Deck 13: Altruism and Prosocial Behaviour

Question 1

Any behaviour that has the goal of helping another person is referred to as

A) prosocial behaviour.
B) altruism.
C) reciprocal behaviour.
D) moral behaviour.

Answer 1

prosocial behaviour.

Question 2

Alison helps out at the homeless shelter because it will look good on her law school application. Jeanne also works at the shelter, but she volunteers because she feels compassion for the homeless people. Alison's behaviour is ____________________ while Jeanne's behaviour is ___________________.

A) altruism; prosocial
B) prosocial; altruism
C) reciprocal; moral
D) moral; reciprocal

Answer 2

prosocial; altruism

Question 3

Parents who may self-sacrifice for the benefit of their children are demonstrating

A) genetic favoritism.
B) kinship selection.
C) evolutionary genetics.
D) social selection.

Answer 3

kinship selection.

Question 4

In research on life-or-death situations (Bernstein et al., 1994), people chose to give help to all of the following, except

A) young over the old.
B) healthy over the sick.
C) thin over obese.
D) premenopausal women over postmenopausal women.

Question 5

During a family get-together, Mitch's house caught fire. According to Berstein et al. (1994), who is Mitch most likely to help first?

A) his aunt Gloria
B) his second-cousin Frank
C) his grandmother
D) his daughter Julie

Question 6

Manny pushed his son out of the way of the oncoming car, taking the brunt force of the car's impact while saving his son from injury. This behaviour represents

A) social selection.
B) genetic favoritism.
C) kinship selection.
D) evolutionary genetics.

Question 7

The idea that we are motivated to help others due to the expectation that they will then help us in return later on is known as

A) companionate altruism.
B) personal altruism.
C) empathetic altruism.
D) reciprocal altruism.

Question 8

Rachel was happy to give Dan a ride to school one week while his car was being repaired because she felt that she now could ask Dan for a ride if her car broke down. Rachel is motivated to help Dan because of

A) reciprocal altruism.
B) companionate altruism.
C) personal altruism.
D) empathetic altruism.

Question 9

The ability to understand other people's perspectives and respond emotionally to other people's experiences is referred to as

A) sympathy.
B) empathy.
C) religiosity.
D) morality.

Question 10

According to your textbook, people who are generally altruistic share at least one trait, that is

A) openness.
B) extraversion.
C) neuroticism.
D) agreeableness.

Question 11

Which personality dimension is positively correlated with reciprocal altruism?

A) openness
B) emotional stability
C) neuroticism
D) agreeableness

Question 12

When Tameka was wondering how to provide quality care for her ailing mother, she considered how she would want to be treated if she was in the same situation. Tameka is demonstrating

A) empathy.
B) openness.
C) extraversion.
D) neuroticism.

Question 13

According to your textbook, which of the following is not a factor that encourages people's intent to donate their organs?

A) positive attitude toward organ donation
B) recovery from a serious illness
C) general desire to help others
D) knowing someone who has donated or received an organ

Question 14

This personality factor describes the extent to which a person's willingness to help is a function of his or her own needs and expected consequences, rather than on larger moral standards, and is referred to as

A) empathy.
B) sympathy.
C) moral reasoning.
D) perspective taking.

Question 15

In research presenting moral dilemmas, the findings indicate that greater empathy and altruism are associated with

A) sympathy.
B) perspective taking.
C) abstract reasoning.
D) moral reasoning.

Question 16

According to the textbook, parents can encourage moral reasoning by using all of the following strategies, except

A) encourage children to consider the perspective of other children with whom they interact.
B) point out the consequences of the child's behaviour.
C) use positive discipline strategies.
D) establish strict rules for behaviours with others.

Question 17

In his religious training, Batu has learned that it is important to help others. Batu joins a group of other teens to go to Mississippi to help rebuild homes destroyed in a flood. Batu is demonstrating which factor influencing helping behaviours?

A) reciprocal altruism
B) personality traits
C) religion
D) kinship selection

Question 18

When a person helps another person with no thought of benefit to the self, we call it

A) appraising.
B) stonewalling.
C) altruism.
D) reciprocal altruism.

Question 19

Kanye is more likely to help his son or his brother than he is to help a stranger. This example best matches which concept?

A) reciprocal altruism
B) kinship selection
C) empathy
D) moral reasoning

Question 20

Ginnie helps people on her street rake their leaves each fall and they often help her by clearing snow from her sidewalk. Since Ginnie is not related to anyone in her neighbourhood, this examples best matches which concept?

A) reciprocal altruism
B) kinship selection
C) empathy
D) moral reasoning

Question 21

Which of the following has been found to be related to willingness to donate one's organs?

A) a general desire to help others
B) knowing someone who has donated or received an organ
C) positive attitudes toward organ donation
D) All of these

Question 22

What do researchers believe primarily makes some people more empathic than others?

A) loneliness
B) genetics
C) social learning
D) extraverted tendencies

Question 23

________________ refers to how much a person's willingness to help is a function of his or her own needs and expected consequences versus larger moral standards.

A) Moral reasoning
B) Kinship selection
C) Empathy
D) Reciprocal altruism

Question 24

What type of moral reasoning is associated with greater empathy and altruism?

A) lower-level moral reasoning
B) moderate-level moral reasoning
C) higher-level moral reasoning
D) Moral reasoning has been found to be unrelated to empathy and altruism.

Question 25

What can be concluded about religion and helping behaviours?

A) Religion always leads to more helping.
B) People who are religious may be more likely to help those whose behaviour they agree with, but not those whose behaviour they disagree with.
C) People who are religious may be less likely to help those whose behaviour they agree with, but more likely to help those whose behaviour they disagree with.
D) Religion never leads to more helping.

Question 26

In a research study (Shariff & Norenzayan, 2007), participants who unscrambled messages that contained religious words were more likely to engage in altruistic behaviours.

Question 27

People demonstrate more prosocial behaviour as they age.

Question 28

Research suggests that as much as 10% of empathy may be inherited.

Question 29

Religious fundamentalists are more likely to help only people who exhibit behaviours consistent with their beliefs.

Question 30

Any behaviour that has the goal of helping another person is known as ____________.

Question 31

The desire to help another with no thought of benefit to oneself is known as ___________.

Question 32

The idea that we are more likely to help those we are genetically related to is referred to as _______ ________.

Question 33

The idea that we are motivated to help others that due to the expectation that they will then help us in return later on is referred to as _______ _______.

Question 34

A personality factor that describes the extent to which a person's willingness to help is a function of his or her own needs and expected consequences versus a larger moral standard is referred to as _______ _______.

Question 35

The murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964 led to social psychologists' research on the subject of the influence of __________________ on helping.

A) personality traits
B) religion
C) empathy
D) situational factors

Question 36

All of the following are examples of situational factors that influence helping behaviour, except

A) personality traits.
B) mood.
C) modelling.
D) environment.

Question 37

This model describes helping behaviour as a function of five distinct steps; a model referred to as

A) step model.
B) decision-making process model.
C) cost-reward model.
D) process model.

Question 38

Latane & Darley (1970) identified certain features of emergencies that need to be considered before a decision is made to help. Which of the following is not such a feature?

A) People do not have a lot of direct experience dealing with emergencies.
B) People need to consider the actions of others that are present in an emergency.
C) Emergencies differ and experience with one type of helping does not translate to helping in a different type of emergency.
D) Emergencies emerge suddenly; without time for planning.

Question 39

All of the following are some of the steps in the decision-making process model of helping, except

A) noticing something is happening.
B) interpret the event as an emergency.
C) notice the presence of others and their actions.
D) decide how to help.

Question 40

All of the following are some of the steps in the decision-making process model of helping, except

A) interpret the event as an emergency.
B) decide how to help.
C) determine your personal responsibility for helping.
D) notice the presence of others and their actions.

Question 41

According to your textbook, all of the following are factors that influence one's ability to notice an emergency, except

A) previous experience with this particular emergency.
B) being rushed; time pressure.
C) not seeing the actual event, only the aftermath.
D) competing stimuli; noise, traffic, crowds.

Question 42

According to your textbook, all of the following are factors that influence one's ability to interpret an event as an emergency, except

A) ambivalent evidence of an emergency.
B) the actions of others present.
C) direct experience with this type of emergency.
D) no clear signs of distress.

Question 43

People will often assume that there is no emergency because the other people around them are not reacting as if it is an emergency. This tendency for people to look to other people's behaviour to determine how they should react is referred to as

A) social pluralism.
B) pluralistic ignorance.
C) social ignorance.
D) group pluralism.

Question 44

During the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre, many people made decisions about how they should react to the situation based on the reactions of others; a tendency that is referred to as

A) group pluralism.
B) social pluralism.
C) social ignorance.
D) pluralistic ignorance.

Question 45

In an experiment on situational factors, Latane & Darley (1968) had participants complete a survey in a room where smoke began to fill the room. They found that participants who were alone in the room immediately took action; when the participants were in a room with at least two other confederates who ignored the smoke, the participant ignored it as well. This tendency to look to the reactions of others is referred to as

A) social ignorance.
B) pluralistic ignorance.
C) group avoidance.
D) social avoidance.

Question 46

One finding from research on helping has demonstrated that the more people who witness an emergency, the less likely a victim is to receive help; a phenomenon known as

A) bystander effect.
B) apathetic crowding.
C) Genevese effect.
D) crowd effect.

Question 47

Karen observed an elderly woman lose her balance and fall. As there were several other people nearby, Karen did not help the woman. Karen experienced

A) urban overload.
B) moral numbing.
C) selfish gene.
D) diffusion of responsibility.

Question 48

The idea that people can be reluctant to help for fear of making a bad impression on others, by appearing stupid or overly cautious is known as

A) bystander effect.
B) audience inhibition.
C) reluctance effect.
D) social impression.

Question 49

According to the textbook, all of the following are strategies for getting help, except

A) identify one person and call to them directly.
B) give instructions on how the person should help.
C) ask people for information about their backgrounds.
D) clearly label the situation as an emergency.

Question 50

Helping as a result of the physiological arousal from seeing someone in need of help and the calculation of the costs and rewards of providing help describes the

A) cost-benefit analysis model.
B) transfer benefit model.
C) excitation-cost model.
D) arousal/cost-reward model.

Question 51

Determining the costs of helping has the following effect on altruistic behaviour:

A) people are motivated to help for reasons that exclude the costs of helping.
B) the costs of helping can both increase or decrease the probability of helping, depending on the seriousness of the emergency.
C) higher costs increase the actual probability of helping behaviours.
D) higher costs reduce the actual probability of helping behaviours.

Question 52

Laney has offered to serve meals at the local homeless shelter, but when she was told that she would have to give up most of her Saturday free time, she decided not to volunteer after all. Laney's decision could be predicted by the

A) cost-benefit analysis model.
B) transfer benefit model.
C) excitation-cost model.
D) arousal/cost-reward model.

Question 53

When a reward is given to someone for prosocial behaviour, that behaviour often does not continue. This phenomenon is called

A) overjustification.
B) over-analysis.
C) over-excitation.
D) under-altruism.

Question 54

Helping behaviour increases when people are in a good mood, an effect referred to as

A) positive affect model.
B) sunny side up.
C) good mood effect.
D) positive mood model.

Question 55

Carmelita notes that tips are always better on a sunny day because

A) rainy days keep people at home.
B) people eat more on sunny days.
C) good mood effect.
D) people are more likely to eat out on sunny days.

Question 56

According to the textbook, all of the following are explanations of why a good mood increases helping, except

A) we are looking for social acceptance.
B) we want to maintain our good mood and seeing someone suffer threatens that.
C) we focus more on the benefits of helping.
D) we experience more self-awareness.

Question 57

When one is in a bad mood, they may increase their likelihood of helping because they

A) focus only on the benefits of helping.
B) want to feel better about themselves.
C) experience more self-awareness.
D) are socially rejected.

Question 58

People increase altruistic behaviours when they see other people engaging in helping behaviours for all of the following reasons, except

A) social comparison.
B) show us rewards of helping.
C) remind us of the positive societal value of helping.
D) gives us role models to follow.

Question 59

Research on the influence of children watching prosocial behaviour on television, for example Sesame Street, indicated all of the following, except

A) they behaved more positively in altruistic behaviours.
B) they exhibited less verbal and/or physical aggression.
C) they had more friendly play or peaceful conflict resolution.
D) they were more likely to exhibit stereotypical behaviours.

Question 60

People in cities help less as a result of the greater stimulation they are exposed to according to the

A) urban stimulus hypothesis.
B) city senses hypothesis.
C) urban overload hypothesis.
D) city noise hypothesis.

Question 61

People who live in cities are less likely to help others due to all of the following, except

A) they are exposed to greater stimulation.
B) there are more people, resulting in diffusion of responsibility.
C) there is greater diversity among people.
D) they tend to be acquainted with more people.

Question 62

The decision-making process model includes how many steps?

A) three
B) four
C) five
D) seven

Question 63

In the decision-making process model, what is the third step of the process?

A) interpreting the event as an emergency
B) deciding how to help
C) noticing that something is happening
D) taking personal responsibility for providing help

Question 64

During a fair, Karl sees that a man has fallen down. Since there is no one else around and Karl knows it is an emergency, he feels like he should help. But Karl has no training in CPR or first aid, so Karl hurries off instead of helping. Which step of the decision-making process model lead to inaction on Karl's part?

A) the first
B) the second
C) the third
D) the fourth

Question 65

In Darley and Batson's (1973) research on seminary students who were going to give a speech about the Good Samaritan, which group was most likely to stop and help someone in need?

A) the people who were not in a hurry
B) the people who were in a moderate amount of hurry
C) the people who were in a big hurry
D) Surprisingly, all of these groups were equally likely to help.

Question 66

Not interpreting a situation as an emergency in a group setting can arise from

A) kinship selection.
B) pluralistic ignorance.
C) moral reasoning.
D) reciprocity.

Question 67

_________________ refers to the finding that the more people who witness an emergency, the less likely people are to help.

A) Moral reasoning
B) Kinship selection
C) The bystander effect
D) Reciprocal altruism

Question 68

The bystander effect results mainly from

A) diffusion of responsibility.
B) kinship selection.
C) too high moral reasoning.
D) all of these.

Question 69

According to the arousal/cost-reward model, why do people help?

A) because of high moral reasoning
B) in order to decrease their own arousal
C) because of high empathy
D) because of the desire to gain something from the person in the future

Question 70

Arousal/cost-reward model is to _____________ as social exchange model is to ____________.

A) decreasing arousal; increasing rewards
B) males; females
C) helping; relationship satisfaction
D) increasing rewards; gaining praise

Question 71

What is the third step in the arousal/cost-rewards model of helping?

A) Evaluate costs and benefits.
B) Decide whether to help.
C) See a person in distress.
D) Experience unpleasant arousal.

Question 72

In relation to helping, what does overjustification refer to?

A) The fact that we have a tendency to help genetic relatives more than strangers.
B) The fact that we tend to help others in order to decrease our negative arousal.
C) The fact that the more people present, the less likely we are to help.
D) The fact that giving a reward can undermine spontaneous helping.

Question 73

People who have been mandated to volunteer may end up making _____________ attributions for their helping behaviour.

A) intrinsic
B) altruistic
C) extrinsic
D) reciprocal

Question 74

The finding that helping tends to increase when people are in a good mood is called

A) the affect effect.
B) the good mood effect.
C) reciprocal altruism.
D) the "I'm happy" effect.

Question 75

What can be concluded about the relationship between mood and helping behaviour?

A) We are more likely to help when we are in a good mood and less likely to help when we are in a bad mood.
B) We are more likely to help when we are in a bad mood and less likely to help when we are in a good mood.
C) We are more likely to help when we are in good OR bad moods, regardless of the source of the bad mood.
D) We are more likely to help when we are in good OR bad moods, but only if the bad mood did not result from social exclusion.

Question 76

How does modelling impact helping behaviour?

A) Modelling helping behaviour always leads to increases in helping behaviour by others.
B) Modelling helping behaviour never leads to increases in helping behaviour by others.
C) Modelling helping behaviour can lead to increases in helping behaviour by others in some cases, and decreases in others.
D) The relationship between modelling and helping behaviours has not yet been studied.

Question 77

What has been found about children's television viewing and their prosocial behaviour?

A) Television viewing can make children more aggressive, but it does not seem to increase their prosocial behaviour.
B) Television viewing can make boys more prosocial, but not girls.
C) Television viewing can make girls more prosocial, but not boys.
D) Television viewing can make older children more prosocial, but does not have much impact on younger children.

Question 78

The urban overload hypothesis explains which finding?

A) That people in cities help less than people in rural settings.
B) That the greater the number of people present, the less likely anyone is to help.
C) That people in rural settings help less than people in cities.
D) That people in cities do so many altruistic acts that they eventually overload.

Question 79

Which famous social psychologist formulated the urban overload hypothesis?

A) Floyd Allport
B) Philip Zimbardo
C) Sigmund Freud
D) Stanley Milgram

Question 80

A clear call for help from the victim increases the likelihood that the person will get help.