Exam 11: Prosocial Behavior: Why Do People Help

Explain what an altruistic personality is, and what research says about how this personality trait predicts behavior in helping situations.

Why are many biologists skeptical about the concept of group selection?

Dima just finished listening to a charity album filled with songs about helping and caring for others who are victims of war in Darfur, tornadoes in the American South, and famine in Somalia. Why would she be more likely to help the lady parked near her whose car has a flat tire?

According to Latané and Darley (1970), the first step in deciding to help in an emergency is __________.

At Cornell and Vassar, students intervened in emergencies. In both cases, they __________.

Pluralistic ignorance is most likely to discourage intervention in an emergency when __________.

Whereas __________ is any act performed to benefit another, __________ is such an act performed with no regard for one's safety or interests.

According to evolutionary theory (Darwin, 1859), natural selection favors genes that promote individual survival. This tenet is most troublesome in explaining __________.

To ensure that community service participation for a school or job does not undermine people's intrinsic motivation for helping, an administrator should do which of the following?

Which of the following is the best example of altruistic behavior?

A child starts to cry after she sees her best friend trip and scrape her knee. The child's behavior is most likely an example of __________.

Based on information about the urban overload hypothesis, where would you be more likely to receive help finding a lost child?

In a study by Isen and Levin (1972) they found that people who had found 10 cents in a pay phone were more likely to help another person when the opportunity presented itself. They believed this happened because when you feel good, you are more likely to __________.

The authors of your text explain that there are three main motives for helping others. They are __________.

Based on evidence from studies presented in the chapter on evolutionary explanations of helping behavior, whom would you be the most likely to help if she had just spilled the contents of her purse?

Which of the following best describes the urban-overload hypothesis (Milgram, 1970)? People who ___________.

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 told that Carol would soon be returning to their class. According to the research, why is this referred to as a "high cost" condition?

In which of the following situations is Nathan, a local Christian pastor, most likely to help out?

According to the evolutionary psychology notion of kin selection, Bob is most likely to help his __________.

In explaining the process by which kin selection works to encourage altruism, evolutionary psychologists would argue that __________.