Prosocial Behavior and Altruism

Prosocial Behavior: Helping Others

• Prosocial behavior involves actions intended to help others.
• Altruism is a form of prosocial behavior motivated purely by the desire to help someone else, without expectation of reward.

Responding To An Emergency

• Heroism involves helping strangers in distress
• Carnegie Hero Medal recognizes individuals who demonstrate heroism. You can find a list of recipients at https://www.carnegiehero.org/heroes/latest-award-announcements/
• The bystander effect describes the phenomenon where the presence of other people reduces the likelihood that any one individual will help.
• Research into the bystander effect was spurred by the murder of Kitty Genovese. The "Actual truth" around the crime can be found at https://www.thecut.com/2016/04/how-the-false-story-of-kitty-genovese-s-murder-went-viral.html
• Bystanders experience diffusion of responsibility, feeling less personally responsible when others are present.
• A study by Darley and Latane in 1968, found that participants were more likely to help when alone versus when one of two or one of five bystanders were present https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1968-08862-001
• Even thinking about a group of people can result in less helping in later, unrelated situations.

5 Steps to Prosocial Behavior in an Emergency

• A prosocial response to an emergency is achieved via 5 steps.
• At each step an individual either becomes less or more likely to engage in a prosocial response
• Step 1: Notice/fail to notice that something unusual is happening.
  • People are less likely to help if they are in a hurry.
  • Darley and Batson's 1973 study details this. Details at https://faculty.babson.edu/krollag/org_site/soc_psych/darley_samarit.html
• Step 2: Correctly interpret that an event is an emergency.
  • When information is ambiguous, people accept a comforting explanation that an emergency is not occurring.
  • Pluralistic ignorance occurs when people look to others for cues and mistakenly interpret the situation as non-urgent because no one else seems concerned.
  • Latane and Darley's (1968) smoke-filled room experiment demonstrated the impact of pluralistic ignorance. You can find details at - https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1969-03938-001
  • Helping is less likely to happen when people are friends compared to strangers, living in a small town versus a big city, or drinking alcohol
• Step 3: Deciding to take responsibility.
  • People may think that the person in the leadership role assumes all responsibility.
  • The norm of social responsibility influences whether people feel obligated to help.
• Step 4: Deciding that one has the necessary knowledge and/or skills to act.
  • If special skills are required, not everyone can help.
• Step 5: Making the final decision to help.
  • Thoughts of negative consequences can inhibit some people from helping.
  • Social Exchange Theory says decisions are based on weighing potential costs and rewards.

External and Internal Influences on Helping Behavior

• Situational factors can enhance or inhibit helping.
  • Liking increases the likelihood of helping.
  • Hastings et al. (2006) at Concordia University researched this.
  • Attractiveness increases the likelihood of helping.
  • Any factor leading to interpersonal attraction can increase helping.
• People tend to help others who mimic them.
  • Mimicry leads to a greater tendency to help.
• People are more likely to help if the person is not seen as causing their own problem.
  • The norm of social responsibility is related.
• Helping rates vary in rural versus urban areas.
  • J. Philippe Rushton (1978) at UWO researched this. Details at https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1980-27948-001
  • Nancy Steblay suggests this may be because of stimulus overload rather than how people are raised.
• People tend to help when exposed to prosocial models.
  • Observing someone else helping increases likelihood.
    • Helpful models in one's environment and the media help to promote helping. Some examples are: Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street
  • Exposure to violent media (e.g., video games)

Emotions and Prosocial Behavior

• Emotions and prosocial behavior depend on both external and internal factors determine mood.
  • Positive emotions and prosocial behavior
    • People are more helpful when in a good mood.
    • Negative emotions and prosocial behavior can decrease helping.

Personal Determinants of Helping Behavior:

• Personality dispositions
• Gender
• Culture
• Empathy

Gender Differences

• Social Role Theory by Eagly and Crowley (1986) explains gender differences in helping.
• Studies show differences between men and women helping in Western cultures.
• Research supports this, as does analyzing recipients of Canada’s Medal of Bravery.
• There are differences in who helps in a more "committed" fashion.

Cultural Differences

• Western and Eastern cultures have different norms regarding helping.
• Concordia researches, Hastings et al. (2007) found that youths in more collectivistic cultures tend to be more empathic, altruistic, helpful, and cooperative.
• This is likely because there is more focus on community at large

Empathy

• Empathy is an important factor in helping behaviour.
  • Genetic factors play a role in approximately 33% of the variation in the affective components of empathy.
  • Environmental factors also play a role in empathy development.
  • There are differences in levels of empathy between men and women.
  • Empathy is increased when the victim is similar and/or if one has experienced the same negative event.
  • Empathy can be correlated with other personality factors.
• Other personality variables associated with helping:
  • Altruistic personality
    • Empathy
    • Belief in a just world
      • Just World Hypothesis
    • Social responsibility
    • Internal locus of control
    • Low egocentrism

Long-Term Commitment to Helping

• Volunteering
  • People spend many hours engaging in voluntary acts that help others.
  • 11.8 million Canadians volunteered almost 2 billion hours to charities and other non profit organizations in 2004.
  • Only 3.7% of Canadians aged 17 - 61 who are eligible to give blood actually do.
  • Volunteering involves the same 5 steps as does responding to an emergency
• Volunteering can occur because of mandates, altruism, or generativity
  • In Canada many provincial governments have mandated hours of community service for hs students
  • Some believe requiring people to volunteer can decrease interest in volunteering in the future
  • Researchers at U of T and WLU believe this is not true
  • Volunteers have similar personality traits as do people who engage in other forms of altruistic behaviour
  • Generativity
• Self-Interest, Moral Integrity, and Moral Hypocrisy
  • Motivation and morality
    • Self-Interest is related to Egoism
    • Moral Integrity
    • Moral Hypocrisy

The Effects of Being Helped

• Being helped can be unpleasant.
  • Self-esteem may suffer.
    • When self-esteem is more likely to suffer.
  • When helpers are more likely to be liked/appreciated.
    • Evokes the norm of reciprocity
• When help is unpleasant, it can motivate self-help.
  • Self-help can decrease feelings of dependence.

The Basic Motivation For Helping – 4 Explanations

• Empathy-Altruism: It feels good to help others
  • Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis (Batson et al., 1981)
• Negative-State Relief: Helping makes one feel better
  • Negative-State Relief Model (Cialdini et al., 1981)
• Empathic Joy: Helping as an accomplishment
  • Empathic Joy Hypothesis (Smith et al., 1989)
• 4. Genetic Determinism: Helping as an Adaptive Response
  • Genetic Determinism Model (Pinker, 1998)
  • Greater genetic similarity between two organisms is associated with an increased likelihood that one will help the other
    • Inclusive Fitness: natural selection applies not only to individuals, but also involves behaviours that benefit other individuals with whom genes are shared (kin selection theory)

Instilling Helpfulness with Rewards and Models

• Children’s prosocial behaviour increases when they are rewarded
• Reinforce to children that they helped not for reward, but because they are helpful people
• Leads to perceptions of self as altruistic people
• Parents can also model prosocial behaviour

Applications - Learning About These Concepts Promotes Helping

• Having people listen to a lecture about Latané and Darley and bystander intervention makes them more likely to intervene in an emergency
• This holds true even long after the lecture took place