1. & Emergency Response Psychology Ch. 11
Prosocial Behavior
& Emergency Response Psychology
Ch. 11

2. The Case that Started it All
Kitty Genovese
In the early 1960’s, in Queens, she was attacked and killed in the alley of an apartment complex
She was raped and murdered, all the while screaming for help
The attack lasted for 45min and was witnessed by 38 residents
NOT ONE EVEN CALLED 911
What happened in the minds of the 38 bystanders that stopped ALL of them from helping her? What makes others give their lives for strangers?

3. Prosocial Behavior
Any act performed with the goal of benefiting another person
Jumping in a lake to save a drowning child, calling in a domestic, and less heroic acts like teaching, donating $$, etc.
Particularly interested in prosocial behavior motivated by altruism: the desire to help another person even if it involves a cost to the helper
Acting with no thought as to what you will get in return: even willing to sacrifice (incur a cost)

4. Back to Evolutionary Genetics
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution: natural selection favors genes that promote the survival of the individual
Ultimate Goal: Get as many of our genes as possible into the next generation
Translation: Protect your relatives!!!! Evolutionary Psychology: attempt to explain social behavior in terms of genetic factors that evolved over time according to natural selection
But how does it explain helping strangers?

5. Animal Models Alloparenting Behavior (e.g. dolphins)
Hive protection (e.g. bees)
Protection/aide when ill (e.g. cetaceans)
Letting elderly eat first (e.g. wild dogs)
Alarm calls (e.g. vervet monkeys)

6. Blood is thicker than water
Kin Selection: behaviors that help a genetic relative are favored by natural selection
Burnstein, Crandall, & Kitayama (1994)
Choice of who to help is influenced by the “biological importance” of the outcome
People report a higher likelihood of helping a relative over a non-relative in a life-threatening situation (would help equally if not life-threatening)
Sime (1983)
Interviewed fire survivors
When they became aware of the fire, they were more likely to search for family members than even close friends

7. What else plays a role?
Reciprocity Norm: expectation that helping others increases the likelihood that they help us in the future
You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours
Social cooperation increases survival
Learning of Social Norms: adaptive for us to learn social norms from other members of the society
Best learners of the norms have survival advantage
We’re programmed to learn norms: one of those norms is altruism

8. All ties back to Empathy
Ability to put oneself “in the shoes” of another person and to experience events and emotions the way that person experiences them
Altruism-Empathy Hypothesis: when we feel empathy for another, we attempt to help that person purely for altruistic reasons, regardless of what we stand to gain
But motives are tricky: selfishness raises its head in subtle ways

9. Social Exchange Theory
Recall, it argues that much of what we do stems from the desire to maximize rewards and minimize costs
At the implicit level, we keep track of the rewards & costs in relationships
Helping also relieves distress in the bystander
By helping, we gain rewards like social approval and increased feelings of self-worth
Flip the coin: helping decreases when the costs are high
In situations of physical danger, pain, embarrassment or taking too much time
Perhaps true altruism really does not exist

10. Individual Differences
Not everyone is selfless…not everyone is selfish!
Altruistic Personality: aspects of a person’s design that leads them to help others in a wide variety of situations
Clearly A component in helping but not the ONLY component
Several other factors

11. Hollywood Hero or Shoulder to Cry On?
Research points to gender differences in prosocial helping behavior
Eagly & Crowley (1986)
Men help in more chivalrous, heroic and short-term ways
Women help in more nurturing, long-term roles
Women’s roles generally involved less danger but more commitment (e.g. volunteering)
REMEMBER! Individual differences still exist
McGuire (1994)
Men reported helping strangers more than women did
Women reported helping friend more than men did

12. Situational Factors
Where are others more likely to help you, in a small town or a big city?
Small town…but why?
Amato (1983)
Small towns, 50% helped: big cities, 15%
Urban Overload Hypothesis: people living in cities are constantly bombarded with stimuli and tune much of it out to avoid over-stimulation
Density more correlated with helping than population size is

13. Other Individual Components
Cultural differences: more likely to help someone in your “in-group” than in an “out-group”
Mood
Feel Good? Do Good.
Isen & Levin (1972)
84% of those who found dime helped: only 4% of those who did not find dime helped
Good moods increase helping for 3 reasons
Makes us “look on the bright side”
Helping prolongs our good mood
Increases self attention
Feel Bad? Do good.
Especially if you feel guilty (good deeds cancel out bad)
Harris, Benson & Hall (1975)
Negative State Hypothesis: help people to alleviate our own sadness & distress

14. The Bystander Effect
The greater the number of people who witness an emergency, the less likely anyone is to help
Kitty Genovese: 38 witnesses, NO HELP
Latané & Darley (1970)
Staged a seizure (with calls for help and choking sounds) in earshot of subject and a varying number of confederates
If subject thought they were the only person to hear call for help, 85% helped w/in 60sec (100% by 2.5min)
If they thought one other person also heard, only 62% helped within 60sec: 4 other bystanders? 31% within 60sec and only 62% within 6min!!
Helping never reached 100% if there were 2+ bystanders

15. “When there is a fire, 99% of people run out
“When there is a fire, 99% of people run out. Stop and think for a moment about that 1% that runs in!”
At one time or another, all of us will face an emergency in our lives
What is KEY is how we handle it
No one knows how they will respond in an emergency until they are faced with one
Normally rational people can lose it in a crisis and vice versa

16. Why did no one help??? Failure to Notice the Emergency
May be in too much of a hurry or inattentive
Darley & Batson (1973)
Failure to Diagnose the Emergency
Sometimes difficult to differentiate between an emergency and a non-emergency
Pluralistic Ignorance: phenomenon where bystanders assume nothing is wrong in an emergency because no one else looks concerned
Latané & Darley (1970) smoke study
Schemas return yet once again!
Failure to Assume Responsibility for Aid
We have to decide if it is our responsibility to act or someone else’s
Diffusion of Responsibility: phenomenon whereby each bystander’s sense of responsibility to help decreases as the number of witnesses increases

17. Why did no one help??? Did not know HOW to help
Lack the knowledge or the ability to render aid (e.g. CPR, etc.)
WHEN IN DOUBT, CALL 911!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Failed to implement a decision
Even if you know precisely what to do, may be reasons for you NOT to do so
Fear of embarrassment, lawsuits, “getting involved”, or physical danger
Bottom line? If you need help, you want JUST ONE other person with you

18. How can we increase helping?
Increase level of personal responsibility
If you need help in a crowd, don’t yell “help me!”…POINT ONE PERSON OUT and say “YOU! Go call 911 now and then COME BACK.” or “YOU!! Come put pressure on this wound.” Give clear, forceful commands, not requests
If you’re being attacked or raped, yell “FIRE!” not “RAPE!” to increase odds of being helped
Education works!
Savitsky, 1998: Coats, 1998
Beaman, Barnes, Klentz & McQuirk (1978)
Return to intrinsic motivation: don’t “pay” people to help, get them to help from within themselves
Stand up for our heroes and helpers: make them the icons and role models