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PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR
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What is Prosocial Behavior?
Prosocial Behavior is
voluntary behavior that is
carried out to benefit anotherperson
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There are 2 basic forms of helping
1. Egoistic helping
A form of helping in which the ultimate
goal of the helper is to increase his or her
own welfare2. Altruistic Helping
A form of helping in which the ultimate
goal of the helper is to increase anothers
welfare without expecting anything inreturn
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Helping is Consistent with
Evolutionary Theory One principle of evolutionary theory is
that any social behaviors that
enhance reproductive success (theconception, birth and survival offspring)
will continue to be passed on from one
generation to the next
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Kin selection
A theory that people will exhibitpreferences for helping blood relatives
because this will increase the odds that
their genes will be transmitted tosubsequent generations
Helping is Consistent with
Evolutionary Theory
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Reciprocal Helping
An evolutionary principle stating thatpeople expect that anyone helping
another will have that favor returned at
some future time. Also known as
reciprocal altruism
Helping is Consistent with
Evolutionary Theory
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Social Norms Define the Rules of
Helping Others
3 social norms that serve as guidelines
for prosocial behavior
Norm of Reciprocity
Norm of Social Responsibility
Norm of Social Justice
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Norm of Reciprocity
The expectation that helping
others will increase thelikelihood that they will help us
in the future
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Norm of Social Responsibility
A social norm stating that we
should help when others are inneed and are dependent on us
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Norm of Social Justice
A social norm stating that we
should help only when we
believed that others deserve ourassistant
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Personal Qualities and Prosocial Behavior:
Why do some people help more than Others
1. Individual Differences
2. Gender Differences
3. Cultural Differences
4. The Effect of Mood
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1. Individual Differences The Altruistic Personality
The qualities that cause an
individual to help others in awide variety of situations
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Researchers have also identified 2
distinct emotional reactions
associated with helping that are related
to personality differences which areempathy and personal distress
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EmpathyA feeling of comparison and tenderness upon
viewing a victims plight.
Personal DistressAn unpleasant state of arousal in which
people are preoccupied with their own
emotions of anxiety, fear or helpless upon
viewing a victims plight
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Men generally help more than women
Women are more likely than men to provide
social and emotional support to othersAmong children, there are few gender
differences in helping
2. Gender Differences
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3. Cultural Differences
Compared to members of
individualistic cultures, members of
interdependent cultures are morelikely to help people they view as
members of their in-group and less
likely to help people they viewed asmembers of an out-group
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Mood also affects helping
Good moods increase helping for several
reasons (e.g. make us see the good side
other people
Bad mood increase helping because of the
negative-state relief hypothesis, whichmaintains that helping someone makes us
feel good.
3. The Effect of Mood
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When Do We Help?
Bystander helping in emergencies
Bystander effect
The finding that people are less likely to
offer help when they are in a group than
when they are alone
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Five steps to helping
Step 1: Notice that something is happening
Step 2: Interpret meaning of event
Step 3: Take responsibility for providing help
Step 4: Know how to help
Step 5: Provide help
When Do We Help?
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Pluralistic ignorance
Looking to others for cues about how to
behave, while they are looking to you:
collective misinterpretation
Diffusion of responsibility
The reduction in feeling responsible that
occurs when others are present
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Audience inhibition
Failure to help in front of others
for fear of feeling like a fool ifones offer help is rejected
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Whom do we help?
We are most likely to help similar others
We also are most likely to help
deserving others