Names_________________________________________________________ p. ____
PROLOGUE: Current Perspectives of Psychology
Link each of the statements regarding pro-social, or helping, behavior to the appropriate psychological perspective
(neuroscience, evolutionary, behavior genetics, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, social-cultural)
________________________________1. By helping each other, we are more likely to survive and reproduce.
________________________________ 2. Identical twins who are separated at birth and raised in very different
environments show the same degree of helpfulness toward others.
________________________________3. A specific brain region underlies our experience of empathy for persons in
distress.
________________________________ 4. Unconscious sexual motivation prompts our willingness to help others.
________________________________ 5. We are most likely to help those we perceive as similar to ourselves and
whom we believe deserve our assistance.
________________________________ 6. The willingness of people to help varies greatly across the world’s societies.
________________________________ 7. Children who have been rewarded for helpful behavior are more likely to be
helpful in future interpersonal interactions.
________________________________ 8. Adults who like to help others most likely have a high self-esteem.
NEXT: Now think of an interesting behavior pattern of your own that you can create statements about. Each group of
students should identify a behavior pattern they find interesting (procrastination, narcissism, perfectionism, happiness,
anxiety, laid-back, religious, rude, bully, highly motivated, etc…) and then prepare seven sentences or questions about
the characteristic using each of the psychologies perspectives. Each sentence should make a statement or raise a
question about the behavior pattern from a given perspective.