PSY220H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Prosocial Behavior, Social Exchange Theory, Empathic Concern
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1 view: no such thing as altruism, everything if for self-interest, or kin-selection. 2 view: altruism exists, humans have something special (mother theresa) Why do people help: learning reinforced for helping in the past (modelling, reward/punishment, arousal, norms, behaviourism: helping is the by-product of the individual"s conditioning history. Altruism is prosocial behavior that requires no reward: arousal model: a prominent one is the cost-reward model (dovidio et al. , 1991; Cialdini et al. (1987) negative state relief model : arousal, labeling that arousal with a particular emotion, the label that"s generated is cued by situational features. Cialdini et al. (1987) found that people are less likely to help someone if immediately before the opportunity to help they receive praise or money, or if people are led to believe that helping does not improve mood. If you were feeling good right before, negative emotions from seeing another person"s distress no attributed to self, more likely to help.