PSY 345 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Murder, Murder Of Kitty Genovese, Social Influence
Thursday, October 5, 2017
Prosocial Behavior continued & Aggression and Social Coercion
Prosocial Behavior
- Norms
o Written/unwritten, spoke/unspoken, or shared rules in a social group for
appropriate behavior
o Rules are internalized through repetition, reward, and punishment – direct
punishment, direct reinforcement, or social learning
▪ Social psychologists agree that reciprocity is a universally practiced norm
in human social groups
▪ Represents and obligation to benefit people who have benefited you in the
past
o Golden rule
o The other side of the argument is that reciprocity works when negative actions are
shared between individuals and groups
o As a norm, reciprocity seems to be an active social norm in most human cultures
– a give receives a gift back, a punch to the face receive a punch back to the face
(karma)
o Fairness – this standard practice is built into most societal laws in human society
and advises against unequal treatment towards people
o Brosnan and de Wall Study (2003)
▪ Researchers trained some monkeys to exchange tokens for food
▪ When the monkeys trained were get cucumbers for tokens were able to see
the monkeys trained to get grapes, they either refused to continue trading
the tokens or rejected the cucumber pieces when they got them
▪ It seems that exposing the monkeys to different treatments (grapes >
cucumber) resulted in a drastic behavior change
o “Anger and resentment are associated with feeling under benefited, as is increased
disapproval of the over benefited partner” (p. 273)
o In human society, laws and societal rules have been set up in an attempt to combat
unfair practices
▪ Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth – reciprocity
▪ All people have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness –
fairness
- Equity Theory – states that people are motivated to preserve a state in which the
relationship between an outcome and an effort is equal for all individuals in a social
group or relationship
o Ex: playing golf allows for “handicaps” for better players to make the game
balanced for less experienced players
o Shows that people are motivated to engage in prosocial behavior when they
encounter inequality
▪ Guilt is connected to the norm of fairness
▪ When people believed they harmed another person they generally engage
in prosocial behavior that is proportional to how much harm was done
find more resources at oneclass.com
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▪ The more inequality there is the more prosocial behavior there is to equate
it
- Some theorists argue that prosocial behavior is displayed by people for egotistical or
self-serving reasons/selfish reasons
o People are motivated to engage in prosocial behavior to receive material reward,
positive social interaction, or self-administered rewards
o People are motivated to engage in prosocial behavior if it avoids punishment by
taking away materials, positive social interactions, or self-administered rewards
o People are motivated to engage in prosocial behavior if it will reduce potentially
aversive arousal (guilt) or increase potentially positive arousal (gratitude, respect)
in the future
- Other research focuses on the more altruistic nature of prosocial behavior – that human
beings engage in this kind of behavior ultimately to benefit others
- The Negative State Relief Model
o Cialdini, Darby, and Vincent (1973) proposed a model similar to self-serving
model, but incorporates positive emotions into the reasons behind prosocial
behavior
o They believed that people help others (or engage in generally prosocial behavior)
to reduce their own distress – however, this reduction in distress occurs because
the person experiences a positive emotion from the prosocial behavior (I want to
get rid of this bad feeling so I’m going to do something good to feel good)
- Arousal-Cost-Reward Model
o Dovidio, Piliavin, Gaertner, Schroeder, and Clark (1981) developed this model to
explain the motivations that lead people to respond with prosocial behavior during
emergency services
o The more energy it requires, the less likely you are to jump in and help someone
o According to this theory, the following circumstances would best predict
prosocial behavior in an emergency situation…
▪ The more negative emotional reactions that a person experiences
during an emergency situation
▪ When the victim(s) share similar qualities, characteristics, or group
identities with the helper
▪ When the cost of helping or engaging in prosocial behavior is low,
compared to the self-serving reward from helping others
- The Empathy – Altruism Hypothesis
o Hypothesis for how helping behavior is reliably elicited by empathy for other
people in need. Batson et al. describes empathy as “an other-oriented emotional
responses elicited by and congruent with perceived welfare of someone else”
o People argue it is selfish and not altruistic
o People do this to avoid breaking norms and avoid punishment
o You feel negative in a negative situation not because of the person’s pain but
because you are not helping so this encourages prosocial behavior
- Personality Traits
o People who display traits of responsibility, empathy, and have a strong ability to
perceive themselves tend to be the most capable people to engage in prosocial
behavior in any given situation
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Prosocial behavior continued & aggression and social coercion. Other research focuses on the more altruistic nature of prosocial behavior that human beings engage in this kind of behavior ultimately to benefit others. The empathy altruism hypothesis compared to the self-serving reward from helping others: hypothesis for how helping behavior is reliably elicited by empathy for other people in need. This type of thinking is most likely acted upon to make sure that others receive the help they need and whether or not the help is given. They are also more likely to provide direct aid to family members in times of stress and care for older adults than men will. Women are helped much more than men are. People tend to help people who are most similar to their own demographic features. People are more likely to aid members of a social group they belong to in emergency or non-emergency situations.
