Exam 9: Prosocial Behavior: Doing What’s Best for Others

In one well-known study on empathy, participants had to watch a confederate ("Elaine") receive electric shocks. They were told either that they had to watch 10 full trials of shocks, or that they could leave after watching the first two trials only. They were also told that their values and interests were similar to those of the confederate (similar group), or that their values and interests were different from those of the confederate (dissimilar group). After the first two trials had been completed, participants were asked whether they would switch places with the confederate-she was apparently very upset by the shocks due to a negative childhood experience with electricity. Which group almost never agreed to switch places?

Research on helping indicates that once people are educated about phenomena such as the bystander effect, diffusion of responsibility, and pluralistic ignorance, they are less likely to fall prey to them themselves.

In the "trust game," participants generally ____.

Research on gender and helping indicates that female helpers are ____.

A strong belief in the reliability or validity of something is called ____.

Suppose that Paul and Oscar are buying frozen yogurt. Both of them are inclined to order the same flavor-pistachio-but they feel unadventurous about ordering the same flavor. If Oscar goes ahead and orders the pistachio for himself, then it is likely that Paul will ____.

What happens to the political views people express when they are first primed by seeing a container of hand sanitizer?

The term "sensitivity about being the target of threatening upward comparison" refers to ____.

Social psychologists distinguish between two types of helping, which are defined by different motives: ____.

Suppose that two preteen girls take turns brushing each other's hair. These girls are demonstrating ____.

When it comes to helping others, how do humans compare other animals?

Many people who hold prejudiced attitudes towards ethnic minority groups attempt to justify their prejudices by suggesting that group competition for jobs, housing, healthcare, and other social resources is a(n) ____. For example, they claim: "The more jobs that other groups get, the fewer good jobs there will be left for people from my group."

If Maria helps another person with the sole goal of increasing his or her welfare, and expects nothing from the other person in return, then she is said to be engaging in ____.

Suppose that you are working with a group of monkeys, and you give some monkeys a small reward (a cucumber) for performing a given task, while you give other monkeys a bigger and better reward (a banana) for performing the exact same task. Research suggests that the monkeys ____ compare their rewards, and that, as a result, ____.

Forgiveness is beneficial to the person receiving it, but not to the person doing the forgiving.

The idea that empathy motivates people to reduce others' distress is known as the ________________.

A series of studies conducted in restaurants indicates that when people dine in groups, they tend to order ____. This finding can be explained by the fact that ____.

People who forgive others tend to have ____.

The first step to helping behavior is overcoming pluralistic ignorance.

In general, people are more likely to help others who appear to be similar to them than others who appear to be different from them.