Social Psychology Lecture 5 PDF

Interpersonal Processes I: Prosocial Behaviour Lecture 5  Learning Outcomes At the end of this lecture you will be able to: ▪ distinguish among prosocial behaviour, helping behaviour, and altruistic behaviour ▪ identify evolutionary psychological explanations and...

Interpersonal Processes I: Prosocial Behaviour Lecture 5  Learning Outcomes At the end of this lecture you will be able to: ▪ distinguish among prosocial behaviour, helping behaviour, and altruistic behaviour ▪ identify evolutionary psychological explanations and social/biosocial psychological explanations for prosocial behaviour ▪ contrast egoistic with altruistic helping ▪ discuss individual differences in prosocial behaviour ▪ define the bystander effect ▪ explain the 5-step model to helping (including the barriers to helping at each step)  Outline ▪ Types of Prosocial Behaviours Prosocial behaviour Helping Altruism ▪ Explanations for prosocial behaviour Biological Social and Biosocial ▪ Influences on helping behaviour Individual differences Situational influences  Definition ▪ Prosocial behaviour: Behaving in a way that is good for other people or for society as a whole Acts that are positively valued by society (Vaughan & Hogg, 2018) o Following societal rules, laws o Helping others  Definition cont’d. ▪ Helping behaviour: Acts that intentionally benefit someone else (Vaughan & Hogg, 2018) ▪ Altruism: Prosocial behaviours that help other people even when: (1) no apparent personal gain or (2) potential costs to the helper Definition cont’d. Prosocial behaviour Helping behaviour Altruism  Biological Explanations ▪ Evolutionary Social Psychology ▪ Kin selection ▪ Reciprocity ▪ Mutually cooperative behaviour Helping Kin: Everyday Situations Tendency to Help High Mod. Low None (parents, (grand- (first (acquaintances) siblings) parents) cousins) Degree of Relatedness Burnstein et al. (1994) Helping Kin: Life-or-Death Situations Tendency to Help High Mod. Low None (parents, (grand- (first (acquaintances) siblings) parents) cousins) Degree of Relatedness Burnstein et al. (1994) Helping Kin: Comparing Situations The difference Tendency to Help becomes even more pronounced High Mod. Low None (parents, (grand- (first (acquaintances) siblings) parents) cousins) Degree of Relatedness Burnstein et al. (1994)  Social and Biosocial Explanations ▪ Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977) Learning by direct experience Learning by vicarious experience (modelling or observational learning) o Observing and copying or imitating the behaviour of others Why? Because of the rewards associated with the behaviour o Rewards to the self (direct experience) o Rewards to the model (indirect experience) Social Learning Theory cont’d. Social Learning Theory cont’d. Adaptive to Norm: Get learn social “helping is rewarded norms good” for helping  Social and Biosocial Explanations cont’d. ▪ Social Exchange Theory Cost–benefit analysis: Rewards / Benefits Costs feel good about oneself physical (danger, pain) social rewards social (embarrassment) monetary rewards, etc. time, etc. Social Exchange Theory predicts: People will help if benefits outweigh costs  Social and Biosocial Explanations cont’d. ▪ Altruistic helping Motivated by empathy Empathy–altruism hypothesis ▪ Egoistic helping Motivated to get something in return Negative-state relief hypothesis o Help in order to feel better about yourself Egoistic vs. Altruistic Helping  Individual Differences ▪ Personality There is no “prosocial personality” type ▪ Gender Depends on the situation ▪ Mood Positive moods Negative moods o Guilt, sadness; probably not anger  Situational Factors ▪ Number of bystanders The bystander effect: People are less likely to help in the presence of others than when alone. ▪ 5-step model to helping (Darley & Latané, 1968) Notice the Emergency Darley & Batson (1973)  Definition ▪ Pluralistic ignorance: When individuals monitor the reactions of other bystanders and conclude (from bystanders’ inaction) that they don’t need to intervene o Informational social influence No one helps Diffusion of Responsibility Darley & Latané (1968)  Next lecture Interpersonal Processes II