Altruism

1
Altruism Aggression

• Social Psychology 2120S1 June 4th
• Guest Lecturer Zarsheesh Divecha

2
Lecture Outline

• Part 1) Altruism and Prosocial Behavior
• Definitions - How do we know / recognize it?
• What factors drive helping behavior?
• WHO do we help? WHY do we help them?
• Motivational factors Situational factors
  (Bystander Effect)
• BREAK 10 minutes
• Part 2) Aggression
• The different types of aggression
• What causes aggression Biological and Social
• Possible gender differences?
• Situational factors E.g. Heat and aggression

3
What is prosocial behavior?
Prosocial Behavior
Benevolence
Pure Altruism
4
Type of Behavior
Definition
Example
Any action intended to benefit another
(regardless of motive)
Giving a large tip to a waiter to impress your
boss with your generosity
Prosocial Behavior
Benefits another intentionally for no external
reward
Giving 20 to a charity to make yourself feel
good inside
Benefits another intentionally for no external or
internal reward
Jumping into a river to save someone who cannot
swim
Benevolence
Pure Altruism
5
Altruism - Defined

• A special form of helping that shows concern for
  fellow human beings, and is performed without
  expectation of personal gain.
• Altruism denotes unselfish/selfless behaviour
  where the altruist puts other peoples interest
  before her/his own.
• Autrui French for other people as coined by
  Auguste Comte.

6
Helping Behavior Motivational Factors

• Evolutionary Approach
• natural selection occurs at the species level
• kinship selection
• preferential helping of genetic relatives
• e.g., Greenberg (1979)
• - Who would you save from a burning building?

7
The roof is on fire
80
60
Likelihood of running into a burning building
40
20
0
.5(parents, siblings, children)
.25 (grand-parents)
.125 (first cousins)
None (attractive strangers)
Degree of relatedness
(Burnstein, Crandall, Kitayama, 1994)
8
Motivational Factors

• Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis
• The ability to sense someone elses situation has
  been associated with altruistic behaviour (Brehm
  et al 2002).
• Perspective taking (Batson 1991) creates
  empathic understanding increases the likelihood
  of helping

9
Motivational Factors

• Social Learning Theory
• Modelling reproducing observed behaviour (real
  or symbolic)
• (Bryan Test, 1967) used a model to see if
  people would help an unknown motorist.
  Participants that had seen an earlier example of
  helping were more helpful.
• Operant conditioning Rewarding helping behaviour
  tends to increase the behaviour

10
Motivational Factors

• Managing Emotions
• Good mood enhances helping behaviours while bad
  mood hinders it
• Helping maintains enhances good mood
• Good mood enhances awareness of environment the
  possibility of noticing someone in need (Smith
  Mackie 2000)

11
(1) Arousal / Cost-Reward Model
(2) Negative State Relief Model
Functions in non-emergencies Observers help
others in order to manage mood (e.g. increase
positive affect) (Cialdini, Kenrick Baumann,
1982) Increases in likelihood when - Sadness is
present - Cost of helping is low, benefit is
high - Type of helping is relevant (to mood)

• Functions in emergencies
• Observers help others in order to relieve their
  own personal distress (Dovidio, Piliavin,
  Gaertner, Schroeder, Clark, 1991)
• Increases in likelihood when
• - Arousal is strong
• - Close relationship with victim and helper
• - Reducing arousal is low-cost / high-reward

12
Motivational Factors

• Deserving cases
• People make judgements as to whether the person
  deserves their help. They make an attribution in
  terms of controllability.
• For example if a drunk has fallen down we are
  less likely to help than if it is a frail elderly
  person with a walking stick.

13
What about other people might make us more likely
to help them?

• Pre-existing relationship
• Friends vs. family vs. coworkers etc.
• Perspective taking
• Empathize with another person, enter their world
• Attractiveness
• Attractive others are helped more and also seen
  as more deserving of help
• What else?
• The type of help needed
• What the situation permits and allows for

14
Situational Factors

• We help in a situation to for status and social
  approval.
• Social responsibility norm ? societal rule that
  we should help those in need
• Bystanders are NOT the best sources of help
• Diffusion of responsibility ? tendency for each
  group member to dilute personal responsibility
  for acting by spreading it among other group
  members

15
Kitty Genovese Case

• Kitty Genovese (Latane Darley, 1964) was raped
  stabbed to death in front of her apartment
  building
• Kitty Genovese was murdered by Winston Mosely
  over the course of half an hour.
• She was stabbed repeatedly and after her
  assailant left she staggered to the corner and
  screamed for help.
• Of the 38 people who heard from the nearby flats,
  no-one helped or called the police.

16
Bystander Intervention

• Do people always interpret situations as needing
  help?
• Pluralistic ignorance
• Would you do anything if smoke started filling
  the room?
• If the goal of helping is for status or approval,
  should we always expect help?
• Private or unidentifiable situations
• Assumptions of previous relationship

17
What should you do?

• Bystanders much more likely to help when woman
  shouts I dont know you vs. I dont know why I
  ever married you (Shotland Straw, 1976)
• In emergency
• Attacked label attack as socially inappropriate
  (attacker as stranger)
• To bystanders remove uncertainties
• Identify need I need help
• Identify individual You with the green jacket
• Give instructions Call the police

18
Effect of onlookers on help
Others as sources of help
Others as sources of whether helping is called for
Others as sources of approval or disapproval for
helping
The Helping Decision
19
When and how are we more likely to help?

• Need for approval
• Awareness of norms
• Gender differences
• Cultural norms
• Population density
• Type of help needed
• Public or private?

Person
Situation
20
Questions?
21
Part 2 Aggression
22
What is aggression?

• Aggression ? behavior intended to injure another
  person and inflict harm
• Behavior (not angry feelings)
• Intended (not accidental)
• Aimed at hurting (not playfulness)
• Assertiveness ? behavior
• intended to express
• confidence or dominance

23
Type of Aggression
Definition
Example
Indirect Aggression
Attempt to hurt another without obvious
face-to-face conflict
Spreading a rumor that your ex-romantic partner
has a venereal disease
Behavior intended to hurt someone to his or her
face
A hockey player punches another player for no
reason
A bad day leads someone to have road rage while
driving home
Hurtful behavior that stems from angry feelings
Direct Aggression
Hurting someone to accomplish a (non-aggressive)
goal
A mother spanks a child to keep him from
disobeying rules
Emotional Aggression
Instrumental Aggression
24
What Causes Aggression?

• Sociobiological Theories
• Amygdala and Hippocampus (limbic system)
  stimulation can elicit aggression
• Genetic basis mice who have been bred for
  aggression -- show aggression in 2nd or 3rd
  generation (Lagerspetz, 1979)
• Serotonin Has a calming effect on aggression
  lower levels cause aggressive behavior?
• Testosterone males are more physically
  aggressive than females (Maccoby Jacklin,1974)

25
What Causes Aggression?

• Social Theories
• media violence eg violent police drama or
  exciting, non-violent sporting event
• TV violence and violent crime (longitudinal
  study)
• the more violence watched at age 8, the more
  likely they were to commit violent crime at age
  30 (Huesmann 1986)

26
What Causes Aggression?

• Social Theories
• Modeling successful aggression (Bandura, 1973)
• Bobo Doll experiment
• Instrumental aggression - cost-benefit analysis
• Personal Abilities
• children who find it easy to do (Perry et al.,
  1986)
• Gender Differences
• men perceive it to be less costly than women
  (Eagly, 1987)

27
Gender differences in aggression

• Are males or females more aggressive?
• Aggression is equal among females and males when
  types are lumped together
• Females tend to use more indirect aggression and
  males more direct
• Males aggression more likely to do physical harm,
  but
• Females more likely to use physical aggression
  against partners

28
Aggression styles across male and female school
children
29
Causes of Aggression

• Frustration-Aggression Theory
• Frustration elicits a motive to aggress
• All aggression is caused by frustration An
  automatic response to any goal-directed behavior
• Any unpleasant stimulation leads to emotional
  aggression to the extent that it generates
  negative feelings
• Barker et al. (1941)
• children expecting to play with toys, but were
  kept from doing so
• much more destructive than children who were not
  frustrated

30
What moderates annoyance?

• Unpleasant situations
• Crowds
• Heat
• Poverty
• Pain
• Person factors
• Personality type
• Education level
• Need for structure

31
Heat and Aggression

• Increases in temperature associated with
• More aggressive driving
• Increased of assaults
• Increased of murders
• Increased of urban riots
• Major league pitchers throwing balls at batters

32
0.6
Will this trend continue?
0.5
Players Hit Per Game
0.4
0.3
below 70
70-79
80-89
90
(Reifman, Larrick, Fein, 1991)
33
Curvilinear hypothesis
Why?
Aggression
80s
90s
60s
Temp
34
Is it just frustration - aggression?

• Cognitive-neoassociation theory ? unpleasant
  situations trigger chain of events
• Negative thoughts
• Negative emotions
• Fight or flight dependent on other situational
  cues
• What specific cues might prime fight or flight?

35
Unpleasant Experiences (pain, heat, etc.)
Negative Feelings
OR
Angry thoughts and associations
Fearful thoughts and associations
Angry thoughts and associations
Flight
Fight
Fight
36
Unpleasant Experiences (pain, heat, etc.)
Negative Feelings
OR
Objects or Events Priming Aggression
Fearful thoughts and associations
Angry thoughts and associations
Angry thoughts and associations
Flight
Fight
Fight
37
Questions?
38
Next Class

• Class 9 Wednesday, June 6th
• In-class Exam 2
• Class 10 Monday, June 11th
• Group Influence
• Reading material
• Chapter 8 Group Influence
• pp. 239-275.