Prosocial Behavior

& Emergency Response Psychology

Ch. 11

The Case that Started it All Kitty Genovese In the early 1960’s, in Queens, she was

attacked and killed in the alley of an apartment complex She was raped and murdered, all the while

screaming for help The attack lasted for 45min and was

witnessed by 38 residents NOT ONE EVEN CALLED 911

What happened in the minds of the 38 bystanders that stopped ALL of them from helping her? What makes others give their lives for strangers?

Prosocial Behavior Any act performed with the goal of

benefiting another person Jumping in a lake to save a drowning child,

calling in a domestic, and less heroic acts like teaching, donating $$, etc.

Particularly interested in prosocial behavior motivated by altruism: the desire to help another person even if it involves a cost to the helper Acting with no thought as to what you will

get in return: even willing to sacrifice (incur a cost)

Back to Evolutionary Genetics Darwin’s Theory of Evolution: natural

selection favors genes that promote the survival of the individual Ultimate Goal: Get as many of our genes as

possible into the next generation Translation: Protect your relatives!!!! Evolutionary

Psychology: attempt to explain social behavior in terms of genetic factors that evolved over time according to natural selection

But how does it explain helping strangers?

Animal Models Alloparenting

Behavior (e.g. dolphins)

Hive protection (e.g. bees)

Protection/aide when ill (e.g. cetaceans)

Letting elderly eat first (e.g. wild dogs)

Alarm calls (e.g. vervet monkeys)

Blood is thicker than water Kin Selection: behaviors that help a

genetic relative are favored by natural selection Burnstein, Crandall, & Kitayama (1994)

Choice of who to help is influenced by the “biological importance” of the outcome

People report a higher likelihood of helping a relative over a non-relative in a life-threatening situation (would help equally if not life-threatening)

Sime (1983) Interviewed fire survivors When they became aware of the fire, they were

more likely to search for family members than even close friends

What else plays a role? Reciprocity Norm: expectation that helping

others increases the likelihood that they help us in the future You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours Social cooperation increases survival

Learning of Social Norms: adaptive for us to learn social norms from other members of the society Best learners of the norms have survival advantage We’re programmed to learn norms: one of those

norms is altruism

All ties back to Empathy Ability to put oneself “in the shoes” of

another person and to experience events and emotions the way that person experiences them

Altruism-Empathy Hypothesis: when we feel empathy for another, we attempt to help that person purely for altruistic reasons, regardless of what we stand to gain

But motives are tricky: selfishness raises its head in subtle ways

Social Exchange Theory Recall, it argues that much of what we do

stems from the desire to maximize rewards and minimize costs At the implicit level, we keep track of the rewards

& costs in relationships Helping also relieves distress in the bystander By helping, we gain rewards like social approval

and increased feelings of self-worth Flip the coin: helping decreases when the

costs are high In situations of physical danger, pain,

embarrassment or taking too much time Perhaps true altruism really does not exist

Individual Differences Not everyone is

selfless…not everyone is selfish!

Altruistic Personality: aspects of a person’s design that leads them to help others in a wide variety of situations Clearly A component

in helping but not the ONLY component

Several other factors

Hollywood Hero or Shoulder to Cry On? Research points to gender differences in

prosocial helping behavior Eagly & Crowley (1986)

Men help in more chivalrous, heroic and short-term ways

Women help in more nurturing, long-term roles– Women’s roles generally involved less danger but

more commitment (e.g. volunteering) REMEMBER! Individual differences still exist

McGuire (1994) Men reported helping strangers more than

women did Women reported helping friend more than men

did

Situational Factors Where are others more

likely to help you, in a small town or a big city? Small town…but why? Amato (1983)

Small towns, 50% helped: big cities, 15%

Urban Overload Hypothesis: people living in cities are constantly bombarded with stimuli and tune much of it out to avoid over-stimulation Density more correlated

with helping than population size is

Other Individual Components Cultural differences: more likely to help someone

in your “in-group” than in an “out-group” Mood

Feel Good? Do Good. Isen & Levin (1972)

– 84% of those who found dime helped: only 4% of those who did not find dime helped

Good moods increase helping for 3 reasons– Makes us “look on the bright side”– Helping prolongs our good mood– Increases self attention

Feel Bad? Do good. Especially if you feel guilty (good deeds cancel out bad) Harris, Benson & Hall (1975) Negative State Hypothesis: help people to alleviate our own

sadness & distress

The Bystander Effect The greater the number of people who

witness an emergency, the less likely anyone is to help Kitty Genovese: 38 witnesses, NO HELP Latané & Darley (1970)

Staged a seizure (with calls for help and choking sounds) in earshot of subject and a varying number of confederates

If subject thought they were the only person to hear call for help, 85% helped w/in 60sec (100% by 2.5min)

If they thought one other person also heard, only 62% helped within 60sec: 4 other bystanders? 31% within 60sec and only 62% within 6min!!

Helping never reached 100% if there were 2+ bystanders

“When there is a fire, 99% of When there is a fire, 99% of people run out. Stop and think people run out. Stop and think for a moment about that 1% that for a moment about that 1% that runs runs in!”in!” At one time or another, all of us will face

an emergency in our lives What is KEY is how we handle it

No one knows how they will respond in an emergency until they are faced with one

Normally rational people can lose it in a crisis and vice versa

Why did no one help???1. Failure to Notice the Emergency

May be in too much of a hurry or inattentive Darley & Batson (1973)

2. Failure to Diagnose the Emergency Sometimes difficult to differentiate between an

emergency and a non-emergency Pluralistic Ignorance: phenomenon where bystanders

assume nothing is wrong in an emergency because no one else looks concerned

Latané & Darley (1970) smoke study Schemas return yet once again!

3. Failure to Assume Responsibility for Aid We have to decide if it is our responsibility to act

or someone else’s Diffusion of Responsibility: phenomenon whereby each

bystander’s sense of responsibility to help decreases as the number of witnesses increases

Why did no one help???4. Did not know HOW to help

Lack the knowledge or the ability to render aid (e.g. CPR, etc.)

WHEN IN DOUBT, CALL 911!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5. Failed to implement a decision Even if you know precisely what to do,

may be reasons for you NOT to do so Fear of embarrassment, lawsuits, “getting

involved”, or physical danger

Bottom line? If you need help, you want JUST ONEJUST ONE other person with you

How can we increase helping? Increase level of personal responsibility

If you need help in a crowd, don’t yell “help me!”…POINT ONE PERSON OUTPOINT ONE PERSON OUT and say “YOU! Go call 911 now and then COME BACK.” or “YOU!! Come put pressure on this wound.” Give clear, forceful commands, not requests

If you’re being attacked or raped, yell “FIRE!” not “RAPE!” to increase odds of being helped

Education works! Savitsky, 1998: Coats, 1998 Beaman, Barnes, Klentz & McQuirk (1978)

Return to intrinsic motivation: don’t “pay” people to help, get them to help from within themselves

Stand up for our heroes and helpers: make them the icons and role models