Prosocial Behavior

Prosocial Behavior: socially desirable behavior that benefits others ●​ Altrisum: proscoail behavior that is done with no expectation of reward and may involve the risk of harm to oneself "hero" ○​ Sociobiologists see this as preserving one's genetic material, even at the cost of one's own life ○​ Ex, male spiders are willing to become dinner for females after fertilization to ensure their genes will be passed onto offspring ○​ Brain region: temporopariteal junction (TPJ) right hemisphere is larger in individuals who make altrusistic choices. More active during decision making ●​ Egoism: procosical behavior motivated by self-interest Why People Won't Help? Winston Mosely stabbed and rapped Catherine "Kitty" Genovese with 38 people passing by without doing anything. There was conflicting info abt who actually saw it. The attacks were hidden but lots of passing along the info to get help Bystander Effect: presence of other people affects the decision to help or not help, with help becoming less likely as the number of bystanders increases ●​ Study Bibb Latane and John Darley: participants in room where it starts to smoke. In "participant alone" ¾ left the room. In the "three participants" only 1/3 left the room. In the confederates room, only 1/10 left Diffusion of Responsibility: person fails to take responsibility for actions or inaction because of the presence of other people who are seen to share the responsibility ●​ Bystander effect don't do so out of not empathy or not caring, but due to this effect Help or Don't Help: Five Decision Points – Ambiguous, mood, attraction, deserved, race, social identity values AMARDS ●​ the more ambiguous a situation is, the less likely it will be defined as an emergency so they won't help especially if others are nearby as they seek to others to see if its an emergency or not. So since no one is moving they assume its not an emergency. ●​ People in a happy mood are more likely to help only if it doesn't ruin their mood ●​ Physically attractive people are more likely to be helped ●​ Women are more likely to recieve help than men if the bystander is male but not if the bystander is female ●​ Victims that seem like "they deserve it" are less likely to be helped (ex. Homelesss vs business man) ●​ Racial/Ethnic differences between the victim and bystander are ●​ Social Identify Theory: helping behavior may be increased by their groups' norms/values. Bystander effect may decrease if people don't encounter eah other as strangers ●​ Noticing: realizing that this situation might be an emergency NDTPT ○​ Factor influencing this: hearing a loud crash or noise for help ●​ Defining an Emergency: interpreting the cues as signaling an emergency ○​ Loud crash is associated with car crash so people are hurt ○​ Pluralistic Ignorance: apparently calm reaction of others leads to non-emergency interpretation ○​ Audience Inhibition: fear of over-reaction leads to interpretation as non-emergency ●​ Taking Responsibility: personally assuming the responsibility to act ○​ A single bystander is more likely to act than with more present ●​ Planning a Course of Action: deciding how to help and what skill might be needed ○​ People who feel they have the necessary skills to help are more likely to help ●​ Taking Action: actually helping ○​ Costs of helping (danger to self) outweigh the rewards of helping