Exam 11: Prosocial Behavior: Why Do People Help

Raphael volunteers as a Big Brother. He donates money to charity, and he helps his elderly next-door neighbor with weekly shopping and home repairs. Raphael's personality is __________.

When it comes to helping behavior, __________.

You ask your brother if you can borrow his car for a date on Saturday night. Before handing over the keys, he asks in jest, "What's in it for me?" His question best reflects __________ as applied to prosocial behavior.

Based on information from your text on residential mobility, which of the following people would be more likely to volunteer in their community?

Aidan has just received notice that he's been admitted to the law school of his choice. As he walks along, he's in a good mood. He sees a worker fall off a ladder, and rushes over to assist. Why did Aidan help in this case? Good moods __________.

__________ refers to the desire to help another person, even if such help involves cost to the helper.

The authors provide the text of a UPI story describing the discovery of the bones of a disabled dwarf in a cave in northern Italy. The reporters speculate that over 12,000 years ago, early hominids would take care of the disabled members of their group. __________ would argue that the bones belonged to a dwarf who was related to the other cave inhabitants, whereas __________ would argue that the other inhabitants relied on the dwarf for some unknown purpose.

Recall that participants in an experiment described in the text (Toi & Batson, 1982) listened to an (alleged) radio interview in which a student in their introductory psychology class described an accident that caused her to fall behind in the course. Some participants were encouraged to empathize with "Carol," whereas others were encouraged to listen objectively to the interview. Some participants in each of these two groups were led to believe that Carol would be returning to their psychology course; others were led to believe that she would finish out the term at home, and that they would never see her again. These researchers found that when participants __________, their decision to help was guided by __________.

Feeling sad and guilty has a tendency to __________ good, helping behaviors.

Recall that the introduction to Chapter 11 (Prosocial Behavior) began with a description of several of the citizen-heroes of September 11, 2001-for example William Wik, who refused to flee to personal safety because there were still people to be rescued. He died when a tower collapsed. Wik was willing to sacrifice his own life to save others, and his behavior could thus best be described as __________.

In order to best predict whether people will help another person, it is best to know something about __________ and __________.

When American and Japanese participants were studied on the likelihood they would engage in altruistic behavior, what was the final result?

The altruistic personality refers to __________.

According to evolutionary theory (Darwin, 1859), genes that lower our chances of survival are __________.

The text discusses a cultural value, simpatía, prominent in Spanish-speaking countries. Although simpatía has no direct English translation, it generally refers to __________.

Amos has just received a good grade on his calculus exam. He's in a great mood, and thinks to himself, "School's going well; my relationship with Carrie is going great. It's a wonderful world!" On the way out of the building, he finds that a bicyclist has hit a pedestrian, so he hurries over to help the fallen person. This example best illustrates which of the three reasons why positive mood enhances helping?

In a series of studies, Latané and Darley discovered that the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that any individual will help. Why is that?

Researchers exposed some students to a lecture on bystander intervention research and other students to a lecture on an unrelated topic. Two weeks later ___________.

The groups of people who live among those who are __________ may be more likely to survive than those people who live among groups of people who are __________. This idea is referred to as __________.

Based on information presented by the authors of your text, complete the analogy about gender differences in helping behaviors. Men: __________ :: women: __________.