Social Psychology, Lecture on April 16 , 2013
Prosocial Behavior
Any action that helps others.
Usually without direct benefit to self.
Different kinds.
o Dimension: planning, severity, directness.
McGuire’s typology.
o Casual, substantial, emotional, emergency.
Emergency helping:
Five steps to emergency helping,
1. Noticing
2. Interpreting
3. Assuming responsibility
4. Deciding
5. Rendering
Noticing the emergency.
Time pressures.
o Darley and Batson, 1973: “Good Samaritan” study.
Students studying to become priests. Finished studies and
were told that they had to go give a talk. (IV:) Some were
told they had to talk about job opportunities other had to
take about being a good Samaritan. (IV:) Some were told
they had lots of time until their talk, others were told they
were already late. On the way to the talk, a man who was
slumped in a doorway and seemingly hurt was present, men
who had time before their talk, 63% helped. When the
priests were told they were late, 10% helped.
Bystander effect: as the number of bystanders increase, emergency helping
tends to decrease.
o Kitty incident: woman is assaulted after work; over thirty witnesses
overheard her screams but no one in the neighborhood bothered to
call the police. In a half an hour period, the murderer assaulted her
three different times and finally killed her after nobody helped her.
Interpreting the event as an emergency.
o Is the correct schema activated?
James Bulger
o Pluralistic ignorance,
Believing that n one else is feeling the way you are.
Contributes to bystander effect.
Taking responsibility.
o Diffusion of responsibility.
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