Transcript Altruism: Helping Others - McGraw-Hill

Altruism
 A motive to increase another’s welfare without conscious
regard for one’s self-interests
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Social exchange
 The theory that human interactions are transactions that
aim to maximize one’s rewards and minimize one’s costs
 Rewards
 Internal or external
 Increasing self-worth, reclaiming a positive public image
 Reducing distress, guilt,
 Egoism: The idea that self-interest motives all behaviour
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Social exchange
 Feel bad, do good
 When one’s attention is on others, altruism is rewarding
 Feel good, do good
 Happy people are helpful people
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Social exchange
Data from Isen et al. (1976)
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Social norms
 The reciprocity norm
 An expectation that people will help, not hurt,
those who have helped them
 Helps define the “social capital”
 The social-responsibility norm
 An expectation that people will help those
dependent on them
 Responses are closely tied to attributions
 Gender and receiving help
Whatley et al. (1999)
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Evolutionary psychology
 Kin protection
 The idea that evolution has selected altruism toward one’s close
relatives to enhance the survival of mutually shared genes
 Reciprocity
 Helping another because of the expectation that the favour will be
returned
 Stronger in small, isolated groups
 Group selection
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Comparing and evaluating
theories of altruism
Comparing Theories of Altruism
How is Altruism Explained?
Theory
Level of
Explanation
Mutual “Altruism”
Intrinsic Altruism
Social Norms
Sociological
Reciprocity norm
Socialresponsibility norm
Social exchange
Psychological
External rewards
for helping
Distress – inner
rewards for
helping
Evolutionary
Biological
Reciprocity
Kin selection
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Comparing and evaluating
theories of altruism
 Genuine altruism
 Empathy: The vicarious experience of another’s feeling; putting
oneself in another’s shoes
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