Social Responsibility 8.1 Human Relationships: Social Responsibility 8.1

Learning outcomes Discuss the extent to which biological, cognitive and sociocultural factors influence human relationships Evaluate psychological research relevant to the study of human relationships Distinguish between altruism and pro-social behaviour Contrast two theories explaining altruism in humans Explain cross-cultural differences in pro-social behaviour with reference to research studies Examine factors influencing bystanderism

Definitions Pro-social behaviour Helping behaviour Altruism Behaviour that benefits another person or has positive social consequences Vague- discusses the outcome of behaviour not the motivation of the behaviour Helping behaviour Behaviour that intentionally helps or benefits another person “making a difference”—going to help in clinics Altruism Helping other with no expected reward and even risking your own life

Biological Altruism Roots in evolutionary psychology Behaviour is advantageous to the family group not just the individual Kin Theory Degree of altruism depends on number of genes shared by individuals Supported by empirical studies with animals Dawkins 1976- selfish gene theory Innate drive to propagate and survive—driven by genes

Biological Altruism- Kin theory Animals living in social groups share genes Individuals are willing to sacrifice themselves to protect the lives of kin Does not explain individuals that help complete strangers Can not be tested under controlled conditions (unethical)

Biological- Reciprocal Altruism Trivers (1971) Explains altruism among individuals that are not related Favours given in expectation that they will be returned in future Karma- tit for tat– what goes around comes around I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine Mutual cooperation increases survival- symbiotic relationships found in nature

Reciprocal Altruism Axelrod and Hamilton (1981) Prisoners dilemma (p.260) Individuals A and B can choose to cooperate or defect If both cooperate both gain reward If both defect, no pay off for either Rewards are based on strategy of both players Cooperation is an evolutionary stable strategy

Social Contract Theory Thomas Hobbes (1586-1679) Actions determined by self-interest or not necessarily in the group’s interest People are motivated by self-interest but uncontrolled pursuit leads to chaos Governments must prevent the chaos

Evaluation of Biological Explanation Can’t generalize animal behaviour to humans Does not take into account the effect of culture on human behaviour Some things ring true in regards to our behaviour to kin and those that have helped us But there are behaviours that do not benefit kin and are not explained by biological model

Psychological Altruism Roots in cognitive psychology Seen in higher-level mammals Conscious cognitive component Lerner and Lichtman (1968) Altruistic behaviour in response to “anxiety” of stranger

Psychological Altruism Negative-state relief model (Schaller and Cialdini, 1988) Egoistic motives lead us to help other in bad situations in order to reduce the distress we experience from watching the situation Explains some behaviour but can not predict how one will behave in any given situation

Psychological Altruism Empathy-altruism model (Batson et al, 1981) People experience two types of emotions when they see others suffer Personal distress (anxiety, fear) which leads to egoistic helping Empathetic concern (sympathy) which leads to altruistic behaviour Empathy leads to selfless help- relieving suffering is the most important things When you do not feel empathy you consider the costs/benefits of helping (selfish)

Psychological Altruism Batson’s finding have been consistently replicated Only focuses on short term altruism Personality factors not taken into account Theory can predict behaviour but it is difficult to measure levels of empathy Are there biological differences in empathy levels Do we learn how to be empathetic Van Baaren et al, 2004- imitation and helping- mirror neurons

Pro-social Behaviour and the bystander effect Why do people help in some situations but not others? Picking up dropped things Giving up your seat on a bus Good Samaritan (Bateson and Darley, 1973) Situational factors have a more significant role than dispositional factors

Bystanderism Diffusion of responsibility Latane and Darley When you see others watching you assume others have called for help Diffusion of responsibility Someone else can, should, will offer assistance Study showed that 85% of participants would help if they thought they were the only one able to, 65% helped if they thought there was another person, 31% if they thought there were four people available to help

Bystanderism Pluralistic ignorance Looking to others to know how to react Informational social influence If others do not react, you will not Must understand that help is needed If it is difficult to understand what is going on people are less likely to intervene Especially with domestic violence

Social Exchange Theory Piliavin el al (1969, 1981) Arousal-cost-reward model Weigh the costs (humiliation, pain, financial loss) against the benefits (financial reward, affection, esteem) Covers emergency and non-emergent situations Empathizes interaction of mood and cognition Arousal is the emotional response to the need or distress of others Arousal is a motivational factor- it is unpleasant Links to negative-state relief model

Social Exchange Theory We help others to reduce our unpleasant feelings based on Cost of helping, effort, embarrassment, possible physical harm Cost of not helping, self-blame, perceived censure of others Rewards of helping, praise from self, onlookers and victim Rewards of not helping, getting to work/school on time

Role of Culture in pro-social behaviour Studies of hero’s Civil rights workers Christians that helped Jewish in WWII Study of bystanders – man attacking woman “I don’t know you”- 65% “I don’t know why I married you” – 19%

Social Norms societies can promote altruism and pro-social behaviour Beaman (1978)- research supports this idea Societal privacy expectations influence our attitudes towards domestic violence we should not interfere vs. helping

Cross-Cultural Research Structure of the family Significant differences found in nurturing and helping behaviour in children in 6 countries Correlated to the children’s involvement in the responsibilities of family life Decreased caring with going to school Increased with looking after younger siblings

Social Identity Theory Pro-social behaviour increases in environment that models and expects members of the group to contribute to the common good We provide help to our “in-group” Levine et al (1990’s)- predictors of helping behaviour Low population density Low economic productivity Slower pace of life Social harmony valued Nature of local people

Evaluation of Helping Research How do you measure the pro-social behaviour? Can we translate behaviours across cultures? Can we really generalize about an entire culture? And can we see universal trends? Can we attribute meaning to a person’s refusal to help? Ecological validity- field research can not predict cause and effect relationships

Task 1 Read and research about John Rabe (p. 263) and answer the questions referencing both biological and psychological explanations Research three other examples of altruistic behaviour On A4 paper, outline the events (with historical context when necessary) and discuss why the behaviour would be considered altruistic Post your research results on the bulletin board

Task 2 To what extent do the experiments of Piliavin et al. Support the following theories The arousal-cost reward model The negative-state relief model The empathy-altruism model For each state what the theory would predict and compare this to the findings of the experiment

Task 3 How would you develop a study of helping behaviour in two different cultures. How would you go about it? What would be an appropriate helping behaviour to consider? Justify your decision. How would you overcome some of the criticism of field research in the area of helping behaviour.