Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12 Chapter Twelve Helpful Social Behavior

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12 Types of Helping Behavior Prosocial behavior –any action that provides benefit to others casual helping emergency helping substantial personal helping emotional helping

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12 Altruism vs. Egoism Why would people help? Egoistic motivation –we help others to feel good ourselves Altruistic motivation –we help others as an end in itself

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12 Parameters of Altruism Inclusive fitness –helping as a means of preserving our genetic material Empathy-altruism hypothesis –feelings of empathy lead to altruistic behavior? –feelings of empathy lead to personal distress; we help to feel better?

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12 Factors Influencing Helping Social norms Modeling helpful behavior Blaming the victim Good mood Guilt Individual differences

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12 Norms and Helping Norm of social responsibility –we should help those who are deserving Norm of reciprocity –we should repay a favor with a favor Personal norms –we each have expectations about our behavior in particular situations

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12 Modeling Helpful Behavior Exposure to models of helpful behavior can influence the likelihood of our own helping Modeling has implications for the development of helping during childhood

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12 Blaming the Victim We sometimes conclude that a victim’s unfortunate outcomes are due to that victim’s own behavior Just world theory –humans need to believe that the world is a fair and just place –we therefore sometimes think that bad things happen to bad people, and good things happen to good people

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12 Mood and Helping The warm glow of a good mood can spark us to help others Feelings of guilt can spark us to help others

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12 Individual Differences in Helping Individual differences in empathy predict helping behavior Dimensions of empathy –perspective taking –empathic concern –personal distress –fantasy generation

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12 Concept Review

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12 Volunteerism Volunteering your time is an example of substantial personal helping Motives for volunteerism: –values –community concern –understanding –personal development –esteem enhancement

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12 Helping in an Emergency A decision tree of helping –notice the emergency –interpret it as such –assume personal responsibility for acting –choose a strategy –implement that strategy

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12 Cultural Differences in Helping Individualism-collectivism may play a role in influencing helping –cultural comparisons to Kenya, Mexico, Japan, India, and the Phillippines have been made

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12 The Recipient’s Negative Reaction to Help Norm of reciprocity –help recipients may find themselves unable to reciprocate the help they receive Threats to self-esteem Attributions –the attributed cause of the helping may determine one’s reactions Individual differences in gratitude –some people are more grateful than others

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12 Concept Review

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12 The Nature of Social Dilemmas Short-term, individual gain can lead to long- term, collective loss –Tragedy of the commons is an example grazing, fishing, pollution –Prisoner’s dilemma is an example weighing cooperation versus competition

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12 Decision-Making in Social Dilemmas Situational labels for a social dilemma influence our behavior Priming a schema for cooperation or for competition influences our behavior Social norms for cooperation or competition influence our behavior Similar models serve as a guide for behavior Communication can increase cooperation Social value orientation predicts helping

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12 Concept Review

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12 Social Support Perceiving that social support is available can be more beneficial than actual social support receipt –both perceived and actual social support can be measured by questionnaires

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 12 Social Support and Health Four ways that social support influences health: –informational support –instrumental support –companionship support –emotional support