HELPING

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HELPING

• CHAPTER 12

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HELPING EXAMPLES

• Man in New York jumps on subway rail to rescue a
  little boy is nearly killed by the train
  himself
• Black construction worker pulls a White male from
  his burning home and gives him mouth-to-mouth
  under the Confederate flag in the yard
• Thousands of Gentiles gave refuge to Jews in
  Nazi Germany knowing that they would be killed if
  caught

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ALTRUSIM

• Without any reward, people offer directions,
  donate , give blood, volunteer time
• As old as the Parable of the Good Samaritan

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SOCIAL EXCHANGE THEROY

• Human interactions tend to maximize rewards and
  minimize costs
• Holmes (1997) Ss tend to donate more if a
  product, service, reward is offered even if they
  dont want the reward
• Tend to help those who can help us or who we
  perceive to be attractive Krebs (1979)
• Giving emotional support to ones partner was
  positive to giver, boosted their mood
• Myers no credit to humanity that helping is so
  inherently rewarding, so prosocial

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B.F. SKINNER ( 1971

• We credit people for their good deeds when we
  cant explain them
• When external causes are known, we credit the
  cause
• EGOISM motivates most behavior
• HEDONISM seek pleasure , avoid pain

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INTERNAL REWARDS

• INTERNAL SELF RREWARDS
• GUILT help in order to reduce guilt both
  individually cultural
• Cultural guilt reduced by human/animal
  sacrifice, ritual offering of grain/, penitent
  behavior, confession, denial
• Tend to be eager to help after doing bad to
  reduce private guilt restore public image

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NEGATIVE MOOD

• Negative mood tends to decrease helping in
  children see unhelpful characters in stories as
  happier
• Tends to increase helping in adults altruism is
  its own self reward, a learned behavior (
  modeling) socialization
• We are born selfish

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HAPPINESS HELPING

• HAPPY Ss tend to help when asked for donation,
  experimenter asked for help with paper work, or
  woman dropped stack of papers
• Helping sustains a good mood
• Positive thinkers act positively

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SOCIAL NORMS

• RECIPROCITY NORM Help those who help you
• RESPONSIBILITY NORM Ss will help when there is
  no reward or they remain anonymous
• GENDER NORM
• Men offered help to females
• Females offered help equally
• Females ask for more help and receive more help

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EGO
EMOTION
MOTIVATION
BEHAVIOR
DISTRESS Upset Anxious disturbed
Help? To reduce own stress
Egoistic Act to reduce Own stress
VIEWING OTHERS DISTRESS
Helping others To reduce Their stress
Empathy For other
Altruistic Reduce others stress
ALTRUISTIC
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BYSTANDER DYNAMICS

• Drunk youth in Central Park NY grope and strip 60
  women. None of the many bystanders with cell
  phones called for help
• Latane Darley (1970)
• Lone bystanders more likely to help
• As number of bystanders increases, helping or
  attending decreases
• Less likely to notice
• Less likely to interpret as problem/emergency
• Les likely to assume responsibility

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LATANE DARLEY DECISION TREE
HELP
YES
ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY
YES
NO
INTERPERT AS EMERGENCY (?)
NO HELP
YES
NO
NOTICE INDIDENT
NO HELP
NO
NO HELP
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We often do not know why we do what we do
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COMPASSION FATIGUE

• Overwhelmed by the numbers of people in need
• Everyone in helping professions Medical, Police,
  Fire, Rescue, Counselors, Clergy, Teachers

Helping behavior decreases, Depression suicide
increase
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More likely to help after just witnessing
someone being helped.
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Similarity breeds cooperation
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PERSONALITY TRAITSHELPING

• High in positive emotionality, empathy,
  self-efficacy
• Some are just more helpful
• High in self monitoring

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Spirituality predicts helping
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Increasing helping
Reduce ambiguity Increase sense of
responsibility for all (others) Reduce Guilt
Door-in the-Face
Chaperoning Response Teaching Moral Inclusion
NOT EXCLUSION Modeling altruism Avoid
Over-justification Effect Rewarding behaviors
that would have been done anyway