11Pro-SocialBehaviorPsych 240; Fall 2007Purdue UniversityProf. Kipling Williams© Robert Brenner/PhotoEdit2What is Altruism?• Benefiting another at ones own expense• Risking or losing one’s life to save another• Selfless helping• Think of someinstances of selflesshelping….23What is Pro-Social Behavior?• Helping others– Donating time, effort, or money– Volunteering– Helping in an emergency– Helping in a non-emergency– Cooperating rather than competing4How Did Social Psychologists GetInterested in Pro-Social Behavior?• Murder of Kitty Genovese– March 13, 1964; 3:15am– Kew Gardens, in Queens, NYC– 38 witnesses; no one helped“We thought it was a lover’s quarrel!” said one tenant. “Frankly, wewere afraid,” said another witness. One woman who didn’t want hername used said, “I didn’t want my husband to get involved.” Othershad different explanations for their conduct. “We went to thewindow to see what was happening, but the light from our bedroommade it difficult to see the street.” There were lots of excuses.Maybe the most apathetic was the one who told reporters, “I wastired.” But the fact remained that dozens of people stood by andwatched a woman being brutally assaulted for an extended periodof time, and did nothing.35A Social Psychological Accountof the “Bystander Effect”• Lay person explanation for thelack of help tended to bedispositional– “Typical New Yorkers”– “What do you expect from peoplein a big city?”• Two social psychologists, BibbLatané and John Darley, thoughtthat perhaps the social situationmay have had a lot to do with it.Bibb LatanéJohn Darley6What is the “Bystander Effect”• The more bystanders that are present, theless likely any one of them will act to help– Note: This is NOT saying, the more peoplepresent the less likely the victim will receivehelp– Why does this effect occur?47Reasons for the“Bystander Effect”• Three main hypotheses:– Pluralistic ignorance• We look to others to see how to act– Social inhibition• We don’t want to draw negative attention toourselves– Diffusion of responsibility• The burden of helping is shared with others8Studies on the Bystander Effect• Where there’s smoke…– 75% of alone Ss reported,– 10% of those with confederates reported it– 38% in naïve 3-person groups reported it• Lady in distress– 70% of alone subjects responded– 7% responded if with a passive confederate– 40% of stranger pairs offered help59Studies on the Bystander Effect• Epileptic seizure– 85% of alone subjects responded– 31% responded when they thought there were 4other bystanders• Pencil dropping in elevators• Telephone answering• Does it really need to be an emergency?10Robustness of Bystander Effect• Latané & Nida (1981): Ten years ofresearch on the bystander effect– Robust across all emergency types andpopulations– While overall helping may increase or decreasebecause of a variety of issues, the pattern ofless helping with bystanders stood up611Evolutionary Psychology andPro-Social Behavior• Kin selection– We are more likely to help kin-genepreservation• Reciprocal altruism– Why we might be inclined to helpstrangers - long-term reciprocation• Is there real human altruism?– Empathy, Dan Batson - A motivationalstate with the goal of increasing anotherperson’s welfare• Pro-social personality– A pre-disposition to be helpful to others,Paul van Lange• Selfishness (Cialdini)Robert Cialdini12Danger, Arousal, and theBystander Effect• New study by Fischer et al, 2006 (EJSP)• Asks whether the bystander effect occurswhen there is high danger (to victim and/orto potential help-giver)• They hypothesize that when arousal is high(because of high danger), inhibition byothers (bystander effect) recedes713Method• 86 participants (54 females, 32 males)• Told they would be assessing degree of sexualinterest between couples who were meeting forfirst time.• Watched 3 live interactions, and madeassessments for each• Mild flirtation in first two interactions; 3rdinteraction contained the experimentalmanipulation143rd Interaction• Female was a 21 year old “petite female” with a fragilephysique• In High Danger condition, her counterpart was a “strongbuilt, thug-like male”• In Low Danger condition, her counterpart was a “skinnymale of small stature”• Over 5-min interaction:– Male:increasing dominance, sexual insinuation, sexual harassment,verbal insult, touching without permission, and shoving her to thewall.– Female: defended herself verbally and rejected the perpetrator andhis statements. She tries to leave before he shoves her815Bystander Manipulation• No Bystander– Participant was alone in a room watching the 3videos• Bystander– Participant watched videos with a confederatewho feigned disinterest in reacting to the 3rdvideo16DVs: Helping• Whether the participant tried to help– Leaving the viewing room to seek help or help directly• How fast they helped (in seconds)40%338s5.9%420sWithBystander44%377s50%393sAloneHigh DangerLow Danger917Arousal• Dangerous situations:– Increase empathic arousal– Are recognized faster as emergencies– Change cost/benefit ratio, such that costs for nothelping increase– Increase willingness to accept higher personal costs• Critique?18Volunteerism• “Altruism’s biggest motivator may be selfishness”(American Psychologist, Dec. 2006)• 1/3 adult Americans volunteer (Snyder, 2006)• 5 primary motivations (agendas) for volunteering– Values: satisfy personal values/humanitarian concerns/religiousreasons– Community concern: one to whom person feels attached– Esteem enhancement: feel better about self/escape otherpressures– Understanding: gain better understanding of others– Personal development: challenge self, meet new people• Empathy or Egoism? Does it really