Chapter 9
Prosocial Behavior: Doing
What’s Best for Others
Oskar Schindler’s grave. The Hebrew inscription reads: “A Righteous Man
Among the Gentiles.” The German inscription reads: “The Unforgettable Savior
of the Lives of 1200 Hunted©Jews.”
2014 Wadsworth Cengage Learning
What is Prosocial Behavior?
Cooperation, Forgiveness,
Obedience, and Conformity
Why Do People Help Others?
Who Helps Whom?
Bystander Help in Emergencies
How Can We Increase Helping?

Chapter Topics
http://youtu.be/qIp_8RNNX4k

Consider the case of Oskar
Schindler, who risked his own life
and spent his life savings to rescue
more than 1200 Jews from the
Nazis
 Why do humans behave in
helpful and cooperative ways
even when it is not in their own
self interest to do so?
Debate: Help and Sacrifice
Prosocial behavior: doing something
good for someone or for society
 It builds relationships and allows society
to function.
 Obeying rules, conforming to norms,
cooperating, and helping are all forms of
prosocial behavior.
 People behave better when others are
watching and know who they are.
 People engage in prosocial behavior to be
accepted by others.

What is Prosocial Behavior?
Reciprocation-the obligation to return
in kind what another has done for us.
Found in all cultures.
Fairness- is part of culture and based
on norms.
Equity- means that each person
receives benefits in proposition to
what he or she did.
Equality – means that everyone gets
the same amount, regardless of
performance.
Factors in Prosocial Behavior


How is cooperation linked to reciprocity?
Prisoner’s dilemma: forced to choose between competition
and cooperation



How does the prisoner’s dilemma illustrate the delicate
balance of cooperation?
What are the most effective strategies to win in a prisoner’s
dilemma game?
How does communication improve cooperation?
Cooperation


How does forgiveness go against reciprocity?
How does forgiveness benefit society?
Individuals?



What are some of the downsides to forgiveness?
When is forgiveness more likely?
Who is more likely to forgive?
Forgiveness



Is following orders from an authority figure.
In what way is obedience prosocial?
Milgram (1963)




Majority of participants delivered extreme
shocks to a screaming victim in obedience to an
authority figure
How did Milgram’s studies paint obedience?
How did they influence social scientists’ views of
obedience?
How can obedience benefit society?

How does obedience make it possible for people
to live in large groups?
Obedience
http://youtu.be/y9l_puxcrlM


Means going along with the crowd.
How is conformity prosocial?



In what ways is conformity beneficial?
In what ways is it detrimental?
How does knowing that others are watching
affect our behavior?
Conformity




Is the strong belief in the reliability and validity
of someone or something.
How is trust prosocial?
How does trust shape interactions?
How is the Trust Game similar to the Prisoner’s
Dilemma?


Trust
What can both of these tell us about trust?
What types of people do you trust easily? What
types of people do you mistrust?


The evolutionary theory of kin selection suggests that
we prefer to help others who are related to us.
Altruistic helping



Expecting nothing in return for helping
Is motivated by empathy, an emotional response that
corresponds to the feelings of the other person because it
motivates people to reduce others’ distress.
Egoistic helping


Wanting something in return for helping
Is helping that is motivated by the desire to reduce one’s
own distress according to negative state relief theory.
Why Do People Help
Others?

Do people ever help when they stand to gain
nothing?


How do positive feelings or avoidance of
negative feelings offer an incentive to
helpfulness?
How has evolution built humans to help
others?
Is Altruism Possible?








Mostly people get pleasure from helping others.
People are more likely to help people that are similar
to them.
Males are more helpful than females in the overall
public with strangers and emergencies.
Females are more helpful with family, close
relationships and in volunteering.
Females are more likely to receive help than are
males, regardless of whether the helper is male or
female.
People are more likely to help attractive individuals.
People who believe the world is just will help others,
but only if they think those people deserve the help.
Positive mood increase helping, but some bad
moods such as guilt can also promote helping.
Who Helps Whom?


Many people are introduced to sex partners by
friends, co-workers, and relatives; however, the
increase in online dating has reduced this trend
Spring break sex


Men will support and help each other to engage
in casual sex
Women will support and help each other to
avoid casual sex
The Social Side of Sex:
Helping, Sex, and Friends


The Bystander effect is the finding that people
are less likely to offer help when they are in a
group than when they are alone.
How does the case of Kitty Genovese illustrate
the bystander effect?
Bystander Helping in
Emergencies

Helping can be increased by:
Reducing uncertainties
Educating others about bystander
indifference
Teaching moral inclusion (making others
a part of the ingroup)
How Can We Increase
Helping?

Humans help individuals and society




How does prosocial behavior benefit both
individuals and society?
Why do humans demonstrate prosocial behavior
towards those who aren’t family?
What prosocial behaviors are most important to
the day-to-day running of society?
How do reciprocity and cooperation
demonstrate the human concept of fairness?
What Makes Us Human?


If you donate money to charity or help a needy
victim because it makes you feel good to do so,
are you, in essence, being selfish and selfserving?
Is altruism truly possible?
Discussion: Altruism



Humans engage in prosocial behavior to
benefit both themselves and society
Prosocial behavior is influenced by concepts of
fairness, reciprocity, and cooperation
Barriers to helpfulness can be overcome
through education and modeling helpful
behavior
Conclusion