Deck 9: Prosocial Behaviour

Question 1

A voluntary act performed to help someone when one is not expecting any kind of reward is an instance of:

A) prosocial behaviour
B) Machievellianism
C) social justice
D) empathy
E) natural justice

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The concept of altruism is a difficult one because:

A) it is only a hypothetical construct
B) only self-rewarded behaviour can be considered altruistic and it is impossible to measure self-reward
C) it is almost impossible to ascertain whether a given behaviour was carried out without any anticipation of self-reward
D) it encompasses involuntary as well as voluntary behaviour
E) the concept is deeply mired in religious debate

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The term 'prosocial behaviour' is preferred over 'altruism' because:

A) it is more readily understood
B) it encompasses involuntary as well as voluntary behaviour
C) it is applicable to animal and human behaviour
D) it is not tied to the criterion of absence of self-reward
E) it is not a philosophical concept

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Attributions are important with respect to prosocial behaviour because:

A) attitude towards the recipient is an important indicator of whether or not the behaviour was prosocial
B) motivation is important in our assessment of whether or not a behaviour is prosocial and we can only make attributions about motivation
C) the actor's feelings about the recipient play a large role in whether or not help will be offered
D) the recipient's attributions about the actor's behaviour are important in understanding bystander apathy
E) religiosity is important in our assessment of whether or not a behaviour is prosocial and we make attributions about religiosity

Question 5

Which of the following is true about prosocial behaviour in animals?

A) it is motivated by fear
B) it is directed both at members of their own species and at humans
C) it is the product of natural selection
D) it is difficult to assess the motivation behind an animal's activity, even if it appears to be altruistic
E) only mammals are capable of prosocial behaviour

Question 6

The kin selection principle is explained in terms of:

A) archive data
B) sociobiology
C) genetics
D) evolution
E) arousal

Question 7

The norm of social responsibility suggests that people will:

A) assume responsibility for helping their parents in old age
B) help those who have helped them
C) help those who need help
D) help those who had helped them in the past
E) assume responsibility for correcting past mistakes

Question 8

The __________ norm suggests that people should help those who helped them in the past.

A) reciprocity
B) equity
C) social responsibility
D) social exchange
E) equality

Question 9

__________ norms would motivate us to help a person who has lost everything in a hurricane but not one who lost everything in a gambling game.

A) Reciprocity
B) Equity
C) Social responsibility
D) Social exchange
E) Social comparison

Question 10

Sally helped Harry fix a tire on his bicycle. Later that same day, Harry offered Sally a ride to the library on his bike. Harry's offer could be a result of:

A) the norm of equity
B) the norm of social responsibility
C) the norm of equality
D) the norm of reciprocity
E) the norm of equilibriated exchange

Question 11

According to the kinship principle, we are more likely to help close relatives because:

A) we know them better
B) we feel obligated to help our relatives
C) they are more likely to respond negatively if we don't help
D) we like them more
E) we share some genes with them

Question 12

According to the _______ theory, personality traits associated with helpfulness may be favoured by natural selection.

A) kinship
B) evolution
C) gene-culture co-evolution
D) cognitive dissonance
E) relativity

Question 13

The approach which considers prosocial behaviour to develop out of the values and attitudes that the child acquires through social experience is referred to as:

A) the social learning approach
B) the personal experiential approach
C) the cognitive-developmental approach
D) the abstract ethical principle approach
E) the value-expressive approach

Question 14

According to the two-stage decision model of helping, ______ leads to emotional arousal while ______ is tied to a decision about how much help to give.

A) kinship, evolution
B) empathy, sympathy
C) sympathy, empathy
D) dissonance, appraisal
E) emotion, cognition

Question 15

Cognitive-developmental theory suggests that:

A) people help others because of a personal set of values and attitudes which oblige them to provide assistance in certain situations
B) people behave prosocially only when their behaviour is judged by others
C) people behave prosocially to ensure that others will treat them in the same way
D) prosocial behaviour is acquired through reinforcement and self-attributions
E) people behave prosocially only to avoid punishment

Question 16

Empathy has been linked to:

A) sympathy
B) mirror neurons
C) behavioural modelling
D) social norms
E) none of the above

Question 17

The reluctance of many people to sign organ donor consent forms appears to be related to:

A) personality variables
B) fear of accidents
C) attitudes about life and death
D) lack of sympathy for others
E) both a and c

Question 18

What neurochemical has been linked to trust, attachment and generosity?

A) dopamine
B) serotonin
C) oxytocin
D) mirror neurons
E) genetic kinship

Question 19

A Dutch study found that people with a prosocial value orientation were found:

A) to have higher levels of secure attachment
B) to have had an unhappy childhood
C) to have had more siblings
D) to place no value on achievement
E) both a and c

Question 20

The theory that explains the acquisition of prosocial behaviour as the
Result of reinforcement and modelling is the __________ theory.

A) cognitive-developmental
B) sociobiological
C) social responsibility
D) social learning
E) equity

Question 21

Self-attributions are important in the development of prosocial behaviour because:

A) they provide a standard of behaviour which we strive to maintain in order to avoid feeling negatively about ourselves
B) they allow us to rationalize our behaviour
C) they help us to empathize with others who are in distress
D) they produce a sense of social responsibility
E) all of the above

Question 22

Prosocial behaviour is more likely to be found in children who:

A) are always reinforced for playing with children from other ethnic groups
B) are always punished for bad behaviour
C) attribute their behaviour to internal causes
D) attribute their behaviour to external causes
E) have been trained at an early age to respect social norms

Question 23

According to the ____________ hypothesis, altruism is elicited as a result of feeling a connection with another person witnessed to be in distress.

A) image-repair
B) reparative
C) self-other overlap
D) warm glow of success
E) empathy-altruism

Question 24

Studies on modelling and prosocial behaviour have shown that:

A) prosocial models produce imitative behaviour only for the specific activity
B) prosocial models have no influence on the prosocial behaviour of children
C) children's responses to charitable models are durable and can be generalized
D) only the emotion expressed by the model appears to have some effect on imitation
E) the modelled behaviour is usually short-lived

Question 25

Those who have failed in some way are more likely to help those who know of their failure. This is about the _______ hypothesis.

A) warm glow of success
B) image repair
C) prosocial modeling
D) reparative altruism
E) reciprocity

Question 26

People who have harmed another often resort to:

A) reparative altruism
B) warm glow of success
C) image repair
D) reciprocity
E) guilt

Question 27

Watching prosocial behaviour on television:

A) leads to increases in prosocial behaviour by child viewers
B) leads to increases in prosocial behaviour by adult viewers, but not by children
C) has no demonstrable effect on prosocial behaviour of viewers
D) leads to decreases in aggressiveness by child viewers
E) produces a greater capacity for empathic responding

Question 28

Which of the following is NOT one of the norms relevant to prosocial behaviour?

A) norm of social responsibility
B) norm of reciprocity
C) norm of equity
D) norm of altruism
E) all of the above are relevant

Question 29

In relation to prosocial behaviour, cognitive processing capacity (the ability to notice what is going on around us) may increase when:

A) we are in a good mood
B) external rewards are available
C) a charitable model is present
D) helpful peers are present
E) self-rewards are available

Question 30

The finding that participants who experience failure are more likely to help if the request for help or charity comes from a person who is aware of their failure indicates a support for:

A) the image-repair hypothesis
B) the need for approval hypothesis
C) the warm glow of success hypothesis
D) reparative altruism
E) the personal distress hypothesis

Question 31

According to the text, people in a bad mood might be less likely to act prosocially because:

A) bad mood limits our ability to turn our attention to people's difficulties
B) bad mood might limit our ability to pay attention to the dictates of our conscience
C) they have weighed the costs of helping and have decided they are too high
D) bad mood brings out sadistic impulses that make people more callous
E) all of the above

Question 32

One might suspect that people who make anonymous donations are lower than other donors in:

A) empathy
B) the need for approval
C) self-esteem
D) cognitive processing capacity
E) reparative altruism

Question 33

In a study in which a confederate of the experimenter dropped a load of books, participants who were high in the need for social approval helped more when they:

A) knew they were being observed
B) had been made to feel guilty a few moments earlier
C) knew the person who dropped the books
D) had previously obtained a social reward for helping the experimenter
E) when they were in a good mood

Question 34

Reparative altruism suggests that:

A) people with a high need for approval are more likely to make generous public donations if they have been made to feel selfish
B) after we have neglected to help a person in need, we are likely to go out of our way to help someone else
C) failure participants help more when the beneficiary is unaware of the failure
D) failure participants contribute more when the canvasser is aware of their failures
E) after having hurt someone, we may try to assuage our guilt or increase our self-esteem by helping others

Question 35

According to research reviewed in the textbook, what are the main findings regarding video games and prosocial behavior?

A) prosocial games increase prosocial behaviour
B) playing violent video game decreases prosocial behaviour
C) prosocial games increase empathy
D) playing prosocial games decreases schadenfreude
E) all of the above

Question 36

A field study of helping when an apparently blind researcher was about to cross a street found:

A) high rates of helping in Vienna
B) lower rates of helping in New York and Kuala Lumpur
C) very consistent rates of helping in 23 different countries
D) both a and b
E) none of the above

Question 37

When Knafo et al (2009) reanalyzed the data in the above study, they found a negative correlation between offering help to a stranger and:

A) norm of reciprocity
B) norm of social responsibility
C) mood of the potential helper
D) embeddedness (emphasis on family unit, ignore strangers)
E) negative-state relief

Question 38

The view that an observer's empathic response to a sufferer's distress produces personal sadness, and that the individual acts to help the sufferer because of the egotistic motivation to relieve his/her own sadness, is an example of:

A) the empathy-altruism hypothesis
B) the empathy-specific reward hypothesis
C) the negative-state relief hypothesis
D) the empathy-specific punishment hypothesis
E) the negative-state egoism hypothesis

Question 39

Researchers using the lost letter technique in various neighbourhoods in London found that about ______ of the letters were returned in rich neighbourhoods, and 37% in poorest nieghbourhoods.

A) 50%, 50%
B) 37%, 87%
C) 87%, 37%
D) 37%, 37%
E) 87%, 87%

Question 40

How does religion relate to helping behaviour?

A) highly religious people are more likely to help
B) intrinsically rented religious people help more
C) extrinsically oriented people help more
D) both a and b
E) both a and c

Question 41

Cross-cultural studies of prosocial behaviour suggest that prosocial behaviour is most evident among children who:

A) grow up in cultures which have heroic folk legends involving altruism
B) live in societies which forbid personal ownership of property
C) are required to help, for example by sharing in the care and raising of younger children
D) have never been exposed to television
E) are taught religious values

Question 42

Which of the following statements is supported by research, according to the textbook?

A) across many situations, women are more helpful than men
B) across many situations, men are more helpful than women
C) people who react to being help with gratitude are more likely to act prosocially
D) only women who react to being help with gratitude are more likely to act prosocially
E) gratitude has no effect on maintaining romantic relationships

Question 43

According to the textbook:

A) women are on average more empathic than men and more willing to help others
B) women are on average less empathic than men, and are less willing to help others
C) there is no clear evidence that women are any more empathic than men
D) men seem more willing than women to help highly dependent people
E) men typically describe themselves as being more empathic than women

Question 44

Research indicates that those who are __________ are more likely to act in a prosocial manner.

A) 'internal' in terms of locus of control
B) low in need for approval
C) high in propensity for feeling guilty
D) low in self-control
E) all of the above

Question 45

Gender roles influence helping behaviour in that:

A) males are expected to be protective of subordinates
B) females are expected to be more nurturant and caring
C) men are considered to be responsible for rescuing people who are in difficulty
D) women are taught to avoid strangers
E) all of the above

Question 46

What does research indicate regarding the role of gender differences in prosocial behaviour?

A) females are more helpful than males
B) gender is unrelated to helping
C) generally, males are more helpful than females, although there is a great deal of inconsistency in this regard from one study to another
D) on the whole, females are more helpful than males, although there is a great deal of inconsistency from study to study
E) males are less likely than females to help strangers

Question 47

With regard to religious orientation and prosocial behavior:

A) intrinsically oriented religious people tend to help only those of the same faith
B) intrinsically oriented religious people help only when asked to help
C) intrinsically oriented religious people provide help even when it is not wanted
D) people who view religion as an open-ended quest for values provide help regardless of the circumstance
E) people who view religion as an open-ended quest for values tend to help those with similar values

Question 48

One reason given in the text to explain why rural people may be more prone than city people to offer assistance to people in need is that:

A) city dwellers are used to having to take charge in emergencies, and become blase about it
B) it is more likely that the stranger needing assistance in a city will belong to an unfamiliar group, whereas there is less diversity among people in rural areas
C) country dwellers are less in a hurry
D) both a and b
E) both a and c

Question 49

Why is forgiveness important?

A) allows people in groups to continue to cooperate
B) improves physical and mental health
C) promotes empathy
D) restores victims sense of empowerment
E) all of the above

Question 50

Research shows that ____ can promote forgiveness.

A) begging forgiveness
B) norm of reciprocity
C) high levels of personal anxiety
D) acknowledging responsibility for the transgression
E) all of the above

Question 51

Research indicates that what brain mechanism relates to forgiveness?

A) prefrontal cortex
B) hypothalamus
C) straite nucleus
D) executive functioning
E) none of the above

Question 52

Which of the following is not a characteristic of an emergency situation?

A) they are typically situations where one needs considerable training in order to react appropriately
B) they are rare
C) the external rewards for intervening are often non-existent
D) they are unpredictable and therefore difficult to prepare for
E) they vary widely in their form and in terms of what response is appropriate

Question 53

According to the 'volunteer process model' developed by Omato and Snyder, the following factors influence the original decision to volunteer:

A) personal motives
B) social needs
C) current circumstances
D) both a and b
E) all of the above

Question 54

The bystander effect is brought about in an emergency situation by:

A) the presence of others
B) increased galvanic skin response
C) apathy
D) vicarious gratification of sadistic impulses
E) insufficient reinforcement

Question 55

With regard to emergency situations:

A) because norms are vague and conflicting, they are not useful guides to how to respond
B) the bystander effect is produced in part by the norm that tells people to mind their own business
C) norms have a major influence on the way bystanders react
D) the bystander effect reflects a breakdown in social norms
E) both b and c

Question 56

The more people there are present (up to a point), the less likely it is that anyone will help. This is known as:

A) depersonalization
B) negative empathy
C) deindividuation
D) responsibility diffusion
E) the bystander effect

Question 57

In the Latané and Rodin (1969) experiment in which participants apparently heard a woman in an adjacent room fall from a chair, it was found that the bystander effect was reduced when:

A) the participants were strangers to one another
B) an authority figure was among the participants
C) the participants were friends
D) the participants were of the same sex
E) the magnitude of the victim's apparent distress was increased

Question 58

In the Latané and Rodin (1969) experiment in which participants apparently heard a woman in an adjacent room fall from a chair, most participants who did not intervene later indicated that:

A) they badly wanted to help but were afraid they might look foolish
B) they felt that it was not their business to do anything
C) they thought that someone else would react appropriately
D) they were unsure about what had happened, or believed that nothing serious had occurred
E) both a and b

Question 59

In Latané and Darley's experiment in which smoke seeped into the room:

A) participants ignored the smoke at first, and then in just about every case, once the smoke was relatively dense, went to report it
B) even in the condition in which each subject was alone in the room, not all participants left the room
C) participants did not leave the room, but took action to try to block the entry of the smoke
D) when two or more participants were together in the room, they quickly took appropriate action
E) no bystander effect was observed because each subject was personally in a state of possible risk, rather than simply being an observer

Question 60

When Ross and Braband (1973) used a blind confederate in an experiment in which the confederate and the subject worked in a room into which smoke was introduced:

A) when the smoke was odourless, the subject responded just as quickly on average as did participants in a control condition working alone
B) when the smoke was accompanied by a scream from outside the room, the participants were inhibited to the same extent as were participants working with a sighted confederate
C) there was no bystander effect because the participants were not concerned about acting inappropriately because the blind man could not see them
D) both a and c
E) both a and b

Question 61

We are less likely to help when there are non-responding others around because:

A) we want to do what others do
B) we do not care about the victim
C) we do not have the time to help
D) we are looking for an excuse not to help
E) their inaction suggests to us that this is not an emergency

Question 62

In the experiment in which a subject was apparently having an epileptic seizure, Darley and Latané (1968) found that:

A) the fewer people there were present, the more likely it was that someone would try to help
B) the fewer people there were present, the longer it took for someone to offer help
C) the more people there were present, the more likely it was that someone would offer help
D) the more people there were present, the more likely it was that people became apathetic
E) people with experience in helping people with epilepsy were most likely to help

Question 63

In the study in which a confederate pretended to be having an epileptic seizure:

A) participants in the three person groups reported the emergency more often and more quickly than did participants in the six person groups
B) participants in the three person groups reported the emergency more often and more quickly than did participants in the two person groups
C) there was no effect of group size on response rate, since all participants interacted only through an intercom, and therefore there was no bystander effect
D) lack of responding was attributed to ambiguity of the situation
E) lack of responding was attributed to fear of looking foolish

Question 64

Which of the following is not suggested by the text as being a possible explanation for the bystander effect?

A) misperceiving the emergency situation as a non-emergency
B) diffusion of responsibility
C) fear of looking foolish
D) apathy
E) both apathy and fear of looking foolish

Question 65

With regard to the bystander effect, what has been suggested as the most likely factor increasing the ambiguity of the situation?

A) the inability of the victim to explain what has happened
B) the presence of other witnesses who do not respond
C) the characteristics of the victim
D) a steady diet of television violence
E) the person needing help is not from the bystander's own ethnic group

Question 66

When there is diffusion of responsibility:

A) helping behaviour is more likely to occur
B) people tend to be more generous
C) a bystander may assume that someone else has already taken necessary action
D) the responsibility lies squarely with the individual
E) people in groups then become more willing to help

Question 67

When many people watch a person being attacked, no one person bears the guilt for not helping. This relates to:

A) deindividuation
B) diffusion of responsibility
C) the norm of equity
D) apathy
E) depersonalization

Question 68

You are running to catch a bus and happen to trip and fall, breaking your leg. According to research on the bystander effect, a stranger who sees your plight will be more likely to offer help if there are __________ others present.

A) two
B) four
C) no
D) ten
E) six

Question 69

Latané and Darley attempted to explain people's failure to intervene in cases like that of Kitty Genovese in terms of:

A) a mood factor
B) time constraints
C) personality traits
D) situational influences
E) selfish genes

Question 70

Which of the following is not one of the steps in Darley and Latané 's model of the intervention process?

A) noticing the situation
B) interpreting the situation as an emergency
C) weighing the costs and benefits of helping
D) selecting an appropriate action
E) deciding whether or not one has a responsibility to intervene

Question 71

In the study conducted in New York in which a confederate of the experimenter collapsed on a moving subway car, it was found that:

A) the bystander effect occurred in all conditions
B) the 'ill' person received help in 95% of the trials
C) in the 'drunk' condition, almost no one offered help
D) the bystander effect was unexpectedly found only in the 'ill' condition
E) both the 'ill' and 'drunk' persons received help equally often

Question 72

According to the text, why was there a difference between the results of Darley and Latané's laboratory research and Piliavin's field experiment?

A) in the Piliavin study, the victim was in full view
B) the natural groups were considerably larger than the laboratory groups
C) it was much more difficult for the participants in the Piliavin study to leave the area than it was for participants in the Latané and Darley studies
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 73

Amanda is on her way to the cinema. Near the cinema, she sees a man fall over at the edge of the sidewalk. Given the research discussed in the textbook, she is more likely to try to be of assistance if:

A) she thinks the man has had a heart attack than if she thinks he has simply tripped
B) if she thinks the man is drunk rather than if she thinks he has simply tripped
C) she sees the man from across the street
D) there are other people who also witness the fall
E) she is a keen movie-goer, but knows that she can see the movie another time, if she has to

Question 74

In a study in which a confederate collapsed, holding either his chest or his knees, and either in the pathway of a pedestrian or across the street from the pedestrian, it was found that:

A) more people approached to offer assistance in the apparent coronary condition
B) a fat confederate who clutched his chest was more likely to receive aid than a non-obese confederate
C) almost no one offered help in the bad knee condition, regardless of whether the fall occurred in their pathway or across the street
D) both a and b
E) a, b, and c

Question 75

Which model involves weighing the costs and rewards of helping against the costs and rewards of not helping?

A) the Piliavin model of intervention
B) the Latané -Darley intervention model
C) the diffusion of responsibility model
D) the norm of reciprocity model
E) the cognitive processing model

Question 76

According to the rewards-costs analysis of helping behavior:

A) the characteristics of the person in distress play no role in influencing our arousal level
B) the degree of closeness between the person in need and the bystander plays no role in whether or not help will be given
C) emotional arousal is a significant factor in determining the reaction of the bystander
D) costs play a more important role than rewards
E) people with high empathy are unaffected by considerations of rewards and costs

Question 77

Which of the following may well be a cost of helping in some situations?

A) embarrassment or unpleasantness
B) lowered self-esteem
C) physical threat or pain
D) guilt
E) both a and c

Question 78

The Piliavin model of intervention predicts that:

A) the probability of helping increases as a function of the cost of not helping
B) the probability of taking action of some kind increases as arousal increases
C) the probability of helping is positively related to the cost of helping
D) a and b
E) b and c

Question 79

People tend to help each other when:

A) it is easy to escape the situation
B) it is difficult to escape the situation
C) the victim is drunk
D) in ambiguous situations
E) the victim does not want help

Question 80

What makes teaching children how to respond in case of an emergency difficult?

A) emergencies are difficult to plan for
B) it is difficult to define what an emergency is
C) children would rather play
D) children do not listen to their parents
E) a and b