is must be:1. Deliberate2. Voluntary3. Intended to cause harm

Factors influencing anti-social behaviours

Diffusion of responsibility

Audience inhibition

Cost benefit analysis

1. Diffusion of responsibility: less likely to do anything when there are lots of people around.

2. Audience inhibition: tendency for people to be reluctant to help others when in the presence of company. Don’t want to risk being embarrassed if the person doesn’t need help.

3. Cost-benefit analysis: evaluating the situation before we decide to help. We weigh up the pros and cons before we make a decision. We weigh up the personal and social costs of helping. If the cost is low then we are more likely to help. *Read Pg 342 example*

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

How do we learn??Social learning theory proposes that all our

behaviours are learned and occur as a result of whether they are rewarded or punished.

Examples?????

Albert Bandura• Came up with the social learning theory.• He suggested that we learn pro social and anti

social behaviours through observation and whether their behaviours are rewarded or punished.

Modelling: a form of learning whereby we observe the behaviours and consequences of others and then replicate it.

Bandura’s BoBo Doll experiment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCo33v3Fwc4&feature=related4min: goes over research method concepts. No

footage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCETgT_Xfzg5:27min: more footage

AggressionAggression: behaviour that is intended to

cause harm.

Explanations of aggression.

Ethological approach

Biological approach Psychodynamic

approach

Social learning

approach

ETHOLOGICAL APPROACH• Konrad Lopez 1930’s• Ethology is the study of animal behaviour in their natural

habitats.• All creatures have an aggressive instinct.• Uses a releaser (an environmental stimulus that triggers

aggressive behaviour) in his study because instinct alone is not enough there needs to be a trigger.

• Eg: if a child is raised in an aggressive family these aggressive genes will be passed down . If the right trigger is activated the child will then act aggressively.

BIOLOGICAL APPROACH

• Hormones play a part in our aggressive behaviour

• Brain damage can cause someone to be more aggressive. (Phineas Gage)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXiM-nDYzX05min

PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACHSigmund Freud• The psychodynamic approach looks at our unconscious desires and

wishes and how they form the motives for our behaviours and actions.

• 2 instincts towards life and survival , 1)libido (sexual urge/desire)2)Thanatos (unconscious urge to die which is a more destructive

instinct)• Aggression is an instinct.• When we are growing up we suppress our aggressive tendencies

because they are not acceptable but as we get older if given the correct circumstances then we can perform aggressive/ violent acts.

SOCIAL LEARNING APPROACH

• Albert Bandura• Aggression is learned from parents and

people who we associate with. • We model their behaviour.• Look at rewards and punishments

HOMEWORK

• ACTIVITY• 10.3 questions 1 and 2• 10.4 question 2• 10.12 questions 1,2,3• 10.3 questions 1 and 3