Prosocial Behaviour

Prosocial BehaviourNovember 20th, 2009 : Lecture 21

Lecture Overview

Announcements

Finishing up TV and Violence

Co-operative Dilemmas

Prosocial Behaviour

How Do We Help?

When Do We Help?

Why Do We Help?

AnnouncementsNo Office Hours next Wednesday (11/25)

No Lecture next Friday (11/27)

TV and Violence

Eron & Huesmann (1986)

Results:

Violent TV watching at age 8 predicted:

Aggression at age 19

Criminal acts of violence (rape, robberies, assault) at age 30

Controlled for aggression at age 8

Moderating Factors in TV-Aggression Link

Model Similarity

Punishment versus Reward

Apparent Reality

Cartoons influence aggression less than film

Apparent consequences

Modelling more likely when pain/harm caused by violence is not depicted

How Does TV Affect Aggression?

Imparts information about how to aggress

Primes anger and aggression

Makes world seem more dangerous, increases fear of victimization (Gerbner et al., 1994)

Heavy viewers tend to overestimate frequency of violent crime, probability of being assaulted

Loosens inhibitions toward violence

Food For Thought

“An angry person can pull the trigger of his gun if he wants to commit violence, but the trigger can also pull the finger …”

- Leonard Berkowitz

Co-operative Dilemmas

Situations where the most beneficial action for an individual will be harmful for the collective group

Commonly discussed social dilemmas:

Escalation of Conflict

Tragedy of the Commons

Prisoner’s Dilemma

Escalation of Conflict

Interpersonal conflict feeds itself and escalates if one side does not begin concession

Escalation of Conflict in Close Relationships

Stimulus: Partner APartner A comes home and snaps at Partner BPartner B

Partner BPartner B’s Response:

An equally hurtful remark

Partner BPartner B is vindicated, but Partner APartner A feels compelled to respond with an equally vehement remark

Conflict escalatesescalates

A defusing remark

Partner BPartner B takes a hit in pride, but Partner APartner A has no reason to say another hurtful remark

Conflict defusesdefuses

Escalation of Conflict in International Relations

Stimulus: Country ACountry A accidentally bombs a civilian area of

Country B Country B during a training exercise

Country BCountry B’s Response:

Bomb them back

Country BCountry B is vindicated, but they are now at war with

Country ACountry A

Accept apology

Country BCountry B takes a hit in many ways, but they maintain peaceful relations with Country ACountry A


A co-operative dilemma in which everyone takes from a common pool of goods that will replenish itself if used in moderation but disappear if overused


Why do we take more than our share?

Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic

Desired share is used as an anchor

Do not sufficiently adjust down

Size of commons is not readily estimable


When do we take our fair share?

Both the size of the commons and the group that is sharing it are easily determined

The size of an equal share is explicitly stated

The Prisoner’s Dilemma

A situation where two people must make a collectively-dependent decision without knowing the other person’s decision

A special case of John Nash’s Game Theory


Do Not ConfessDo Not Confess ConfessConfess

Do Not Do Not ConfessConfess

ConfessConfess

Prisoner BPrisoner B

Pri

son

er

AP

riso

ner

A

1 Year

1 Year

20 Years

20 Years

Life

Life

Parole

Parole


Strategies that maximize outcomes:

Winner: Simple Tit-for-Tat strategy

Co-operate on first round

Then mirror opponent’s response

Defect as soon as opponent defects

When game is about to end (last trial):

Defect

Prosocial Behaviour

Action performed with the goal of benefiting another person

Altruism

Helping done purely out of a desire to help another person

Does not benefit the self

May even involve a cost to the self

Altruism : Examples

In 1982, Anne Herbert coined the phrase, “Random Acts of Kindness”

Idea is to do random kind acts for others with no intention of being repaid

Paying tolls for others

Shovelling snow for neighbours, anonymously

Altruistic Personality

Dispositional tendency to help others across a wide variety of situations

Are Some More Altruistic Than Others?

Hartshorne & May (1929)

Method:

1. Observed prosocial behaviours of 10,850 school children

2. Focus on behaviours across a number of situations


Hartshorne & May (1929)

Results:

Most children helped occasionally

Average correlation between helping in two different situations was .23


Summary of Hartshorne & May (1929):

Most children help, but it depends on the situation

Also, self-report measures of altruism typically do not predict actual altruistic behaviour

How Do People Help?

McGuire (1994)

Method:

1. Surveyed 2 sample of college students for types of helping both given and received

First sample received only open-ended questions

Second sample rated the first sample’s responses on frequency, importance, causes, and consequences

2. Factor analysed data

How Do People Help?

McGuire (1994)

Results: Factor Analysis revealed 4 dimensions of helping

Casual helping

Substantial helping

Emotional helping

Emergency helping

How Do People Help?

McGuire (1994)

Results: Casual Helping

Helping with a homework assignment or schoolwork

Lending a book, notes, record album, household item

Giving a ride within the city

Giving directions

Opening or holding a door

Giving someone a snack

How Do People Help?

McGuire (1994)

Results: Substantial Personal Helping

Bringing or sending flowers, a card, or a small gift

Giving a ride a long distance (greater than 20 miles)

Helping someone pack or move

Visiting someone from out of town

How Do People Help?

McGuire (1994)

Results: Emotional helping

Listening to someone talk through a problem

Giving advice about a situation someone is in

"Being there" for someone; providing loyalty

How Do People Help?

McGuire (1994)

Results: Emergency helping

Starting a car or changing a tire for someone

Taking care of someone who is sick

Walking someone home at night

When Do We Help?

The situation can influence whether we will help another person (Altruism) or not (Bystander Apathy)

When Do We Help?

Situational Factors in Helping:

Mood

Spare time

Environment

Number of Bystanders

Relationship with Person In Need

Mood

Mood affects helping behaviour

Good news:

Both good and bad moods increase helping relative to neutral mood

Positive Mood & Helping

Isen & Levin (1972)

Method:

1. Participants were random shoppers at a shopping mall

2. Positive mood induced or not:

Positive mood induction: Left a dime in a pay phone

Control: No dime

3. Observe other person drop papers after leaving phone booth

Positive Mood & Helping

Isen & Levin (1972)

Results: How many people helped pick up the person’s papers?

Why Positive Mood?

More likely to make positive attributions for others’ behaviour and give them the benefit of the doubt

Helping helps us maintain good mood

Good moods increase self-attention, so we act more consistently with our values

Negative Mood & Helping

Negative State Relief

When we feel bad, we are more likely to help

Spare Time

We help less when we feel rushed for time

Good Samaritan Study

Darley & Batson (1973)

Method:

1. Ps were Princeton theology students, told it was a study about persuasion

2. Ps first spent 10 minutes preparing a sermon on the Good Samaritan, which they will give to an audience at another building on campus

3. Hurry manipulation: Experimenter says ...

Not in hurry: “You will have enough time to get there”

Moderate hurry: “You will have just enough time to get there”

High hurry/Late: “You will be late”

On the way to talk, pass hurting confederate

Good Samaritan Study

Darley & Batson (1973)

Results: % of Theology Students Who Stopped to Help

Environment

Urban versus Rural Environments

Do you think you are more likely to be helped if:

A.You fall down and break a leg in the middle of the Annex

B.You fall down and break a leg in the middle of Grimsby

C.Equally likely to get help in either place

Urban vs. Rural

Why Would You Get More Help in Rural Environments?

A.Rural values: Rural people are more likely to help

B.Immediate Context: Rural environment facilitates helping

C.A little of both

Urban Overload Hypothesis

Urban environments constantly bombard you with stimulation, so you keep to yourself to avoid being overwhelmed by it

Evidence:

Where an incident occurs is more important than where the witnesses grew up

City density more important than city size

Bystander Apathy

March 13, 1964

Kitty Genovese stabbed to death crossing a parking lot while returning from work late at night

Murder took place over 30 minutes

At least 38 independent witnesses

No one called the police for help

Bystander Apathy Effect

The greater the number of bystanders who witness an emergency, the less likely that any one of them is to help

Bystander Apathy

Latané & Darley (1970)

Method:

1. Participants discussed “college life” over headphones

2. Group size manipulation:

Lone witness: 1 Participant + 1 Confederate

Two witnesses: 2 Participants + 1 Confederate

Four witnesses: 4 Participants + 1 Confederate

During the discussion, the actor fakes a seizure

Bystander Apathy

Latané & Darley (1970)

Results: How many people helped?

Why Does This Happen?

Pluralistic Ignorance

Diffusion of Responsibility

Pluralistic Ignorance

Bystanders assume that nothing is wrong in an emergency because no one else looks concerned

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Smoking Room Study

Diffusion of Responsibility

Feeling less responsible when others are present, because others are equally able to act

Bystander Apathy or Sympathy

Sequential Model of Bystander Helping Versus Apathy:

1. Notice the event

2. Interpret the event as an emergency

3. Assume responsibility

4. Know appropriate form of assistance

5. Implement decision

Breaking the Bystander Apathy Effect

It just takes one person to break pluralistic ignorance and diffusion of responsibility!

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It Just Takes One

Relationship With Person In Need

Kin Selection

Communal Relationships

Ingroups and Outgroups

Communal Relationships

In communal relationships, we give in response to each other’s needs

Less likely to receive help from relationship partners if in equity relationships

Ingroups and Outgroups

We are much more likely to help an ingroup member than an outgroup member

Magnification by culture:

Interdependent cultures help ingroup members more than Independent cultures

Interdependent cultures help outgroup members less than Independent cultures

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Bystander Apathy & Ingroup Members

Why Do We Help?

Theories of Helping

Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis

Why Do People Behave Altruistically?

2 competing hypotheses:

Genuine Altruism

Innate motive to help others in need, without conscious regard for one’s own self-interest

Social exchange theory

All human behaviour, including helping, is geared toward maximizing benefits and minimizing costs to the self

Why Do People Behave Altruistically?

You Decide: Is there such a thing as genuine altruism?

A.Yes

B.No

C.Undecided

Reciprocal Altruism

Reciprocal altruism

We are selectively prosocial to those who are prosocial towards us

Evolutionary Theories

Kin Selection

Behaviours that help a genetic relative are favoured by natural selection

Inclusive Fitness

We select mates not only for who has the most chance to survive, but also for who will maximize our chance of survival

Helping Others Helps You

Negative State Relief

Seeing others suffer makes us suffer physiologically, so we act pro-social to reduce our own distress

Social rewards

A lot of positive social rewards (e.g., badges, awards, thanks, reputation) for acting in an unselfish manner

Helping increases when followed by social approval, public recognition (Staub, 1978)

Social Norms

It is socially normative in most cultures to help others

Reciprocity Norm

You should help others that have helped you

Helping Norm

Helpfulness is a socially valuable trait

Learning Perspective

Prosocial behaviour can be learned like any other behaviour (e.g., via norms, values)

Reinforcement & Prosocial Behaviour

Prosocial behaviour can be increased by rewarding it

Dispositional praise more effective than behavioural praise

Social Modelling & Prosocial Behaviour

Seeing others help increases helping


Sprafkin et al. (1975)

Method:

1. Children watch 1 of 3 TV clips:

Lassie clip where a boy helps a dog

Neutral Lassie clip

Brady Bunch clip

2. Kids were then asked if they would play a game or help puppies in distress


Sprafkin et al. (1975)

Results:

Helping increased after watching Timmy help Lassie

Altruism & Empathy

People feel purely altruistic when they are motivated to help by empathy for another

Empathy

The ability to put oneself in the psychological frame of reference of another person

Empathy-Altruism Theory

Perception That

Someone Needs Help

Perception That

Someone Needs Help

EmpathyFor Person?

EmotionalResponse

Type ofMotive

SatisfactionOf Motive

LikelyBehaviour

YesYes

NoNo

Empathic

Concern

Empathic

Concern

Altruistic

Altruistic

Reduction of Other’s Distress

Reduction of Other’s Distress

HelpHelp

Personal DistressPersonal Distress EgoisticEgoistic Reduction of

Own DistressReduction of Own Distress Help

(if can’t escape or

helping is in own

interest)

Help(if can’t

escape or helping is in

own interest)

Escape(if possible)Escape

(if possible)

Empathy Altruism Theory

Batson et al. (1991)

Method:

1. Participants observe “Elaine” complete a task and get shocks

2. Empathy manipulation:

High Empathy: Elaine has similar attitudes and background

Low Empathy: Elaine has dissimilar attitudes and background

3. Elaine becomes upset by experimental treatment after 2 shocks, but says she will continue

Participants are asked to take Elaine’s place

Ease of Escape manipulation:

1. Difficult Escape: Participants must stay for remaining 8 trials, regardless of whether they take Elaine’s place, or

Easy Escape: Participants can leave if they don’t want to help Elaine

Empathy Altruism Theory

Batson et al. (1991)

Results: Participants who took Elaine’s place (helped)

Hey Brother, Can You Lend a Dime?

Next Lecture (11/25):

Stress & Health

Related Websites:

Random Acts of Kindness Foundation:

http://www.actsofkindness.org/

ABC’s “What Would You Do”

http://abcnews.go.com/whatwouldyoudo

http://www.actsofkindness.org/

Documents

Prosocial Behaviour