Prosocial Behavior - Why do People Help Answers 1

CHAPTER 11: PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR: WHY DO PEOPLE HELP? _______________________________________________________________________________ Multiple Choice Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question. 1. Recall that the introduction to Chapter 11 (Prosocial Behavior) began with a description of several of the citizenheroes of September 11, 2001—for example William Wik, who refused to flee to personal safety because there were still people to be rescued. He died when the tower collapsed. Wik was willing to sacrifice his own life to save others, and his behavior could thus best be described as a. altruistic. b. prosocial. c. evolutionarily adaptive. d. an example of kin selection. Answer: A 2. Julianna likes to contribute to worthy charities because she can help others and, at the same time, get a tax deduction. Julianna is engaging in a. altruism. b. dissonance reduction. c. hypocrisy. d. prosocial behavior. Answer: D 3. ________ refers to any act that someone performs in order to benefit another person. a. Prosocial behavior b. Altruism c. Kin selection d. Empathy Answer: A 4. Whereas ________ is any act performed to benefit another, ________ is such an act performed with no regard for one’s safety or interests. a. altruism; prosocial behavior b. prosocial behavior; self-help c. prosocial behavior; altruism d. altruism; self-sacrifice Answer: C 5. Prosocial behavior is to ________ as altruism is to ________. a. selflessness; pure motive b. rewards; good mood c. rewards; selflessness d. feeling good; avoiding feeling bad Answer: C 6. Allen volunteers to visit the homes of AIDS patients because those visits help him forget about his own problems. This is an example of ________ behavior. a. altruistic b. self-sacrificing c. prosocial d. reciprocal Answer: C 7. Prosocial behavior is a. performed with the goal of benefiting another person. b. appreciated by everyone we help. c. performed without regard to a person’s self-interest. d. all of the above. Answer: A 8. Marla has revised her will to ensure that upon her death, all of her functioning organs (corneas, liver, kidneys, heart, and so on) will be used to help transplant patients. She’s told no one about her actions, and expects nothing in return. This is an example of a(n) ________ behavior. a. altruistic b. evolutionarily adaptive c. self-sacrificing d. normative Answer: A 9. Reuben has three cats at home and doesn’t want another one. Still, on the way home from work, he stops to rescue a kitten from the highway. This is an example of ________ behavior. a. prosocial b. altruistic c. sociobiological d. self-interested Answer: B 10. ________ refers to the desire to help another person, even if such help involves cost to the helper. a. Prosocial behavior b. Altruism c. Empathy d. Reciprocity Answer: B 11. Which of the following is the best example of altruistic behavior? a. Julie puts a dollar in the church collection basket because everyone else donates. b. Lexy volunteers at her son’s school to help out his class. c. Robert anonymously donates a kidney to a twenty-year-old accident victim he will never meet. d. Lou helps his wife with the dishes in the hopes that she’ll cook dinner more often. Answer: C 12. Evolutionary psychology is the study of a. how our environment modifies inherited characteristics. b. the immediate influence our biology has on how we react to social situations. c. social behaviors as a result of genetic factors and natural selection. d. application of social psychology to the study of biological processes. Answer: C 13. According to evolutionary theory (Darwin, 1859), natural selection favors genes that promote individual survival. This tenet is most troublesome in explaining a. aggression. b. altruism. c. prosocial behavior. d. the protection of the young. Answer: B 14. Charles Darwin, an evolutionary theorist, found it difficult to explain altruism. From an evolutionary perspective, it would initially seem that over centuries and generations, altruistic behaviors would ________ because ________. a. increase; more unfit offspring might survive b. disappear; self-sacrifice would produce fewer offspring c. disappear; only the fittest, most selfless offspring would survive d. remain unchanged; the gene pool would become more variable Answer: B 15. Evolutionary psychology would have the most trouble explaining which of the following incidents? a. Samuel risks his life to save his nephew in a car accident. b. Jane runs in to save her adopted daughter from a fire. c. When Alphonso was put in the unfortunate situation of saving his wife or his son in a boating accident, he chose to save his son first, and his wife died. d. When Larry was on a ship going down at sea, he let everyone else be saved ahead of him, even though everyone on the ship was a complete stranger to him. Answer: D 16. The idea that natural selection favors behaviors that help a genetic relative is known as a. kin selection. b. familial selection. c. kinship bias. d. familial reciprocity. Answer: A 17. According to the evolutionary psychology notion of kin selection, Bob is most likely to help his a. cousin Herbert. b. step-sister Sally. c. brother Ralph. d. best friend Randall. Answer: C 18. According to evolutionary psychologists, why would Doris be more likely to save her children than her parents in a life-threatening emergency? Doris’s children a. are more likely to pass on her genes. b. are less likely to be able to save themselves. c. share more genes in common with Doris than do her parents. d. are more likely to seek Doris out than are her parents. Answer: A 19. Researchers (Burnstein, Crandall, & Kitayama, 1994) found that when participants imagined a house fire, they were more likely to help some people than other people. Based on these researchers’ findings, it seems that in lifeand-death situations, a. norms are more important than is genetic similarity. b. culture is more important than biology. c. biological relatives are more likely to be helped than are nonrelatives. d. women are more sensitive to norms, and men more sensitive to biology. Answer: C 20. A giant tornado is bearing down on Dorothy’s farmhouse. She only has time to help one other resident. Based on research regarding kin selection, whom will Dorothy take with her to the storm cellar? a. her sister, Glenda b. her grandmother, Margaret c. her beloved dog, Toto d. her favorite farm hand, Ray Answer: A 21. Based on evidence from studies presented in the chapter on evolutionary explanations of helping behavior, whom would you be the most likely to help if she had just spilled the contents of her purse? a. your friend b. your cousin c. your sister d. You would be equally likely to help anyone. Answer: D 22. Although evidence from studies presented in the chapter suggests that people are more likely to help family than strangers or friends in some situations, they also note that people are equally likely to help a friend or family member under which of the following circumstances? a. a life-threatening emergency b. a life-threatening nonemergency c. any life-threatening situation d. a non-life-threatening situation Answer: D 23. In explaining the process by which kin selection works to encourage altruism, evolutionary psychologists would argue that a. helpers consciously consider “biological importance” before helping. b. norms have arisen to replace ingrained human behavior. c. over millennia, genes of those who follow the “biological importance” rule will survive. d. the “biological importance” rule is used only in life-and-death situations. Answer: C 24. One consequence of living by the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” is that if you help those in need, they might return the favor someday. This idea is best represented by a. the norm of obedience. b. the norm of reciprocity. c. informational social influence. d. normative social influence. Answer: B 25. Some evolutionary psychologists argue that in our distant past, those who selfishly pursued their own individual interests would be less likely to survive to pass on their genes. This argument lies at the heart of ________ as a source of altruistic behavior. a. kin selection b. social exchange c. the reciprocity norm d. the ability to learn social norms Answer: C 26. In a group setting, one member could take advantage of the help that he/she receives from the other group members, thereby exploiting the reciprocity norm to his/her advantage. Some researchers believe that instead ________ evolved. a. gratitude b. diffusion of responsibility c. bystander effect d. volunteering Answer: A 27. Why would gratitude evolve in a social group? a. to motivate us to return help we have received from others b. to increase the costs of helping c. to make people feel empathy d. to facilitate group selection Answer: A 28. Helga stops and helps Bjorn change a flat tire along the road because she figures that one day she’ll need help and someone will return the favor. This best illustrates the idea of a. paying it forward. b. reciprocity. c. karmic law. d. evolution. Answer: B 29. Why are many biologists skeptical about the concept of group selection? a. Classic evolutionary theory proposes that the processes of natural selection operate only at the individual, not the group level. b. Humans have not lived in groups for very long in their evolutionary history. c. Evolutionary theory does not have any interesting in examining the concept of altruism. d. Evolutionary theory believes it does an adequate job of explaining altruism with concepts such as rewards and costs. Answer: A 30. The groups of people who live among those who are ________ may be more likely to survive than those people who live among groups of people who are ________. This idea is referred to as ________. a. selfless; selfish; altruism b. selfish; selfless; natural selection c. selfless; selfish; group selection d. selfish; selfless; altruism Answer: C 31. Your text offers several challenges that evolutionary psychology has not been able to address. Which of the following would also challenge evolutionary rationales for helping behavior? a. Mario calls an ambulance to help his elderly mother, who is dying. b. Susan runs out into a busy freeway to save a wounded animal. c. Henry saves his daughter before he saves his sister from a flooded basement. d. Sarah helps her biological daughter before helping her step-son escape a fire. Answer: B 32. A principal theory in social psychology is social exchange theory. According to this theory, we will be most likely to help others a. when the benefits outweigh the costs. b. who are closely related to us. c. who have already helped us. d. for whom we feel empathy. Answer: A 33. Social exchange theory would have the most trouble explaining which of the following helping situations? a. Anna visits people with AIDS as a requirement of her health psychology course. b. Theo calmly walks into heavy traffic to rescue a stranger who collapsed in the crosswalk. c. On the way home from work, David drops off some notes for a classmate. d. A wealthy businesswoman makes a hefty donation to her congressman. Answer: B 34. The main tenet of social exchange theory is that we will help others when a. the rewards outweigh the costs. b. the rewards are high. c. the costs are low. d. they have already helped us. Answer: A 35. ________ theory would be most likely to mention such factors as social approval and increased self-worth as motivations for prosocial behavior. a. Evolutionary b. Social exchange c. Norm activation d. Empathy-altruism Answer: B 36. Complete the following analogy. Reward of helping: ________ :: cost of helping: ________. a. relieves distress; embarrassment b. pain; time c. danger; relieve distress d. embarrassment; pain Answer: A 37. You ask your brother if you can borrow his car for a date on Saturday night. Before handing over the keys, he asks in jest, “What’s in it for me?” His question best reflects ________ as applied to prosocial behavior. a. the empathy-altruism hypothesis b. social exchange theory c. the reciprocity norm d. an egocentric perspective Answer: B 38. Elaine explains that she donates money to charity because, “It makes me feel like I’m investing in the future. It just feels good!” Her motive for helping is best described by which theory? a. evolutionary b. social exchange c. kin selection d. empathy-altruism Answer: B 39. The authors provide the text of a UPI story describing the discovery of the bones of a disabled dwarf in a cave in northern Italy. The reporters speculate that over 12,000 years ago, early hominids would take care of the disabled members of their group. ________ would argue that the bones belonged to a dwarf who was related to the other cave inhabitants, whereas ________ would argue that the other inhabitants relied on the dwarf for some unknown purpose. a. Social exchange theorists; evolutionary theorists b. Evolutionary theorists; social exchange theorists c. Social psychologists; evolutionary theorists d. Social exchange theorists; social psychologists Answer: B 40. Although George wants to help a stranded motorist he passed on the freeway, he passes by because he knows it would take too much time out of his busy schedule. What theory offers the best explanation as to why George did not help? a. evolutionary b. negative-state relief c. empathy-altruism d. social exchange Answer: D 41. ________ refers to the ability to experience events or emotions from another person’s perspective. a. Empathy b. Identification c. Altruism d. Transference Answer: A 42. A child starts to cry after she sees her best friend trip and scrape her knee. The child’s behavior is most likely an example of a. fear. b. confusion. c. empathy. d. shame. Answer: C