Helping Behavior

1
Helping Behavior
2
Prosocial Behavior

• Prosocial behavior - any behavior that helps
  another person, whether the underlying motive is
  self-serving or selfless
• Two Kinds of Prosocial Behavior
• Altruism - Unselfish concern for the welfare of
  others. People who will sacrifice their own
  well-being to help others in need.
• Sometimes we help people out of guilt or in order
  to gain something, such as recognition, rewards,
  increased self-esteem, or having the favor
  returned

3
Why are people Altruistic?

• Sociobiologists Being altruistic may be
  genetic. Altruistic people helped others survive
  (most likely family members) so that this gene
  got passed on.
• Critics argue that no Altruistic gene has been
  found.

4
So, Why Dont People Always Help Others in Need?

• Would you have stopped and helped this man?
  (Watch Video 2 min.)

5
Bystander Effect

• The tendency for any given bystander to be less
  likely to give aid if other bystanders are
  present
• Famous case of Kitty Genovese
• 38 people heard her cry for help but didnt help.
  She was raped and stabbed to death.

6
Why Dont People Always Help Others in Need?

• Darley Latane studies
• Several scenarios designed to measure the help
  response
• Participants put in separate cubicles and asked
  to talk via an intercom.
• One participant was a confederate who pretends to
  have an epileptic seizure and cries for help.
• Some participants thought they were the only one
  who could hear the epileptic.
• Other participants thought there were 1 to 4
  other participants who could hear the cries for
  help.

7
By staging emergency events in field studies,
researchers have found that an individual is less
likely to offer assistance or call for help when
other people are present than when he or she is
the only witness. This is known as the bystander
effect. In this field study, an individual
steals bicycles, picks a wallet from a purse, and
picks a wallet from a pocket, all in full view of
several people. Bystanders intervene in only one
event.
Psychology of Bystanders
Watch Examples of this Experiment (127)
8
Darley Latane Study Findings

• Found that if you think youre the only one that
  can hear or help, you are more likely to do so
• 85 of these participants helped
• If there are others around, you will diffuse the
  responsibility to others
• Only 31 helped who thought there were 4 others
  who could hear the cries for help.

9
Diffusion of Responsibility

• As the number of potential helpers increased, the
  number who actually helped decreased

10
Helping Behavior

• ABC Primetime looks into helping behavior with
  some modern day Latane-like studies.
• Video (4 min)

11
Why Dont People Always Help Others in Need?

• Diffusion of responsibility
• presence of others leads to decreased help
  response
• we all think someone else will help, so we dont
• Our desire to behave in a socially acceptable way
  (normative social influence) and to appear
  correct (informational social influence)
• Vague or ambiguous situations
• Not aware the person needs our help
• Not sure how to help
• When the personal costs for helping outweigh the
  benefits

12
Well help if

• Weve observed helpfulness
• Were not hurried
• We think the victim needs deserves help
• The victim is similar to us
• We are feeling guilty
• Were not preoccupied
• We are in a good mood
• We dont perceive danger
• We know the victim
• We know how to help
• We have problems ourselves (makes us empathetic)
• We have a strong need for approval