Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 12
Chapter TwelveHelpful Social Behavior
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 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/WigginsChapter 12
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 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/WigginsChapter 12
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 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/WigginsChapter 12
Factors Influencing Helping
• Social norms
• Modeling helpful behavior
• Blaming the victim
• Good mood
• Guilt
• Individual differences
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 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/WigginsChapter 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/WigginsChapter 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/WigginsChapter 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/WigginsChapter 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/WigginsChapter 12
Concept Review
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 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/WigginsChapter 12
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 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/WigginsChapter 12
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 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/WigginsChapter 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/WigginsChapter 12
Concept Review
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 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/WigginsChapter 12
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 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/WigginsChapter 12
Concept Review
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 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/WigginsChapter 12
Social Support and Health
• Four ways that social support influences health:
– informational support
– instrumental support
– companionship support
– emotional support