Chapter 12: Prosocial Behavior: Helping Others
Helping Others
• Are others present?
• Who else is present?
• Who is the person in need?
• What is the cost of helping?
Helping & Not Helping
• Kitty Genovese example
• New Bedford rape “The accused”
• Goldensons give $60 million to Harvard Medical School
• Oskar Schindler saved lives of several hundred Jews
Bystander Intervention Model - Latané & Darley (1968)
• Inspired by Kitty Genovese incident
• Must notice the incident
• Must define it as an emergency
– many incidents are ambiguous: is it an emergency?
– we look at the responses of others to help us interpret the event
• Assume responsibility
• Decide how to help
• Implement the help
Smoke Filled Room Experiment
• Hypothesis: If people think there are other bystanders, they may fail to take responsibility for
helping
• Independent variable:
– Ss think they are alone or in a group of 3
• Dependent variable:
– % who contact experimenter
Epileptic Seizure Study
• Hypothesis: If others are present, we may assume they will help, and fail to take responsibility
for helping
• Independent Variable:
– Subjects think they are in a group of 2, 3, or 6
• Dependent Variable:
– % helping within 3 minutes
Pluralistic Ignorance
• Looking to others to decide what to do
– Fear of embarrassment contributes to this problem
• Diffusion of responsibility
– Each person feels less responsible for dealing with the emergency
Cost Analysis of Helping
• Perceived rewards and costs for helping
• Can I get hurt helping?
• Does victim deserve help?
• Cost Analysis of Helping
Piliavin & Piliavin (1972)
• Hypothesis:
– The victim must be deserving
– apparent cause of other’s distress affects helping
• Independent Variable
• victim either looked ill, or drunk
• Dependent Variable
• % helping (see graph)
Shotland & Straw (1976)
• Hypothesis:
– The type of relationship between people affects helping
• Independent Variable
• woman knew the man or did not
• Dependent Variable
• % intervening (see graph)
Helping & Time Pressures
• Darley & Batson (1973)
• Hypothesis:
– Helping is less if the cost of helping is high
– people in a hurry are less likely to help
• Independent Variable
– Ss told they’re running late, or on time
• Dependent Variable: % helping
Theories of Helping
• Negative State Relief Model (Cialdini)
– Egoism
• Empathy-Altruism Model (Batson)
– Other-focussed helping
What is Altruism?
• Helping another even when no benefits are offered or expected in return
Is This Altruism?
1. Bob, a college student, spends 3 hours per week as a “Big Brother” to an 8-year old boy
whose father has died
2. Mary, an attorney, stops to aid the victim of an automobile accident
3. Bill notifies the bookstore manager when he sees a college student attempt to shoplift some
notebook paper
4. John, a firefighter, rescues an elderly woman from an apartment building fire and is overcome
by smoke, but later receives a hero’s award
5. Millie anonymously donates $500 to a local charity
6. Sam attempts to save his 3-year old from drowning
7. Sally buys a raffle ticket from a charitable organization
8. Jim agrees to donate his eyes for transplant in case of his death
9. Jill, a college student, gives a pint of blood in exchange for $7.50
10. Wanda, a police officer, arrests a bank robber who is fleeing the scene of the crime
11. Believing that “those who give shall receive great blessings in return” Ralph and Doris
contribute their family’s monthly paychecks to their church fund drive
Why do People Help?
• witnessing another in distress produces 2 reactions:
• personal distress (upset, alarm)
• empathic concern (sympathy, compassion)
• personal distress motivates helping to relieve one’s negative state
• empathic concern motivates helping to relieve the other’s distress
How Do You Create Empathy?
• Make the person feel similar to the other
• The person is more easily able to see themselves in such a situation
• Sadness vs. Empathy
• Cialdini et al. (1987)
• Examined the effects of sadness and empathy
• Helping increased when sadness not empathy increased
Negative Moods and Helping
• Guilt increases helping
• Regan, Williams, & Sparling (1976)
55% vs. 15%
• Feel guilty about a “bad” act when forced to assume responsibility for it
• Relieve guilt by aiding someone who is not the original victim
Negative Moods and Helping
• Do other negative moods other than guilt affect helping? YES
1. Personal responsibility
2. Other-focused attention
• Qualifications
• Increased helping due to bad moods is much more common in adults than children. Why?
• Only applicable to mildly negative moods. Why?
Good Moods and Helping
• Stimulate positive thoughts
• Reduces self-focus
• “Happy Mood” maintenance
Scents & Sensibilities
• Baron (1997)
– Pleasant odor or no odor areas of a mall
– Given a questionnaire
1 = very bad
5 = very good
– Other mall shoppers asked for change
– pleasant odor area or no odor present
Can Helping Hurt Others?
• A handicapped person is trying to get in the door and you open it for them.
• Your friend’s car will not start and you drive them to get a new car battery.
• Your dad gives you $3,000.00 for a down payment on a new car.