H Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or displayBlend Images/Alamy

What is Altruism? A motive to help another person without any benefit to the helper, and in addition with the likelihood of risk to the helper. To study helpful acts, social psychologists study in which people help other people Several theories of helping agree that in the long run helping behavior benefits the giver as well as the receiver of the help The opposite of altruism is egoism: A motive to increase our own welfare

Why Do We Help? Social Exchange and Social Norms Theory that human interactions are transactions that aim to maximize one’s rewards and minimize one’s costs Rewards Internal External Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Why do we Help? Social Exchange theory Theory that human interactions are transactions that aim to maximize one’s rewards and minimize one’s costs Rewards Internal : helping increases our sense of self-worth ; making donations activate brain areas linked with reward External : improve our image; gaining approval of someone important to us Another position about internal reward: When we see someone in distress we experience arousal, and then offer help to relieve OUR distress

The Role of Guilt Guilt has always been a painful emotion. In studies people were made to feel guilty and then were given an opportunity to relieve their guilt by either confession, disparaging a person they had hurt, or doing a good deed. The last option was consistently chosen. In another experiment people were induced to lie (they lied about having been given the answer to a test) were given the opportunity to helped the experimenter; most of them agreed, apparently eager to redeem their self-image.

Guilt Cont-d) Our eagerness to do good after behaving badly reflect our need to reduce private guilt and restore a shaken self-image It also reflects our desire to reclaim a positive public image, especially when other people know about our misdeeds Guilt boosts sensitivity and sustains close relationships When we are in a bad mood, a helpful deed helps neutralize the bad feelings

Exceptions to the feel-bad, do good scenario Negative mood such as anger does NOT produce compassion and helping behavior Another exception is people who are in a a profound grief. After suffering a loss of a loved one (or similar loss) people often undergo a period of intense self- preoccupation, and they are less likely to be sensitive to the plight of others and less likely to help However, if not preoccupied by depression or grief, sad people are often sensitive to others and helpful.

Impact of Good Mood Happy people are more likely to be helpful This effect occurs in both children and adults, regardless of the source of the good mood A positive mood of relief can dramatically boost helping: Ina study students who parked illegally found what appeared to be a ticket under their windshield wiper. When they picked it up they discovered (to their relief) it was just an add. Moments later they were approached by someone asking for help. And they did help!!

Social Norms in our Lives We often help not because a calculated self-interest, but because a more subtle form of self- interest: something tells us we ought to. Those are norms, social expectations! Social norms prescribe our behavior Researchers who study helping identified two social norms that motivate altruism: The reciprocity norm and the social-responsibility norm.

Why Do We Help? Social Norms Reciprocity Norm Expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them We “invest” in others and expect “dividend” Reciprocity within social networks helps define the social capital : Supportive connections, information flow, trust, and cooperative actions—that keep a community healthy Neighbors keeping an eye on one another’s homes is social capital in action. Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

The Social Responsibility Norm The belief that people should help those who need help without regard to future exchange In Collectivist cultures, such as India, people support the social responsibility norm more strongly that in Individualistic cultures of the West. In Western cultures people help those in need more selectively, to those whose need does not appear to be because of the negligence of the (needy) person. “Give people what they deserve”: If they are victims of circumstances they deserve, but NOT is they caused it to themselves (e.g. by being lazy).

Helping Behavior and Attribution If we attribute the need to circumstances beyond one’s control we are more likely to help If we attribute the need to one’s faulty chaoice we arev less likely to help Attribution affect public policy as well (e.g. bailout to the automakers in 2008) The key to helping is whether the attribution evoke sympathy

Gender Studies that involved short-term encounters with a stranger that was in need, found that women received help more often than men. Women offered help equally to men and women, whereas men offered more help when the person in need was a woman.

Why Do We Help? Social Exchange and Social Norms Internal Rewards Guilt (Feel-bad/do-good) Exceptions to the feel-bad/do-good scenario Effect occurs only with people whose attention is on others Feel good, do good Positive mood can dramatically boost helping Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Why Do We Help? Social Exchange and Social Norms Internal Rewards Guilt (Feel-bad/do-good) Exceptions to the feel-bad/do-good scenario Effect occurs only with people whose attention is on others Feel good, do good Positive mood can dramatically boost helping Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Why Do We Help? Social Exchange and Social Norms Internal Rewards Guilt (Feel-bad/do-good) Exceptions to the feel-bad/do-good scenario Effect occurs only with people whose attention is on others Feel good, do good Positive mood can dramatically boost helping Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Why Do We Help? Social Exchange and Social Norms Internal Rewards Guilt (Feel-bad/do-good) Exceptions to the feel-bad/do-good scenario Effect occurs only with people whose attention is on others Feel good, do good Positive mood can dramatically boost helping Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Why Do We Help? Social Norms Social-Responsibility Norm Expectation that people will help those needing help Gender and Receiving Help Women offer help equally to males and females Men offer more help when the persons in need are women

Why Do We Help? Social Norms Social-Responsibility Norm Expectation that people will help those needing help Gender and Receiving Help Women offer help equally to males and females Men offer more help when the persons in need are women

Why Do We Help? Social Norms Social-Responsibility Norm Expectation that people will help those needing help Gender and Receiving Help Women offer help equally to males and females Men offer more help when the persons in need are women Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Why Do We Help? Social Exchange and Social Norms Internal Rewards Guilt (Feel-bad/do-good) Exceptions to the feel-bad/do-good scenario Effect occurs only with people whose attention is on others Feel good, do good Positive mood can dramatically boost helping Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Why Do We Help? Social Norms Social-Responsibility Norm Expectation that people will help those needing help Gender and Receiving Help Women offer help equally to males and females Men offer more help when the persons in need are women Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Why Do We Help? Social Exchange and Social Norms Internal Rewards Guilt (Feel-bad/do-good) Exceptions to the feel-bad/do-good scenario Effect occurs only with people whose attention is on others Feel good, do good Positive mood can dramatically boost helping Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Why Do We Help? Social Exchange and Social Norms Internal Rewards Guilt (Feel-bad/do-good) Exceptions to the feel-bad/do-good scenario Effect occurs only with people whose attention is on others Feel good, do good Positive mood can dramatically boost helping Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Why Do We Help? Social Exchange and Social Norms Internal Rewards Guilt (Feel-bad/do-good) Exceptions to the feel-bad/do-good scenario Effect occurs only with people whose attention is on others Feel good, do good Positive mood can dramatically boost helping Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Evolutionary Psychology The main idea: The purpose of life is to continue life “The Selfish Gene” : a book by Richard Dawkins (1976) suggesting a self-serving genetic predisposition: Self-sacrifice for strangers defeats the purpose of survival Genetic selfishness predispose us toward two specific types of selfless helping, and even self-sacrifice Kin protection and reciprocity

Why Do We Help? Evolutionary Psychology Kin Selection Our genes dispose us to care for relatives Genetic relatedness predicts helping Genetic egoism (at the biological level) fosters parental altruist; Children have less stake in the survival of their parents’ genes Kin selection Idea that evolution has selected altruism toward one’s close relatives to enhance the survival of mutually shared genes Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Why Do We Help? Evolutionary Psychology Reciprocity Predicted by genetic self-interest; we help others because we except help in return Works best in small isolated groups in which we often see each other Group selection: So why do we help strangers? When groups are in competition, those who are supportive outlast those who are less supportive of one another Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Why Do We Help? Genuine Altruism- Does it really exist? Our willingness to help is influenced by both self- serving and selfless considerations Empathy Vicarious experience of another's feelings increases the likelihood of helping those who suffer Does empathy come naturally (e.g. the crying babies in a reaction to another baby's crying), or is it socialized? Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Altruism: Is it egoistic distress reduction or empathy-based? Baston created empathy in people watching someone suffering, wanted to see whether the aroused people will reduce their own distress by escaping the situation or whether they will go out of their way to help; Most had helped! Is this genuine altruism? Schaller and Cialdini suggest that feeling empathy makes one sad, but in their study when subjects were told that their sadness is going to be relieved they were less likely to offer help.

The Altruism Controversy Altruism may be obviously selfish –to gain external rewards or to avoid punishment Altruism may be subtly selfish- to gain internal rewards or to relieve inner distress Is empathy-based altruism genuine? That is, you are helping out of genuine concern for the well-being of the other person with no benefits to yourself? Some researchers suggest that the 3 rd type (empathy- based) does not exist, since no experiment rules out all possible egoistic explanations of helpfulness

Empathy-induced altruism does exist But there are some liabilities A person may lose his/her own life while trying to help It cannot address all needs It burns us out and we may avoid situations that evoke empathy Focus may narrow on specific individuals and may cause favoritism Food for thought: Soldiers who throw themselves on a live grenade to save their comrades had no time to reflect of the costs and rewards, and this seems to be a drive greater than anything else.

When Will We Help? Helping in emergencies, the Bystander Effetct Number of Bystanders Noticing We are less likely to notice a situation if we are not alone Interpreting Illusion of transparency Bystander effect Finding that a person is less likely to provide help when there are other bystanders Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

When Will We Help? Number of Bystanders Assuming responsibility Responsibility diffusion Revisiting research ethics After protecting participants’ welfare, social psychologists fulfill their responsibility to society by giving us insight into our behavior Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

When Will We Help? Helping When Someone Else Does Prosocial models do promote altruism Elevation Time Pressures Good Samaritan parable Similarity We tend to help those whom we perceive as being similar to us Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Who Will Help? Personality Traits Individual differences in helping persist over time Network of traits Positive emotionality Empathy Self-efficacy Particular situations: Those high in self-monitoring are more tuned to the expectations of others and are expecting to be socially-rewarded Gender: in dangerous situations men help more; in volunteering for social causes women are more active. Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Who Will Help? Religious Faith Predicts long-term altruism, as reflected in volunteerism and charitable contributions Surveys confirm the correlation between faith engagement and volunteering Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

How Can We Increase Helping? Reduce Ambiguity, Increase Responsibility Personalized Appeal Personal request Eye contact Stating one’s name Anticipation of interaction Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

How Can We Increase Helping? Guilt and Concern for Self-Image “Do Not Touch” sign Labeling Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

How Can We Increase Helping? Socializing Altruism Teaching moral inclusion Moral exclusion Perception of certain individuals or groups as outside the boundary within which one applies moral values and rules of fairness Moral inclusion Regarding others as within one’s circle of moral concern Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

How Can We Increase Helping? Socializing Altruism Modeling Altruism Real-life modeling Media modeling Learning by Doing Helpful actions promote the self-perception that one is caring and helpful, which in turn promotes further helping Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

How Can We Increase Helping? Socializing Altruism Attributing Helpful Behavior to Altruistic Motives Overjustification effect Result of bribing people to do what they already like doing; they may then see their actions as externally controlled rather than intrinsically appealing Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

How Can We Increase Helping? Socializing Altruism Learning about altruism Can prepare people to perceive and respond to others’ needs Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.