Prosocial behavior

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Prosocial behavior

• Why do people help?

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Does Pure Altruism Exist?

• Altruism (textbook definition) -The desire to
  help another person even if it involves a cost to
  the helper.
• Pure altruism (another definition) -Behavior
  that benefits another intentionally for no
  external or internal reward.
• Empathy-altruism hypothesis -
  
  When we feel empathy for a person, we
  will attempt to help that person purely for
  altruistic reasons, regardless of what we have to
  gain.
• Social exchange theory -(from chapter 10,
  basically says rewards gt costs) SET argues that
  true altruism does not exist because only help
  others when rewards outweighs costs

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Genetic Relatednessand Helping

• Would you lend your car to your brother?
• What about your grandfather?
• What about a cousin?
• What about an attractive stranger?
• Michael Cunningham and his colleagues asked
  people whether they would be willing to help
  other people in different situations.

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Inclusive Fitness
80
Percentage Volunteering to Help
60
40
20
0
High(parents, siblings, children)
Mod. (grand-parents)
Low (first cousins)
None (attractive strangers)
Degree of Relatedness
5
Insights into the Evolution of Help

• Inclusive fitness -
  sum of individuals
  reproductive success PLUS reproductive success of
  relatives who were helped by that individual
• Helping a brother or sister promotes the survival
  of genes he or she shares with the helper
• Reciprocal Aid -
  help that occurs in return for
  prior help
• Other animals will help non-relatives if they
  live in close proximity and can better survive by
  sharing.

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Similarity and Familiarity

• Similarity may be a cue to genetic relatedness
  (our relatives look like us).
• Competitors in a negotiation game were more
  trusting if shown a photo of their opponent that
  had been morphed to look like them.

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Genetic Similarity and Need

• The tendency to help relatives over strangers is
  stronger when help is related to survival.
• Research
• There are three people asleep in different rooms
  of a burning house
• A cousin
• A grandfather
• An acquaintance.
• You have time to rescue only one.
• Which do you save?
• There are three people who need you to run a
  small errand to the store
• A cousin
• A grandfather
• An acquaintance.
• You have time to help only one.
• Whose errand do you run?

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3.0
For everyday help, people tended to help close
relatives more than non-relatives
2.5
Tendency to Help (errand)
2.0
1.5
1.0
High(parents, siblings, children)
Mod. (grand-parents)
Low (first cousins)
None (acquaintances)
Degree of Relatedness
9
3.0
The difference became even more pronounced in
life-or-death situations
2.5
2.0
Tendency to Help (burning house)
1.5
1.0
High(parents, siblings, children)
Mod. (grand-parents)
Low (first cousins)
None (acquaintances)
Degree of Relatedness
10
Learning to HelpInstilled Beliefs

• Students who have studied economics and learned
  the principle of self-interest
• Are less likely to contribute to charities
• Are more likely to exploit a partner in a
  bargaining game
• Are more likely to negotiate for a lopsided
  payment

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Learning to HelpExpanded sense of we

• Children exposed to others of different ethnic
  and religious backgrounds later develop a feeling
  of we-ness with the larger human family
• European Gentiles who helped Jews escape from
  Nazis were exposed to more different ethnicities
  growing up than were non-helpers

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Learning to HelpLabeling and self-labeling

• Labeling a child as kind and helpful increases
  his or her later willingness to donate prizes to
  other children.
• People who define themselves as highly committed
  to their spiritual beliefs are, compared to the
  less committed, twice as likely to volunteer time
  to help the needy.

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The effects of moodGood Mood

• Research study
• If found coins researcher left in mall pay phone,
  84 of people helped a man pick up papers
• If did not find coins.
  4 of
  people helped a man pick up papers
• Being in a good mood can increase helping for
  three reasons
• Good moods make us look on the bright side of
  life.
• Helping others can prolong our good mood.
• Good moods increase self-attention.

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The effects of moodPresence of Sadness

• Helping can be increased by events triggering
  temporary sadness, such as
• Reminiscing about unhappy experiences
• Reading depressing statements
• Failing at a task
• Witnessing harm to another.

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