Deck 10: Helping Others

Question 1

Warneken and Tomasello (2006) studied the helping behavior of 18-month-old infants with an adult experimenter. They found that

A) infants this young didn't demonstrate empathy or helping of any kind.
B) infants this young understood when the experimenter needed help and most of them attempted to help.
C) infants this young didn't seem to sense when the experimenter needed help.
D) infants this young understood when the experimenter needed help but did not know how to offer help.

Answer 1

infants this young understood when the experimenter needed help and most of them attempted to help.

Question 2

Evolutionary perspectives on helping behavior suggest that individuals

A) sometimes offer assistance to others even when doing so puts their own survival at great risk.
B) are more likely to offer help to attractive others who seem to be good potential mates.
C) are more likely to offer help to distant versus close relatives.
D) who only look out for themselves tend to be most successful from a reproductive standpoint.

Answer 2

sometimes offer assistance to others even when doing so puts their own survival at great risk.

Question 3

Some research has found that bats shared food with both kin and nonkin under safe conditions. When the conditions seemed dangerous, the bats shared a much greater proportion of food with close relatives. This finding is consistent with

A) kin selection.
B) the bystander effect.
C) pluralistic ignorance.
D) the negative-state relief model.

Answer 3

kin selection.

Question 4

Kelli always tries to be very helpful because she believes it increases her chances of receiving help at a future time. Kelli's thinking most closely reflects the concept of

A) reciprocal altruism.
B) empathy.
C) egoism.
D) audience exhibition.

Question 5

Joey and Chandler are not related to each other, yet Chandler goes out of his way to leave work early so he can give Joey a ride to the airport. From an evolutionary perspective, which of the following concepts applies to Chandler's behavior toward Joey?

A) Kin selection
B) Reciprocal altruism
C) The cost-reward model
D) Moral hypocrisy

Question 6

As compared to feelings of personal distress, empathic concern

A) is more likely in emergency situations.
B) does not directly impact helping behavior.
C) is more cognitive in nature.
D) is other-oriented rather than self-oriented.

Question 7

Angelina arrived at the site where her sister Mary and her friend were involved in an accident. Angelina ran to help her sister out of the car but waited for others to help Mary's friend. According to the study by Fitzgerald and others (2010), which of the following statements best explains Angelina's actions?

A) In high-risk scenarios, we are motivated to help anyone.
B) In low-risk scenarios, we are willing to help friends and relatives.
C) In all scenarios, we are unlikely to help someone not genetically related to us.
D) In high-risk scenarios, we are more willing to help only our closest relatives.

Question 8

Which of the following hormones has been implicated by neuroscientists in empathy and prosocial behaviors?

A) Oxytocin
B) Cortical
C) Estrogen
D) Testosterone

Question 9

Open-source community has members who post their work on to the community site for the benefit of others. If you use their software, you can refer to others or donate additional development code to the community. The foundation of this community is based on the concept of

A) reciprocal altruism.
B) kin selection.
C) audience inhibition.
D) the empathy-altruism hypothesis.

Question 10

Which of the following statements about empathy is most accurate?

A) It has emotional and behavioral components but not a cognitive component.
B) It is uniquely human and begins to appear after adolescence.
C) It is independent of the ability to take another person's perspective.
D) It is much debated as to how it should be defined.

Question 11

Some large fish allow smaller fish to swim inside of their mouths without eating the smaller ones. The smaller fish get food for themselves from the larger fish's mouth and at the same time remove parasites from its teeth. This is an example of

A) reciprocal altruism.
B) kin selection.
C) audience inhibition.
D) the cost-reward model.

Question 12

Online file-sharing websites depend on the idea of

A) reciprocal altruism.
B) kin selection.
C) audience inhibition.
D) the cost-reward model.

Question 13

The ability to understand or vicariously experience another's perspective and to feel sympathy and compassion for that person is called ____.

A) Synergy
B) prosocial behavior
C) Empathy
D) Altruism

Question 14

Actions intended to benefit others are called ____ behaviors.

A) prosocial
B) altruistic
C) egoistic
D) aggressive

Question 15

When Jo witnesses a serious plane crash, she feels compassion, sympathy, and tenderness for the victims. Her feelings are indicative of

A) anxious introspection.
B) perspective taking.
C) kin selection.
D) empathic concern.

Question 16

A classic book, The Selfish Gene , by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins suggests that evolutionary perspectives emphasize not the survival of the fittest individuals but

A) the fittest individual does not gain an advantage over the less-fit.
B) the economic rewards of helping are greater than the costs.
C) it helps to secure propagation of an individual's genes.
D) it is performed for altruistic rather than egoistic motives.

Question 17

Which of the following statements about reciprocal altruism is most accurate?

A) Reciprocal altruism is a strictly human phenomenon and observed only in mature adults.
B) Reciprocal altruism is a strictly human phenomenon that has been observed throughout the lifespan.
C) Reciprocal altruism occurs in humans and nonhuman primates but not in nonprimate animals.
D) Reciprocal altruism has been demonstrated in nonhuman primates as well as nonprimate animals.

Question 18

The cognitive component of empathy that involves seeing the world through someone else's eyes is called

A) anxious introspection.
B) personal distress.
C) perspective taking.
D) empathic affect.

Question 19

The principle of kin selection is based on the assumption that

A) although it is sometimes beneficial to help our kin, we must focus primarily on helping ourselves if we are to survive danger.
B) it is the survival of genes that matters most from an evolutionary perspective.
C) we will help those who are likely to reciprocate that help regardless of whether or not they are genetically related to us.
D) those who have the greatest reproductive fitness share more genes with their kin.

Question 20

The evolutionary principle of kin selection dictates that we are more likely to help someone who is

A) a potential mate.
B) likely to return the favor.
C) physically attractive.
D) genetically related to us.

Question 21

The negative state relief model of helping behavior

A) supports the existence of altruism in the real world.
B) applies more to emergencies than to nonemergency situations.
C) identifies yet another way in which helping can be egoistic.
D) is based on the ego defense mechanism of reaction formation.

Question 22

The empathy-altruism model suggests that when escape from a situation is easy, people will

A) offer help only when they have empathic concern.
B) offer help only when they are in a good mood.
C) almost always exhibit altruism.
D) be likely to experience empathic concern.

Question 23

People who have experienced distressing or traumatic events

A) derive more satisfaction from helping strangers than from helping close others.
B) show mental and physical health benefits from helping others.
C) more carefully weigh the potential costs of helping.
D) are paradoxically less likely to help others if they themselves were helped.

Question 24

Bob was an active alcoholic for 8 years, during which time he lost his wife and custody of his daughter. Now that he has been clean and sober for 3 years, he is a sponsor for several other people who are struggling to stop drinking. He says that helping others makes him feel better about the things that he lost while he was drinking. Bob's actions to help others recover from addiction are driven by the ____ model of helping.

A) negative state relief
B) empathy-altruism
C) equity maintaining
D) Justice

Question 25

According to the empathy-altruism hypothesis, altruistic behavior is primarily the result of

A) feeling another person's pain.
B) rewards and costs.
C) personal distress.
D) evolution and sympathy

Question 26

The proposition that people help others in order to counteract their own feelings of sadness is called the ____ model.

A) cost-reward
B) negative state relief
C) empathy-altruism
D) diffusion-of-responsibility

Question 27

Helping in the face of ____ costs is best described as ____.

A) enormous; altruism
B) small; altruism
C) enormous; courageous resistance
D) small; courageous resistance

Question 28

Behaviors that are motivated by selfish concerns are best described as _____.

A) Altruistic
B) Arrogant
C) idiographic
D) Egoistic

Question 29

Charlene volunteers one afternoon each week at the local soup kitchen because she is genuinely concerned about the welfare of the less fortunate citizens in her community. Charlene's behavior would best be characterized as

A) egoistic.
B) altruistic.
C) affective.
D) evolutionary.

Question 30

Researchers observed that people may be more likely to remain longer as active volunteers if their initial motivation was more ___.

A) self-oriented
B) ambivalent
C) other-oriented
D) Selfless

Question 31

"Good Samaritan" laws

A) encourage bystanders to intervene in emergencies.
B) only apply to those with professional training.
C) are fairly rare in the United States.
D) require people to intervene in the case of an emergency, even if doing so is dangerous for the helper.

Question 32

Giles volunteers his time to his local community center because he thinks it will look good on his college applications. Giles's behavior would best be described as likely

A) democratic.
B) egoistic.
C) altruistic.
D) idealistic.

Question 33

The primary distinction between altruistic and egoistic helping concerns the

A) motivations of the helper.
B) ratio of rewards to costs.
C) number of bystanders present.
D) mood of the helper.

Question 34

Research by Batson on the empathy-altruism hypothesis suggests that

A) all helping is altruistic.
B) most helping is egoistic.
C) helping is affected by many motives, including altruism.
D) helping is affected by many motives, but rarely altruism.

Question 35

The empathy-altruism hypothesis maintains that, regardless of how easy it is to escape from a situation, people will help someone else if their motives are

A) altruistic.
B) simplistic.
C) idiographic.
D) egoistic.

Question 36

Sandy missed class because she is sick, but Luis did attend the lecture. Sandy asks Luis if she can borrow his notes. If Luis considers Sandy's situation from her point of view and decides to offer help without expecting some form of payback, he is most likely

A) invoking the norm of reciprocal altruism.
B) operating under an altruistic motive.
C) operating under an egoistic motive.
D) following the negative state relief model.

Question 37

Which of the following statements is most consistent with the negative state relief model?

A) Shoppers who are given a free gift are more likely to donate money to a solicitor as they leave the store.
B) Students who feel guilty about falling asleep in class are more likely to complete the assignments on time.
C) Professional athletes are more likely to sign autographs for fans following a win than following a loss.
D) People who win the lottery are more likely to give money to charity than those who have not won the lottery.

Question 38

Joseph sees a frail man limping on the corner of his property. Joseph is most likely to help if the costs of

A) not helping are small, and Joseph will gain nothing from helping.
B) not helping are small, and Joseph will feel better about himself by helping.
C) helping are large, and Joseph will feel better about himself by helping.
D) helping are small, and Joseph will feel better about himself by helping.

Question 39

Research on the empathy-altruism model has demonstrated that individuals ____ in empathic concern offer help ____.

A) high; when escape from the situation is difficult, but not when escape is easy
B) low; if they can easily escape from the situation, but not if escape is difficult
C) high; regardless of the ease of escape from a situation
D) low; regardless of the ease of escape from a situation

Question 40

When Christine sees how upset Jim is about his father's death, she, too, becomes upset. As a result, she goes out of her way to console Jim. Christine's actions are consistent with the

A) empathy-altruism hypothesis.
B) mood maintenance model.
C) norm of reciprocity.
D) threat to self-esteem model.

Question 41

Which of the following is not one of the five steps to helping proposed by Latané and Darley (1970)?

A) Interpret the event as an emergency.
B) Invoke the norm of reciprocity.
C) Take responsibility for providing help.
D) Notice that something is happening.

Question 42

Newman notices that the passenger seated across from him on the subway has his eyes closed and hasn't moved in a while. But he looks around and sees that no one else, including those passengers who were on the train when he boarded, seems too concerned about this man. He decides that this probably means there isn't an emergency and the man is not in need of help. This line of thinking epitomizes which of the following concepts?

A) Stimulus overload
B) Pluralistic ignorance
C) Audience inhibition
D) Diffusion of responsibility

Question 43

In one of the most infamous cases of the bystander effect, ____ neighbors watched as Kitty Genovese was repeatedly attacked and sexually assaulted (and eventually killed). None of those observers called police until 45 minutes had passed.

A) 12
B) 25
C) 38
D) 51

Question 44

The bystander effect does not tend to occur when the bystanders are

A) all friends.
B) all strangers.
C) only in one's mind.
D) on the Internet.

Question 45

The bystander effect refers to the tendency for

A) the presence of others to inhibit helping.
B) the presence of others to promote helping.
C) bystander helping to be motivated more by egoistic concerns than altruistic ones.
D) bystander helping to be motivated more by altruistic concerns than egoistic ones.

Question 46

Many different factors contribute to the bystander effect. Which of the following factors does not contribute directly to the bystander effect?

A) Audience inhibition
B) Time pressure
C) Pluralistic ignorance
D) Diffusion of responsibility

Question 47

Cosmo is walking home on a busy downtown street when he notices a woman lying on the sidewalk who appears to have lost consciousness. Which of the following obstacles to helping would best explain why he did not interpret the event as an emergency?

A) Audience inhibition
B) Pluralistic ignorance
C) Diffusion of responsibility
D) Empathetic altruism

Question 48

Dewanto hears what sounds like gunshots coming from the school parking lot. None of his classmates appears concerned, so Dewanto assumes that they know the sound was only a car backfiring or someone playing with firecrackers. Dewanto's beliefs illustrate

A) diffusion of responsibility.
B) empathic concern.
C) audience inhibition.
D) pluralistic ignorance.

Question 49

Latané and Darley's (1968) "smoke-filled room" study demonstrates the concept of

A) diffusion of responsibility.
B) pluralistic ignorance.
C) audience inhibition.
D) negative state relief.

Question 50

What explanation does research give for the finding that volunteers with egoistic motives tend to remain active volunteers longer than those with more altruistic motives?

A) Altruistic motives do not stand up against the personal costs of helping for long.
B) Altruistic motives are not genuinely felt.
C) Altruistic motives create more personal cost for the volunteer.
D) Altruistic motives help one manage the personal costs of helping.

Question 51

Research by Omoto and Snyder (1995) found that volunteers who decided to help AIDS victims had ____ service if their initial motives were ____.

A) longer; self-oriented
B) longer; other-oriented
C) shorter; religious
D) shorter; egoistic

Question 52

Jacinta volunteers at a local clinic where patients with AIDS come to get treatment and social assistance. She spends 10 to 15 hours a week at the clinic because it helps her escape the pressures and stress in her life. Which motivation category is behind Jacinta's volunteerism?

A) Values
B) Esteem enhancement
C) Understanding
D) Personal development

Question 53

The state in which people in a group mistakenly think that their own individual thoughts, feelings, or behaviors are different from those of others in the group is called

A) stimulus overload.
B) pluralistic ignorance.
C) courageous resistance.
D) diffusion of responsibility.

Question 54

Benny has a heart attack while riding a crowded city bus and nobody on the bus attempts to help him. This exemplifies

A) the bystander effect.
B) the good mood effect.
C) moral hypocrisy.
D) the norm of social responsibility.

Question 55

Having struggled with panhandlers on the subway, hassles at the office, and telephone calls at dinner, Allison retreats to her bedroom rather than noticing that her daughter needs help with a homework assignment. She is probably reacting to

A) social norms.
B) bystander calculus.
C) stimulus overload.
D) reactance.

Question 56

Kramer was on the subway during rush hour and failed to offer assistance to a woman who fell down and lost consciousness. One explanation for why he might not have noticed the emergency would be

A) audience inhibition.
B) pluralistic ignorance.
C) diffusion of responsibility.
D) stimulus overload.

Question 57

Which situational change would not have made it more likely that someone would've acted to help Kitty Genovese during her attack?

A) If some of her neighbors had been police officers
B) If there had been 76 witnesses instead of 38
C) If some of her neighbors had known her before the attack occurred
D) If some of the witnesses had just heard a lecture on the situational influences on helping behavior

Question 58

For doctors and nurses, too much empathy can be

A) essential to effective job performance.
B) a risk factor for depression.
C) a result of clinical training.
D) a way to retain one's humanity.

Question 59

Darley and  Latané's  (1968) "epileptic seizure" study demonstrated that

A) helping is primarily egoistic.
B) helping is primarily altruistic.
C) helping is inversely related to group size.
D) helping is positively related to group size.

Question 60

Which of the following factors will lead to greater helping in an emergency situation?

A) A large group of bystanders witnesses the emergency.
B) The emergency occurs in a busy environment.
C) The emergency involves two victims who are clearly related.
D) The situation is clearly an emergency that is difficult to ignore.

Question 61

The belief that others will or should take the responsibility for providing assistance to a person in need is called

A) the bystander effect.
B) diffusion of responsibility.
C) pluralistic ignorance.
D) audience inhibition.

Question 62

Ambiguity of a situation would interfere with potential helping behavior just after which step of Lateen and Darley's (1970) five-step model of helping?

A) Noticing the event
B) Interpreting the event as an emergency
C) Taking responsibility to help
D) Providing help

Question 63

Fiona needs to get people to fill out her survey. The likelihood that people will help Fiona will increase if she approaches all types of people except those who

A) live in the country rather than the city.
B) seem to be in a good mood.
C) just passed by a bakery.
D) are in a hurry.

Question 64

Research suggests that the bystander effect

A) has become much less pronounced in our modern, technology-driven era.
B) is more common among women than men.
C) happens more often among friends than among strangers.
D) does occur with online and virtual groups as well as in-person groups.

Question 65

Darley and Batson (1973) found that the helping behavior of seminary students was best predicted by

A) how religious they were.
B) the type of speech they were about to give.
C) how much time they had.
D) the sex of the person being helped.

Question 66

People are probably most helpful when the weather is

A) sunny.
B) snowy.
C) rainy.
D) cloudy.

Question 67

What would be the right and most effective approach for a person to secure help in an emergency situation?

A) Make a very loud general plea for help.
B) Ask a specific individual for help.
C) Request help from those who are more psychologically distant from the situation.
D) Appear to have the situation entirely under control.

Question 68

Ginny thinks she hears a husband physically abusing his wife. However, she does not call the police because she is afraid that her neighbors will ostracize her if she is wrong. Ginny's failure to act is a case of

A) negative state relief.
B) audience inhibition.
C) empathic concern.
D) pluralistic ignorance.

Question 69

When people think they will be scorned by others for failing to help, audience inhibition

A) increases.
B) decreases.
C) remains the same as it would in any situation.
D) escalates.

Question 70

Asuni hears her neighbor's burglar alarm go off in the middle of the night, but she doesn't call the police because she assumes that one of the other neighbors will do so. Asuni's failure to call the police is the result of

A) pluralistic ignorance.
B) audience inhibition.
C) diffusion of responsibility.
D) stimulus overload.

Question 71

During his statistics class this morning, Stuart was completely confused. He considered asking questions during the lecture, but because nobody else asked questions, he did not want to raise his hand and make a fool of himself in front of everyone. Stuart's failure to ask questions most likely stems from

A) diffusion of responsibility.
B) stimulus overload.
C) pluralistic ignorance.
D) audience inhibition.

Question 72

During a study in Liberia, only 7% of the population reported making a charitable donation but 76% of Liberian respondents reported helping a stranger within a month. This points out that

A) prosocial behavior takes different forms across cultures.
B) it is one of the poorest countries in the world.
C) the greater the population size, the more likely people donate.
D) the relationship between time pressure and helping is inconsistent.

Question 73

People are less likely to notice an emergency if they

A) display empathic concern for others.
B) are aware of their surroundings.
C) are in a good mood.
D) are under time pressure.

Question 74

According to Latané and Darley's (1970) five-step model of helping, analysis of costs and rewards occurs just prior to

A) noticing the event.
B) interpreting the event as an emergency.
C) taking responsibility to help.
D) providing help.

Question 75

An important element of helping in Spanish and Latin-American cultures is called

A) Simpatia
B) déja vu.
C) je ne sais quoi.
D) inferno .

Question 76

According to Giving USA (2019), the residents of individualistic states in the United States are ____ than residents of more collectivist states.

A) less likely to offer assistance in an emergency
B) more likely to give to charity
C) more susceptible to the bystander effect
D) less generous

Question 77

In their famous Good Samaritan study, Darley and Batson (1973) found that

A) students studying to become ministers were more likely to offer assistance to a stranger than college students.
B) seminary students on their way to give a sermon involving the Good Samaritan parable were more likely to offer assistance to a stranger than students preparing sermons on other topics.
C) the more religious seminary students were, the more likely they were to stop to offer assistance to a stranger as they walked across campus.
D) the topic of the seminarians' talks had little impact on the likelihood that they would help.

Question 78

Research suggests that your responses are strongly influenced by the size of a group and

A) make you more likely to engage in helping behavior.
B) make you less likely to engage in helping behavior.
C) only influence altruistic helping behavior.
D) do not affect helping behavior.

Question 79

The bystander effect can be reduced if

A) a bystander's training is relevant to the emergency at hand.
B) there are many bystanders.
C) the bystanders do not know each other.
D) the bystanders do not know the victim.

Question 80

Reluctance to help for fear of making a bad impression on observers is called

A) kin selection.
B) audience inhibition.
C) arousal inhibition.
D) pluralistic reluctance.