8: Helping and Altruism
- Page ID
- 257109
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Chapter Overview
Why do people help others, sometimes even when helping comes with personal costs? This chapter examines helping and altruism through the lens of social psychology, exploring how self-interest, concern for others, social exchange, reciprocity, evolutionary processes, and social norms shape prosocial behavior. It also considers how moods and emotions, including guilt and empathy, can increase or decrease helping and how the presence and behavior of other people can influence whether someone intervenes in an emergency. Finally, the chapter explores individual and cultural differences in helping, the experiences of those who receive assistance, and strategies that may encourage more effective helping. Together, these perspectives reveal that helping behavior emerges from the interaction of the person, the situation, emotions, relationships, and social expectations.
Chapter Learning Objectives
1. Understanding Altruism: Self and Other Concerns
- Understand the differences between altruism and helping, and explain how social psychologists try to differentiate the two.
- Review the roles of reciprocity and social exchange in helping.
- Describe the evolutionary factors that influence helping.
- Summarize how the perceptions of rewards and costs influence helping.
- Outline the social norms that influence helping.
2. The Role of Affect: Moods and Emotions
- Summarize the effects of positive and negative moods on helping.
- Explain how the affective states of guilt, empathy, and personal distress influence helping.
3. How the Social Context Influences Helping
- Review Bibb Latané and John Darley’s model of helping behavior and indicate the social psychological variables that influence each stage.
4. Other Determinants of Helping
- Review the person, gender, and cultural variables that relate to altruism.
- Explain how the reactions of the person being helped may influence the benefits of helping.
- Outline the ways that we might be able to increase helping.
- 8.1: Prelude to Helping and Altruism
- This page examines Brad Pitt's efforts in New Orleans through his Make it Right Foundation, emphasizing the need for eco-friendly housing post-Hurricane Katrina and the skepticism surrounding rebuilding in flood-prone areas. It also explores human altruism, analyzing motivations behind helping behaviors, supported by volunteer statistics from Canada and the U.S., suggesting that these motivations can be both altruistic and personal.
- 8.2: Understanding Altruism - Self and Other Concerns
- This page examines altruism and prosocial behavior, defining altruism as selfless acts aimed at benefiting others. It discusses influences on helping behavior, including kinship, perceived similarity, evolutionary factors, and social norms like reciprocity and social responsibility. Research highlights the role of social reinforcement and situational factors, such as time pressure, in determining acts of kindness.
- 8.3: The Role of Affect- Moods and Emotions
- This page explores how emotions affect helping behavior, highlighting that positive moods increase the likelihood of assistance, while negative emotions like guilt can also motivate altruism. Empathy is essential for fostering connection and encouraging help, whereas personal distress may lead to avoidance. A study by Batson et al.
- 8.4: How the Social Context Influences Helping
- This page explores altruism and prosocial behavior, focusing on Latané and Darley's model of bystander intervention. It highlights key factors influencing helping behavior, such as noticing an emergency and the impact of social situations, including diffusion of responsibility and pluralistic ignorance. Real-life examples, like the case of Kitty Genovese, illustrate these concepts.
- 8.5: Other Determinants of Helping
- This page examines the factors influencing helping behavior, highlighting the altruistic personality, gender differences, and the role of religious beliefs. It notes that while men and women help equally, their contexts differ, and religious individuals may show greater altruism. Cultural influences are significant, with individualistic cultures prioritizing self-interest and collectivistic cultures emphasizing community support.
- 8.6: Thinking Like a Social Psychologist about Altruism
- This page examines the nuances of helping and altruism in social settings, emphasizing that helping can stem from empathy for others or personal benefits. It challenges the notion of purely selfless acts and encourages readers to reflect on the complexities of altruism. Additionally, it highlights situational factors that may impede helping behaviors and urges individuals to be proactive in offering assistance while acknowledging the personal fulfillment gained from altruistic actions.
- 8.7: Chapter Summary
- This page discusses altruism as selfless actions aimed at improving others' welfare without personal gain. It highlights its roots in human nature, promoting cooperation for survival, especially among kin. Influencing factors include social norms, emotional states, and situational awareness, with gender and cultural perceptions affecting how help is rendered. Ultimately, altruism benefits both helpers and recipients by fostering social connections and personal fulfillment.
- 8.8: Additional Learning Opportunities
- This page presents activities to enhance understanding of altruism and helping behaviors through social psychology. It includes exercises on cost-benefit analysis, the impact of mood, the Bystander Decision Model, individual differences, and strategies to promote altruism. Supplementary video resources and critical questions encourage further investigation into the biological and social factors influencing altruism, aiming to foster real-world prosocial behaviors.
Thumbnail: Helping and Altruism. (CC BY-SA 4.0; via Wikimedia Commons).