Human Relationships Learning
Outcomes
General Learning Outcomes
To what extent do biological, cognitive and sociocultural factors influence
human relationships? (22)
Evaluate psychological research relevant to the study of human relationships
(22)
Interpersonal Relationships
Examine biological, psychological and social origins of attraction (22)
Biological origins of attraction:
- Evolution
o Neurobiological mechanisms
 FMRI Study, Fischer (2003)
- Physical attraction
o Computer Dance Study, Walster et al. (1966)
- Genes (Immune system)
o Sweaty T-Shirt Study, Wedekind (1995)
FMRI Study, Fischer (2003)
Suggests that there are 3 motivational areas of the brain that causes love
- Attraction
o Increased energy
o Focused attention
o Obsessive following
o Affiliative gestures
o Mate-guarding
- Sex drive
o Craving for sexual gratification
o Associated with testosterone
o More in men than women
o Allows a higher chance to reproduce
- Attachment
o Oxytocin helps focus the reward system to an individual
o Allows us to maintain the relationship long enough for parental duties
Social origins of attraction:
- Theory of proximity
o Proximity study, Festinger et al. (1950)
o Cross-cultural factors in attraction, Buss et al. (1990)
o Bossard (1932)
Cross-cultural factors in attraction, Buss et al. (1990)
- 9,474 participants from 37 cross-cultural samples were asked questionnaires
o 33 countries
o 5 islands on 6 continents
o Mean age of 23.15
- 2 questionnaires were developed in the USA and translated
- Main factors in attraction are:
o Physical attractiveness
o Mutual attraction and love
o Good financial prospects
 Links to evolutionary theory
o Chastity
 Low in individualistic countries
 High in collectivist countries
- Problems of translation in the questionnaires
o Decrease the validity of the results
- Cannot be generalized
o Not representative of the country
Essay Plan:
Introduction – What is attraction?
Paragraph 1 – Biological explanation
- Reductionist/deterministic explanation (evolution)
o Humans are much more complex than we think
- Neurobiological mechanisms of attraction, Fischer (2003)
o Suggests that there are 3 motivational areas of the brain that causes
love
 Attraction
 Sex drive
 Attachment
o There was an increase in activity in dopamine rich areas of the brain
when participants looked at their lover
o FMRI scans only shows a correlation
 Does not show a cause and effect relationship
Paragraph 2 – Psychological explanation
- Similarity-attraction hypothesis, Newcomb (1961)
o Assumes that people are likely to be attracted to individuals who are
similar to themselves
 People are attracted to individuals with similar socioeconomic
status, race etc.
o Gender bias
 Only male participants were used

-
-
Able to use inferential generalizability to generalise to other
men
o Difficult to replicate
 Field experiments have much more variables to control
 Allows you to observe the natural behaviour of the
participants
o Participants may just want the free rental accommodation so they
may not have took the questionnaire seriously
 Results may not be valid
Attraction-similarity theory, Morry (2007)
o Perceived similarity is the main factor for the relationship
 Satisfies the individual as it validates one’s own views on the
relationship
Dijkstra & Barelds (2010)
o People tend to perceive partners from current perspectives
o If they are no longer attracted, they would be seen as different
Paragraph 3 – Social explanation
- Cross cultural study, Buss (1990)
o 9,474 participants from 37 cross-cultural samples were asked
questionnaires
o 2 questionnaires were developed in the USA and translated
o Main factors in attraction are:
 Physical attractiveness
 Mutual attraction and love
 Good financial prospects
 Links to evolutionary theory
 Chastity
 Low in individualistic countries
 High in collectivist countries
o Problems of translation in the questionnaires
 Decrease the validity of the results
o Cannot be generalized
 Not representative of the country
Conclusion – Links to other levels of analysis
- All of these factors must be considered when investigating the origins of
attraction
- Able to explain different types of relationships
o Heterosexual, bisexual and homosexual
Discuss the role of communication in maintaining relationships (22)
Emotional expression and control plays a role in conflict resolution and marital
satisfaction
- Non-verbal factors can predict emotional expressions
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Theory
- Criticisms
o Making dispositional attributions
 Attacking the partner’s personality
 With the intent of making the partner wrong
- Contempt
o Attacking the partner’s sense of self with the intention to insult or
psychological abuse
 Hostility, sarcasm or mockery
- Defensiveness
o Seeing yourself as the victim
 Making excuses by referring to uncontrollable factors
 Listening to your partner’s complaint without returning a
complaint
- Stonewalling
o Withdrawing from the relationship as a way to avoid it
 Silent treatment or changing the subject
Essay Plan:
Introduction – How are relationships formed?
- Formation of relationships is a key aspect in human behaviour
o The first step to passing on genetic material
- Partner selection is based on genes, Wedekind (1995)
o Sweaty T-Shirt experiment
o We are attracted to people with different immune system
 Focus on MHC genes in immune system
- Matching hypothesis
o We seek individuals who are most like ourselves
 Compromises our fear of rejection from a more attractive
person
 However, we seek a match on other attributes such as
personality
 Not just on physical appearance
Paragraph 1 – Problems in a relationship
- Attributions in Dating Couples, Fletcher et al. (1987)
o Participants were 100 female and 31 male American university
students
o Participants were first asked to fill out various questionnaires
o After 2 months 95 of the participants were still in their relationships
o They were asked to write a free-response description of the
relationship
o Individuals with the highest relationship satisfaction after 2 months
 Attributed positive behaviour to themselves and their partner
(dispositional attribution)
 Attributed negative behaviour to the situational factors
 Tend to describe their relationship using ‘we’
-
Attributing behaviours can maintain or break the relationship
o Depending on the attribution style
Paragraph 2 – Negative effects of miscommunication
- Marital Dissatisfaction, Leveson & Gottman (1983)
o 30 couples were observed in a laboratory while they had discussions
o The discussions included:
 Low-conflict discussions
 An event of the day
 High-conflict-discussions
 Major source of disagreement in their relationship
o Each spouse returned to make a self-evaluation of their
communication
 Positive, negative or neutral
o Participants with marital dissatisfaction had:
 Higher levels of expressed negative emotions
 Return of negative affect
 Retaliation
o Unhappy couples displayed similar physiological arousal to a stress
response
- Poor communication can lead to high stress levels
Paragraph 3 – Communication that predicts marital dissatisfaction
- Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Theory, Gottman
o Suggests that there are 4 predictors for marital dissatisfaction
o Criticism
o Contempt
o Defensiveness
o Stonewalling
Conclusion – What is the significance of communication
- Suggests that communication is a key role in maintaining a healthy
relationship
Explain the role that culture plays in the formation and maintenance of
relationships (8)
-
-
Relationships in Western cultures tend to be:
o Individualistic
o Voluntary
o Temporary
Relationships in non-Western cultures tend to be:
o Collectivist
o Involuntary
o Permanent
Example 1: Singh (2005)
Majority of marriages in India are still arranged marriages, young Indians trust their
parents to find a suitable match
Example 2: Cross-cultural Factors in Attraction, Buss et al. (1990)
Aim
To identify the characteristics that individuals valued in potential mates worldwide
Procedure
- 9,474 participants were chosen from 37 cross cultural samples
o 33 countries and 5 islands on 6 continents
o Mean age of the participants was 23.15
- Data was collected from questionnaires made in the USA and translated
Findings
- Chastity showed the largest variance in culture
- Nearly all cultures rated mutual attraction and love as the most important in
a relationship
- Good earning capacity is generally valued by females
- Youth is generally valued more by males
- Physical attractiveness is valued more by males
Evaluation
- Low validity
o Problems in translation
- Unable to generalise findings
o Samples from each country were not representative of its general
population
- Cultural bias in questionnaires
o Questionnaires are made in USA
o Ideas are formed in USA
o Interpretation of the data is based in one country only
 Lacks inter-rater reliability
- Self-preservation of participants
o Present themselves with a more positive image
Example 3: Arranged Marriages, Gupta & Singh (1982)
Procedure
- Conducted an interview with 50 Indian couples
o They were either married for love or lived in an arranged marriage
Findings
- Couples who married for love reported diminished feelings of love
- Couples who lived in an arranged marriage reported higher levels of love
Evaluation
- Unable to generalise findings
o Samples from each country were not representative of its general
population
o Cultural bias
- Self-preservation of participants
o Present themselves with a more positive image
Example 4: Xiaohe & Whyte (1990)
Aim
To test the idea that love matches start out hot and grow cold, while arranged
marriages start out cold and grow hot
Procedure
- 586 married women from China were chosen as participants
Findings
- The role of parents has declined
o Young people were more involved in matchmaking
- Wives in love marriages were more satisfied with their marital relationship
o Compared to wives who were in arranged marriages
Evaluation
- Unable to generalise findings
o Samples from each country were not representative of its general
population
o Cultural bias
- Self-preservation of participants
o Present themselves with a more positive image
Analyse why relationships may change or end (8)
Relationships may change due to many factors:
- Social Exchange Theory
- Equity Theory
o Socio-economic differences in couples, Duck (1992)
- Patterns of Accomodation
- Attachment Styles
Violence
Evaluate sociocultural explanations of the origins of violence (22)
Essay Plan:
Introduction – Origins of violence
- There are different origins for violence
o Sociocultural
 Parents or peers
o Cognitive
 Disrupted thought process
o Biological
 Hormones
- Which factor has the most influence?
Paragraph 1 – Social Learning Theory
- Bandura (1977)
o People learn to behave violently through direct experiences and
observing models
o Direct social learning
 Instructed to be violent
o Indirect social learning
 Role models behaving violently
- Totten (2003)
o 30 abusive adolescent males were chosen to be participants through
purposive sampling
 They all had pro-abusive beliefs and admitted to using
violence towards their girlfriends
o The researchers used semi-structured interviews to collect the data
o The participants background had similar features
 They were all exposed to violent behaviour in the family and
saw this as justified or necessary
 The fathers all had authoritarian beliefs and used violence to
control family members or defend their honour
o 21 participants had adopted violent behaviour
o They all used physical and sexual violence for the same reasons as
their fathers
o Participants said that they had the right to use violence if their
girlfriend misbehaved
 Some participants had their father show them how to use
violence
o Unable to generalise to a general population
o Qualitative data gave insight to how adolescents experienced the use
of violence
o Use of semi-structured interview
- Social norms of violence can be transmitted from parents to children
o Predicted by SLT
-
-
SLT also explains why adolescents use violence in social peer groups because
it pays off
o In the form of status (reinforcement for violence)
SLT cannot explain how poverty contribute to establishing the social norms
o Such as male superiority
SLT does not take individual factors into account
o Intelligence and personality traits
Some people may be more prone to violence than others
o Childhood abuse, resulting in brain damage
Paragraph 2 – Subculture of Violence
- Violent behaviour results from a commitment to subcultural norms and
values
o Subcultural values act as a form of social control among group
members
- Violence is used as means to defend honour and maintain status
- Subculture of Violence, Berburg & Thorlindsson (2005)
o Data was collected through a survey in Iceland
o Participants included adolescent boys and girls in 49 public schools
 Their age was between 15 to 16 years old
o Participants answered questions on how often they engaged in
various violent acts
 Including fighting, kicking or punching
o Most violent students said they conformed to group conduct norms
 Group pressure to respond to personal attacks with aggression
as a form of social control
 Suggests that conformity is another affecting factor
o Boys were more likely to behave more aggressively than girls
o Data was collected through self-reported surveys
o Unable to generalise to a general population worldwide
o Low cross-cultural validity
o No gender bias
o Able to generalise to adolescents in Iceland
- The theory can explain how violence is used to establish and maintain power
within a social group
o Dominance and power is one explanation of school bullying
- The theory does not explain what sociocultural structural factors could lead
to violence
o Primary focus is on social norms and values as the origins of violence
o Instead of poverty of social class
- Supported by NIsbett & Cohen (1996)
Paragraph 3 – Biological causes
- Testosterone is linked to aggressive and dominant behaviour
o Secretion of testosterone is significantly more in males
- Culture of Honor, Nisbett & Cohen (1996)
o American North and Southerners were selected as participants
-
o Participants were insulted publicly
o Cortisol and testosterone levels were measured before and after the
insult
 Through saliva and blood test
o After the insult, cortisol levels rose 79% for southerners
 Compared to 33% for northerners
o Southerners were generally more aggressive and showed more
domineering behaviour
o Unable to generalise to the general population
o Gender bias
Cortisol rose in 79% of southerners, instead of 100%
o Suggests that there are other factors influencing violence
Conclusion – Effect of the sociocultural factors affecting violence
- Sociocultural factors play a influential role in violence
o Social learning theory
o Subculture of violence
- There are still other factors affecting violent behaviour
o Biological factors
 Testosterone
Discuss the relative effectiveness of two strategies for reducing violence (22)
Different strategies for reducing violence (bullying):
- Olweus Bullying Prevention Programme
- Metropolitan Area Child Study
Essay Plan:
Introduction – Methods for reducing violence
- Different strategies for reducing violence (bullying):
o Olweus Bullying Prevention Programme (OBPP)
o Metropolitan Area Child Study (MACS)
- These strategies deal with bullying as a violent behaviour
- In order to find an effective method, the origins of violence must be
considered
Paragraph 1 – OBPP
- Aims to change the school environment while targeting the individual
o Includes supervision of the playgrounds and lunchroom
o Students fill out questionnaires
- Identifies bullies in school and help them and their victims
- OBPP on Bullying, Olweus (1993)
o A sample of 2,500 children from fifth to eighth grade participated in
the programme
 The programme lasted 2 years
o Data collection took place through observations and questionnaires
 Between the teachers and students
o 50% reduction in self-reported bullying incidents
 Including both in victims and bullies
-
o General improvement of the social climate of classes
o Self-reports showed higher satisfaction with school life and more
positive attitudes
o Longitudinal study
o Unable to generalise to a general population
o Unreliable data
OBBP in USA, Black (2007)
o 13 inner city schools in one urban district participated
 This study lasted 4 years
o Data collection took place through observations and questionnaires
 Between the teachers and students
o 48% of the schools followed the programme as intended
o Bullying incidents decreased by 25.5% in all schools
 Can be explained by the fact that all schools had increased
supervision
o Self-reported bullying incidents increased from 39% to 43% in the
forth year of the programme
 Schools that implemented the programme strictly had a
decrease instead
o Poor methodology
o Unable to generalise to a general population
o Unreliable data
o Longitudinal study
Paragraph 2 – MACS
- Consisting of:
o A classroom programme
 Empathy training
 Social problem-solving skills
o Training in social skills (group discussions)
 Peer relations
 Adequate social problem-solving strategies
o Family counselling (group discussions
 Family specific problems
- MACS Research Group (2002)
o This was a longitudinal quasi-experimental field study
o 2,181 elementary school students were chosen as participants
o There were 4 conditions:
 Control group (no intervention)
 Full programme
 Classroom programme only
 Classroom programme and social skills training
 For high-risk children
o The study took place over 8 years
o Students who participated in the full programme came from low-risk
schools showed less aggression than the control group
o Students from high-risk schools showed a higher level of aggression
after the programme compared to the control group
o Unable to generalise to a general population
o Longitudinal study
o Able to generalise to the 2 inner-city areas
o Confounding variables
Conclusion – Which strategy should be used?
- MACS full programme from low-risk schools are effective
o However, high-risk schools is very ineffective
 Induced more aggression
- OBPP shows signs of effectiveness in different countries
o Strict implementation of the programme should be done for better
results
Discuss the effects of short-term and long-term exposure to violence (22)
Example 1: Cyber Bullying and Depression, Wang et al. (2010)
Victims of cyber bullying had higher levels of depression than victims of face-to-face
bullying
- Seen to be much more hurtful
o The abuse is spread throughout the social media
o Victims do not know how many people have seen it
- Equal effects with both boys and girls
Essay Plan:
Introduction – Exposure to violence
- Exposure to violence will exhibit a stress response
o Including fear and psychological arousal
- It is unhealthy to be exposed to violence
o May not have a choice
 Terrorist attacks are unpredictable
- There are 2 effects to exposure
o Short-term
o Long-term
Paragraph 1 – Short-term effects of bullying
Paragraph 2 – Long-term effects of bullying
- Bullying can result in
o Depression
o PTSD
- Cortisol Levels and Bullying, Carney & Hazler (2007)
o Saliva tests were taken from the participants
o They were also asked to fill out questionnaires
 On their experience of being bullied
 Or on their experience of watching someone being bullied
o Cortisol levels were tested in the morning and before lunchtime
-
o 94 students were chosen as participants
o Anticipation of bullying was associated with high levels of stress and
anxiety in both victims and bystanders
o Long-term exposure to bullying was related to lower levels of cortisol
 This condition is associated with chronic fatigue syndrome and
PTSD
o Low test-retest reliability
o Use of questionnaire
o Scientific methodology
Bullying and PTSD, Mynard et al. (2000)
o 331 British students were participants
o They were given a questionnaire called ‘the victim scale’
o Bullying was defined as:
 Physical victimisation
 Verbal victimisation
 Social exclusion
 Attacks on property
o 40% of the students had experienced some kind of bullying in their
school
o Bullying has a very negative impact on the victim’s psychological
health
 Social exclusion will most likely lead to PTSD
 Peer victimisation may lead to serious long-term psychological
problems
 Such as powerlessness, helplessness, poor selfconfidence and social isolation
 These symptoms are all linked to PTSD
o Low cross-cultural validity
o Unable to generalise to a general population
o Use of questionnaire
o There is no before and after comparison
Conclusion – Important to consider the cause of violence before treatment
- It is important to consider the effects on others before committing violent
acts
o Bullying leading to PTSD and MDD
 May not be able to recover from these disorders
- Also important to understand if the effects are short or long-term
o Able to apply a valid method of treatment
Social Responsibility
Distinguish between altruism and prosocial behaviour (8)
Altruism is a behaviour that benefits other organisms at the cost of oneself
- Costs and benefits are measured in terms of reproductive fitness
o E.g. expected number of offspring
- Altruism is a subcategory of a helping behaviour
- Batson & Coke (1981) Behaviour meant to benefit another person rather
than oneself
- Staub (1978) Altruistic acts may also result in a reward for the individual
o Feeling good or virtuous
- Piliavin & Charng (1990) Psychologists have not been able to agree on a
single definition on altruism
Prosocial behaviour refers to acts intended to benefit others
- These acts are positively valued by society
- Behaviour that is initiated with the purpose of increasing another person’s
physical or psychological well-being
o Has positive consequences for that person
- Intentional prosocial behaviour is also called helping behaviour
Contrast two theories explaining altruism in humans (22)
There are two theories explaining altruism:
- Kin selection theory
- Empathy-altruism theory
Kin selection theory, Hamilton (1963)
- Individuals are more likely to sacrifice themselves for relatives instead of
non-relatives
o Evolutionary theory
- Sacrificing yourself for the survival of your genes
o By helping close relatives
Theory of Reciprocal Altruism, Trivers (1971)
- Suggests that helping behaviour among non-kin have evolved as an
alternative system during evolution
- Reciprocal altruism is based that altruistic acts will be returned in the longterm
Example 1: Kidney Donation, Simmons et al. (1977)
Aim
To investigate whether close relatives were more likely to be kidney donors
Procedure
- Researchers asked 133 relatives of a person if they would agree to donate
their kidney
- They were also asked to rate their emotional closeness with the potential
kidney recipients
Findings
- 86% of parents agreed to donate their kidney to a relative
- 47% of siblings agreed to donate their kidney to a relative
o The recipient tend to be similar in age and be the same sex
- The recipients felt close to 63% of the donors
o Compared to 42% of the non-donors
Evaluation
- Does not consider the other affecting factors
- Unable to generalise to the general population
o Only US participants were used
- Good ecological validity
o Reflects a real-life response
o Field experiment
- High test-retest reliability
o Many participants were used
Strengths:
- Supported by empirical studies
o Shows preference for helping close relatives
- Computer simulations demonstrate that kin selection is one of the possible
selection processes in evolution
o In conjunction with reciprocity
Limitations:
- Cannot explain why people help individuals who are not relatives
o Cooperation among non-relatives
o Spontaneous acts of bravery
o Adoption of children who are not relatives
- Human kinship patterns are not necessarily based upon biological
relationships
- Shared developmental environment, familiarity and social bonding also
contributes to kinship
Empathy-altruism Theory, Batson et al. (1981)
- Some helpful actions are truly altruistic because they are motivated by a
genuine desire to increase another’s welfare
o It is the helper’s motives that determine whether the behaviour is
altruistic or not
- Perception of a situation and the emotional response determines whether an
individual will help or not
o Altruism can only happen if the other person’s perspective is
understood by the individual
- Observing another person’s situation may either produce:
o Empathic concern
o Personal distress
- Empathy evokes altruistic motivation to reduce another person’s distress
-
Personal distress evokes egoistic motivation to reduce one’s distress
Strength:
- Supported by many experimental studies
- Can predict conditions in which altruistic behaviour will happen
o Empathy is correlated to the helping behaviour
Limitations:
- Difficult to generalise findings from experiments to real-life
- Impossible to determine whether altruism is the result of empathic
motivation or to lower personal distress
- Empathy does not always precede altruistic behaviour
o People may help for other reasons
Essay Plan:
Introduction – What is altruism
Altruism is a behaviour that benefits other organisms at the cost of one-self
- Costs and benefits are measured in terms of reproductive fitness
o E.g. expected number of offspring
- Altruism is a subcategory of a helping behaviour
Paragraph 1 – Kin selection theory
- Individuals are more likely to sacrifice themselves for relatives instead of
non-relatives
o Provides an explanation to people who behave more altruistic with
relatives
 Does not explain why
o Does not explain altruistic behaviour towards non-relatives
- Kidney Donation Study, Simmons et al. (1977)
o Researchers asked 133 relatives of a person if they would agree to
donate their kidney
o They were also asked to rate their emotional closeness with the
potential kidney recipients
o 86% of parents agreed to donate their kidney to a relative
o 47% of siblings agreed to donate their kidney to a relative
o Good ecological validity
o High test-retest reliability
o Does not consider the other affecting factors
o Unable to generalise to the general population
- Sacrificing yourself for the survival of your genes
o Altruism is seen as a behaviour that has a cost to the individual
 Self-sacrifice is required
- The theory is based on egoism
- Focus is on genes
o Operating on a biological level without human consciousness
- Theory is based on the observation of animals
o Humans may have a much more complex helping system
-
Difficult to test evolutionary theories
Paragraph 2 – Empathy-altruism theory
- Some helpful actions are truly altruistic because they are motivated by a
genuine desire to increase another’s welfare
o It is the helper’s motives that determine whether the behaviour is
altruistic or not
- Empathy-altruistic Theory, Batson et al. (1981)
o Participants were led to believe that they were an observer to a test
o They read a short description of Elaine
 Each description was manipulated so that the participants
could either identify with Elaine (high empathy) or not (low
empathy)
o Participants watched a video of Elaine, after 2 trails Elaine received
electric shocks
o Participants were either asked to:
 Take her place or fill out a questionnaire and then leave (easy
escape situation)
 Take her place or watch Elaine go through the remaining 8
trails (difficult escape situation)
o High empathy condition: most participants agreed to help Elaine
 Did not matter if it was easy or difficult to escape
o Low empathy condition: most participants withdrew in the easy
escape condition
 In the difficult escape situation, some participants offered help
o Demand characteristics from participants
o Low ecological validity
o Ethical considerations
o Unable to generalise to a general population
o Empathy is difficult to quantify
- Focus is on empathy
o Human emotion is the primary motivating factor
- The theory includes the possibility of an altruistic personality
- Explains why people tend to behave altruistically in situations that evoke
empathy
o Does not explain why some people choose not to help
- Easy to test the theory under lab conditions
o However, it is difficult to operationalize concepts like empathy
Conclusion -
Using one or more research studies, explain cross-cultural differences in
prosocial behaviour (8)
Individualistic cultures emphasizes on personal success
- Child-rearing practices encourage competitiveness
- Personal achievement enhances the child’s future social success
Collectivist cultures emphasizes on the group’s success rather than individual success
- Higher levels of helping behaviour towards family members
- Children exhibit high levels of prosocial activity
Example 1: Affect of child-rearing on prosocial behaviour, Whiting &
Whiting (1975)
- Children of ages 3 – 11 years old were observed during their daily
interactions
o These children came from different cultural backgrounds
o Kenya, Philippines, Japan, India, Mexico and USA
- Children from Mexico and the Philippines acted more prosocially
o Compared to the children from Japan, India and USA
- Most prosocial children were from the most traditional society (Kenya)
o Children tend to participate in household chores
 Due to high power distance in collectivist cultures?
- Most egoistic children came from the most complex modern society (USA)
o Children who are usually paid to do household chores tend to not
have the same degree of prosocial behaviour
- The degree of modernization influences prosocial behaviour
o Attributed to different child-rearing patterns and cultural dimensions
o Socioeconomic organisations of a culture can promote or inhibit
children’s opportunities to acquire certain prosocial behaviours
Example 2: Role on countries’ economic development, LeVine
- 36 countries were tasked with 5 tasks
- Found that countries with less capital were more willing to help
o Compared to countries with more capital
- The results only show a correlation
o Other factors may influence the decision of the country’s willingness
to help
- Tasks may not be culturally relevant to all cultures
- Field experiment
o High ecological validity
Example 3: Influence of cultural norms on social responsibility , Miller et
al. (1990)
- Researchers interviewed 400 participants
o Adults and children were used in this study
o Participants were North Americans and Hindu Indians
- Researchers asked “what to do in hypothetical situations where a person had
failed to help someone in need”
o Situations involved:
 Parent’s obligation to help their child
 Friend’s obligation to help a friend
 People’s obligation to help a stranger
o Situations were categorized into 3 conditions: Life threatening,
moderately serious and minor threat
-
Hindu Indians tend to attribute their help to their moral duty in all situations
o View of social responsibility was broader and more duty based
North Americans tend to attribute their help to personal choice for non-life
threatening situations
o American adults say that the relationship between the person in need
affected their moral responsibility to help the person
Familiarity with our own group makes us less worried about the cost of helping
Examine factors influencing bystanderism (22)
Bystanderism is when individuals are less likely to help when they are around passive
bystanders
Theory of the Unresponsive Bystander, Latane & Darley (1970)
The perception of other people witnessing the event will decrease the likelihood of
helping in an individual
- Diffusion of responsibility
o Responsibility is diffused when more bystanders are present
o Reducing the psychological costs of not intervening
 Reduce negative stress
- Informational social influence
o If the situation is ambiguous, people will look to other people for a
sense of direction
- Evaluation apprehension
o Individual bystanders are aware that other people are present
o They may be afraid of being evaluated negatively
 Fear of social blunders
Cognitive Decision Model, Latane & Darley (1968)
Suggests that in order for a bystander to help, they will go through 5 stages:
1) Notice the situation
o If you are in a hurry, you may not see what is happening
2) Interpret the situation as an emergency
o People asking for help
 Could also be interpreted as an irrelevant event
 Such as a family argument
3) Accept some personal responsibility for helping
o Even if other people are present
4) Consider how to help
- Even if you are unsure of what to do
o Doubt your skills
5) Decide how to help
o May observe how other people react and decide if it is too dangerous
to intervene
At any of these stages, the bystander can make a decision to help or not
Cost Reward Model of Helping, Pilliavin et al. (1969)
Both cognitive (cost-benefit analysis) and emotional factors (unpleasant emotional
arousal) determine whether bystanders will intervene an emergency
- Focuses on egoistic motivation to escape an unpleasant emotional state
o Opposite of altruistic motivation
Essay Plan:
Introduction – What is bystanderism?
- Individuals are less likely to help when they are around passive bystanders
- Several theories to bystanderism
o Cognitive Decision Model
o Unresponsive Bystander
o Cost Reward Model of Helping
Paragraph 1 – Cost Reward Model of Helping, Pilliavin et al. (1969)
- Both cognitive (cost-benefit analysis) and emotional factors (unpleasant
emotional arousal) determine whether bystanders will intervene an
emergency
o Focuses on egoistic motivation to escape an unpleasant emotional
state
 Opposite of altruistic motivation
- Subway Samaritan, Pilliavin et al. (1969)
o A group of students performed a scenario where the victim appeared
either drunk or ill
o Participants were subway travellers who were observed when the
victim collapsed
 This occurred a short time after the train left the station
o A model helper was instructed to intervene after 70 seconds if no one
else did
o If the victim appeared ill they were more likely to receive help
 Compared to if the victim was drunk
o In 60% of the trails more than one person offered to help only after
the model helper intervened
o Low cross-cultural validity
o High reliability
o High ecological validity
Paragraph 2 – Cognitive Decision Model, Latane & Darley (1968)
Paragraph 3 – The Unresponsive Bystander, Latane & Darley (1970)
- The perception of other people witnessing the event will decrease the
likelihood of helping in an individual
o Diffusion of responsibility
 Responsibility is diffused when more bystanders are present
 Reducing the psychological costs of not intervening
o Informational social influence

If the situation is ambiguous, people will look to other people
for a sense of direction
o Evaluation apprehension
 Individual bystanders are aware that other people are present
 They may be afraid of being evaluated negatively
Conclusion -