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Helping Others

PSY 321

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Why do We Help?

Gaining Rewards, Avoiding Punishment

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Evolutionary Factors in Helping: The “Selfish Gene” What is important is survival of the

individual’s genes

Kinship selection is the tendency to help genetic relatives.

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Kinship Selection

Help close relatives over distant relatives Especially in life/death situations Help youthful relatives over elderly Even true among kids!!!

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Evolutionary Factors in Helping: Reciprocal Altruism What is the reproductive advantage of

helping someone who isn’t related to you?

Through reciprocal altruism, helping someone else can be in your best interests.

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Evolutionary Factors in Helping: The Cooperative Group Humans can sometimes increase their

reproductive success in two ways: By protecting their own self-interest in relation

to other individuals; and By protecting their group’s interests in relation

to other groups.

Helping based on social connections rather than genetic relationships.

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Rewards of Helping:Helping Others to Help Oneself

More likely to help when the potential rewards of helping seem high relative to the potential costs.

Arousal: Cost-Reward Model What are the costs and rewards associated

with helping?

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Rewards of Helping: Helping to Feel Good More likely to help:

If self-esteem has been threatened by failure. Feeling guilty about something.

Relationship between helping and feeling better.

Helping others to feel good is often not a conscious decision, but it can be.

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RECENT STUDY!!!

Helping behavior among elderly decreases mortality risk!!!

Mortality was significantly reduced for individuals who reported providing instrumental support to friends and neighbors

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Rewards of Helping: Helping to Be or Appear Good May help because motivated to behave in

ways that are consistent with moral principles.

Sometimes help for the appearance of morality but really have selfish motives. Moral hypocrisy (people try to convince others

that they are driven to help others when they really have selfish reasons)

Overhelping (helping someone who doesn’t need help for personal gain)

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Costs of Helping or of Not Helping

Helping has its costs as well as its rewards.

Helping can also be more sustained and deliberate. Courageous resistance

Helping can have negative health effects if involves constant and exhausting demands.

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Altruism or Egoism: The Great Debate Is helping motivated by altruistic or egoistic

concerns? Altruistic: Motivated by the desire to increase

another’s welfare. Egoistic: Motivated by the desire to increase

one’s own welfare.

Batson: The motivation behind some helpful actions is truly altruistic.

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The Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis(Batson et al.)

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Telling the Difference Between Egoistic and Altruistic Motives

Important factor: How easy it to escape from a helping situation?

If egoistic motive, helping should decline when escape from the situation is easy.

If altruistic motive, help is given regardless of ease of escape.

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When Empathy Helps

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Egoistic Alternatives

Empathy encourages helping because of concern about the costs to the self of not helping.

Empathy highlights the potential rewards for helping others. Negative state relief model

Helper experiences empathic joy by helping another person.

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Altruism vs. Egoism: Limits and Convergence Strong evidence for the empathy-altruism

hypothesis. Limitations to empathy-altruism hypothesis:

Not all helping is altruistically motivated. Motives do not guarantee behavior. Is the assumption that there is a clear divide

between the self and the other a valid one?

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Why Does The Motivation to Help Matter? Helps us determine whether or not helping

will even occur. Motivational factors play important roles in

more long-term helping behaviors. Particularly, self-oriented motivations.

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Table 10.1: Motivations to Volunteer to Help People With AIDS

Adapted from Frank et al., 1993

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Situational Influences

When Do People Help?

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Bystander Effect

The tragic story of Kitty Genovese, 1964

Attacked 3 separate times by same killer

38 people saw or heard her cries for help

By the time someone called police, Kitty was dead

Why did no one help?

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Bystander Effect

The tragic story of Kitty Genovese. Latané & Darley: Were social psychological

processes at work?

Bystander Effect: The presence of others inhibits helping.

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Bystander Effect

Films\helping\bystander_effect.mov

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The 5 Steps to Helping in an Emergency

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Figure 10.4: Even in our imagination:Bystander Effect

S.M.Garcia, K. eaver, G.B. Moskowitz, and J.M. Darley (2002) Crowded Minds: The Implicit Bystander Effect." Copyright © 2002. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 843-853.

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Bystander Helping in a Chat Room

From P.M. Markey, Computers in Human Behavior, 16 (2002) 183-188.

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Time Pressure

Time pressure can conflict with one’s good intentions of helping those in need.

Darley & Batson’s (1973) Good Samaritan study Princeton Theological Seminary students told the must

deliver an impromptu sermon on Good Samaritan Time pressure manipulation:

You have plenty of time You must go now You’re late

On the way there, they see man doubled over in pain

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Darley & Batson’s (1973) Results

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Percentage who helped

Ahead ofSchedule

On Time Late

Note: Many participants actually stepped over the man needing help.

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Location and Culture

Do individuals have a worse chance of being helped in an emergency in a big city than in a small town?

Greater population density is associated with less helping.

Greater cost of living is associated with less helping.

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Helping in the U.S.A.

From "Helpfulness Index: How U.S. Cities Rank," The Boston Globe, July 7, 1994.

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Good Moods Lead to Helping: Reasons Why does feeling good lead to doing good?

Desire to maintain one’s good mood. Positive expectations about helping. Positive thoughts. Positive thoughts and expectations about

social activities.

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Good Moods Lead to Helping: Limitations Why feeling good might not always lead to

doing good? Costs of helping are high. Positive thoughts about other social activities

that conflict with helping.

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Cunningham et al. (1980)

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Percentage who helped next person

Believed Broke Camera No Broken Camera

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Bad Moods and Helping

When negative moods make us more likely to help others: If we take responsibility for what caused our

bad mood (i.e., feel guilty). If we focus on other people. If we are made to think about our personal

values that promote helping.

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Bad Moods and Helping (cont.)

When negative moods make us less likely to help others: If we blame others for our bad mood. If we become very self-focused. If we are made to think about our personal

values that do not promote helping.

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Helping and Role Models

Social learning revisited: Role models are important in teaching children about helping

How do role models inspire helping? Provides an example of behavior to imitate

directly. Teaches that helping is valued and rewarding. Increases awareness of societal standards of

conduct.

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Helping and Social Norms

Norm of reciprocity Norm of equity Norm of social responsibility Concerns about justice or fairness Norm of self-interest

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Personal Influences

Who Is Likely to Give Help?

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An Altruistic Personality

Empathy

Internalized and advanced moral reasoning

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Interpersonal Influences

Whom do we help?

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Attractiveness of Person in Need

More likely to help physically attractive people.

More likely to help friendly individuals.

Charisma of one person can determine how much help other people receive. Magic Johnson Effect

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When do we help stigmatized groups?Attributions of Responsibility Beliefs about the needy person’s

responsibility influences helping. AIDS as a result of blood transfusion vs.

sexual behavior

Effect particularly strong among those who believe in a just world.

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The Fit Between Giver and Receiver: Similarity More likely to help those who are

similar .

May be a form of kinship selection.

More likely to help ingroup members

Intergroup biases in helping can be reduced if perceive selves as members of a common group.

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Emotions and Helping

Pity and admiration increase helping

Envy and contempt decrease helping

Competence/Warmth

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Reactions to Help

How do you think people react to receiving help?

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Threat-to-Self-Esteem Model

Help is experienced as self-supportive when recipient feels appreciated and cared for.

Help is experienced as self-threatening when recipient feels inferior and overly dependent.

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When Is Receiving Help Perceived as Threatening? Those with high self-esteem tend to react

more negatively than those with low self-esteem.

Being helped by a similar other may imply that recipient is inferior.

Help from a significant other on an ego-relevant task can threaten one’s self-esteem.

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Key Concepts on Exam 3

Predictions of kinship selection Environmental Factors related to helping (e.g.

population density, # of people present, ambiguity of need for helping)

Individual Factors (e.g. mood, time pressure) Egoistic v. Altruistic Empathy/Altruistic Hypothesis Obstacles in Helping Behavior