7125 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Egotism, Helping Behavior, Personal Distress
21 Jun 2018
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Department
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Professor
Lecture 10
Prosocial behaviour
- Question
oDo we ever help others for purely altruistic (selfless) reasons? Or do we always think
about our self interest?
Empathy-altruism hypothesis
- Definitions
oProsocial behaviour – acts that are positively valued by society
oHelping behavior – voluntary acts that intentionally benefit someone else
oEgoistic helping – helping where the goal of the helper is to increase their own
welfare
oAltruistic behaviour – helping where the goal of the helper is to increase another’s
welfare without expecting anything in return
- Is it egoism or altruism?
o
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Altruism
Egoism
Egoism
Altruism
Altruisim/egoism
altruism
- Why do we help?
oSocial exchange
Human interactions are transactions that aim to maximise ones rewards and
minimize ones costs
Rewards that motivate people can be internal or external
Inclusive of feelings (interal) or gifts
oPiliavin, dovideio, gaertner and clarks bystander-calculus model
Includes both physiological, cognitive and environmental factors
Bystanders calculate the perceived costs and benefits of providing help
1) Physiological arousal - Witnessing an emergency -> physiological
arousal, greater arousal -> greater chance of helping
2) Labelling the arousal – is arousal labelled as personal distress (feel
for self) or empathetic concern (feel for victim)?
3) Calculating the costs – weight up costs of helping and not helping
Costs of helping
Time and effort
Personal injury etc
Costs of not helping – empathy and personal costs
Empathy costs – bystander experiences distress
Personal costs – bystander experiences blame or guilt
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Lower cost of not helping – ie blame the person
Indirectly help – ie call emergency services
oPiliavin, rodin and piliavin 1969
Field experiment conducted in subway
4 confederates: victim, model and 2 observers
Variables manipulated included: victim (drunk or ill), victim race (black or
white), model (presence or absence)
Results
Ill person receives more help than drunk
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Document Summary
Why do we help: social exchange. Human interactions are transactions that aim to maximise ones rewards and minimize ones costs. Rewards that motivate people can be internal or external. Inclusive of feelings (interal) or gifts: piliavin, dovideio, gaertner and clarks bystander-calculus model. Costs of not helping empathy and personal costs. Personal costs bystander experiences blame or guilt. Lower cost of not helping ie blame the person. Indirectly help ie call emergency services: piliavin, rodin and piliavin 1969. Variables manipulated included: victim (drunk or ill), victim race (black or white), model (presence or absence) Ill person receives more help than drunk: attribution of responsibility, cost of helping for drunk may be violent, vomit on you ect. Only small differences across race same race helping more likely with drunk victim. No evidence of diffusion of responsibility as group size increases: piliavin and piliavin 1972. Unbloodied victim helped more quickly than bloodied victim. More indirect helping occurred in the blood condition: social norms.
