Class 14: Altruism and Attribution Theory
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Transcript of Class 14: Altruism and Attribution Theory
Class 14: Altruism and Attribution Theory
SCHEDULE: Today to Midterm
Oct. 25: Class 14 -- Altruism and Attribution Theory
Oct. 30: Class 15 -- Emotion Managment (Pennebaker "Confession..."; Harber & Cohen, "Emotional Broadcaster")
Nov. 1: Review session. Bring PowerPoints, notes.
Nov. 6: Midterm
Discussant Schedule has been revised.
Discussant Presentations: 6 min. summary MAX, 10 min questions.
Do Humans Care About Other Humans?Batson (1990)
Acts of Selfless (?) Heroism
The “fifth man” in Air Florida crash
Polish Concentration Camp Guard
Question: What motivates this behavior?
Why Do People Help Others?
Altruistic explanation -- Caring
Egoistic explanations
Negative state relief: Stop personal discomfort
Avoid social/self punishments: Shame, guilt
Seek social/self rewards: Honor, pride
A “Selfishness Bias” in Psychology?
Freud: Behavior based on pleasure principleSkinner: Behavior based on pleasure principle Modern Self Theorists in Social Psychology:
1. Totalitarian ego: false uniqueness, false representativeness
2. Self affirmation3. Self esteem4. Self monitoring5. Self efficacy6. Downward social comparison
The “Selfish Gene” Theory
Fundamental goal of life-forms – pass on genes
Who will pass on genes? Those who survive
Therefore behaviors that promote survival are “adaptive” and are “selected in”
Behaviors that jeopardize survival are maladaptive and are “selected out”
Who is more likely to survive, the selfless helper or the selfish non-helper?
Challenges to “Selfish Gene”
Inclusive Fitness:
Share genes with others
Risk taking for others promotes their survival
People more apt to sacrifice for those closest to them
in terms of shared genes
Reciprocal Altruism:
I help you today, you help me tomorrow, and typically
with interest.
Prosocial Behavior vs. Altruistic Behavior
1. Prosocial: Helping others, for any reason
2. Altruistic: Helping others because you care
about them.
Note: Altruistic is a type of pro-social behavior.
Emotions Consistent with
Egoistic (Selfish) Behavior
Envy Pride
Jealousy Spite
Greed
Lust
Gluttony
Covetousness
Scheudenfreuden
Empathy
Emotions Consistent with
Altruistic Behavior
Daniel Batson: Empathy and Altruism
Batson conducts classic research on “bystander intervention”, showing how situations can prevent people from helping.
Jerusalem to Jericho study, for example
However, he becomes interested why some people help, others do not, regardless of the situation.
Asks: Are we capable of caring?
Empathy vs. Avoiding Shame: The “Elayne” Study
1. Subs. told: study about learning and shocks2. Sub. is “observer”, confed. (“Elayne”) is “learner”3. Sub. learnes Elayne is very similar (high empathy cond)
or very dissimilar to him/her (low empathy cond)4. Sub. sees Elayne's distress, upset5. Exptr. calls a break, asks Elayne if OK, “yes, but water please.” Elayne is clearly distressed.6. During break, Sub completes mood check-list.
Purpose: ID people high/low on empathy7. Elayne confides to Expt. childhood trauma w’ shocks.8. Expt. asks Subs: “willing to switch places w’ Elayne?”9. Subs. must qualify to help by performing well at test
a. For ½ Subs. “easy test, most can do well”b. For ½ Subs. “hard test, most can’t do well”
“Social Censure” vs. “Empathy and Altruism” Predictions
Justification for not helping
Low Empathy Condition
High Empathy Condition
“Social Censure” Predictions
Weak Justif. Helps Helps
Strong Justif. No Help No Help
Justification for not helping
Low Empathy Condition
High Empathy Condition
“Empathy and Altruism” Predictions
Weak Justif. Helps Helps
Strong Justif. No Help Helps
Rates of Volunteering to Help Distressed “Elaine” as a Function of Felt Empathy and Opportunity to Avoid Social Censure
Batson et al., 1988
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Distress Empathy
Easy TestHard Test
Note: Easy test = Low Justification to avoid helping
Hard test = High justification to avoid helping
Effort Made to Qualify to Help “Elaine” as a Function of Felt Empathy and Opportunity for Face-Saving Out
Batson, et al., 1988
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Distress Empathy
Nm
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Easy TestHard Test
Note: Easy Test = Low justification to avoid trying on test
Hard Test = High justification of avoid trying on test
Solution to Selfishness vs. Altruism Debate – “The Shared Self”
Problem: Do we ever intentionally act outside of self-interest?
Solution: Reconsider what we mean by “self” and “other”
Batson’s implicit definition – these are distinct entities
S O
Solution to Selfishness vs. Altruism, Contin.
What do people say when someone they love has died? What phases do they use to express this kind of loss?
“Part of me is missing”, “It’s as if I lost a limb”
What does this suggest about the self/other divide?
In other words, can self/other be represented as overlapping, rather than separate? S O
In this case “me” is not limited to my biological self, but to a shared self.
Empathy Altruism my require this “shared self”
HOW MANY SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGISTS DOES IT TAKE TO SCREW IN A LIGHTBULB?
DEPENDS ON THE SITUATION
Attribution Theory: An Overview
What Kinds of People Are These?
Why are they doing what they are doing?
Explain These People!
Attribution Theory
Fritz Heider1886-1988
Harold Kelley1921-2003
Lee Ross
Edward Jones1927-1993 Richard Nisbett
How do we understand our own, and other people's, actions? Humans are "naive psychologists" -- meaning what?
Two broad reasons for why people do thing: Its because _______ and/or______.
Internal reasons (personality, traits, abilities, motives, etc.)External reasons (situations: physical situation, social situation)
Seek reasons, explanations for events--esp. social events. Events are meaningful, lawful--have causes.
Arnie and Abigail are at Coney Island on a date. A nun approaches them and asks for a donation to the orphanage. Arnie gives her $10.00 WHY?
Is this behavior "Arnie specific" or situational? Your best guess.
What accounts for Arnie’s response to the nun? To the guy in the beach chair?
What information you would need to make a better judgment?
The Adventures of Arnie: An Attribution Mystery
Abigail tells Arnie he is too much a boyscout and ditches him. Arnies sees a 450 lb man unable to rise from his beach chair; no one is around, yet Arnie helps him. WHY
How would you know if this was "Arnie specific" or situational? Your best guess
Correspondence Theory (Jones)
"Trait" and "Situational" explanations correspond to certain conditions:
1) Degree of choice 2) Social Expectedness 3) Outcomes
NUN Beach chair Man1. Did Arnie have a choice? ____ Y ____ N ___ Y ___N2. Was Arnie's behavior expected? ____ Y ____ N ___ Y ___N3. Is Arnie the primary beneficiary of his behavior? ____ Y ____ N ___ Y ___N
Which item(s) relate to internal/external dimension?Which item(w) relate to NATURE of Arnie's personality, motives, etc.?
1 and 2
3
Covariation Theory (Kelley)People are naive statisticians. They look for correlations, or rather "covariations" between Behavior
(X) and likely reasons (Y).
Example: Noise level in Jersey City (X) covaries with days of the week (Y) My irritation with noise (X) covaries with time of night (Y)
1) Consensus: How others would respond to this event2) Distinctiveness: How this particular person responds to different kinds of events3) Consistency: How this person responds to sim. stims, but in different sits.
NUN Beach Chair Man1. Did Arnie behave as most people would? ____ Y ____ N ____ Y ____ N2. Does Arnie exert himself generally? ____ Y ____ N ____ Y ____ N3. Does Arnie help in different ways, in diff. contexts? ____ Y ____ N ____ Y ____ N
Which items would tell us if Arnie was "pushed" by social conventions (most anyone would do this)?
Which items tell us if Arnie’s behavior was Arnie-specific?
1 and 2
3
Fundamental Attribution Error (Ross) aka "Correspondence Bias" (Jones)
What do you think people focus on most in assigning causes to others behavior, their character (internal causes) or the situation (external causes)?
_____ Character (internal causes)
_____Situation (external causes)
X
Tendency to over-weigh internal/character/trait reasons is "Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)"
Why do people commit the FAE? Behavior is more salientBehavior is more visible.
Curious Case of the Dog In the
Nighttime
Egocentric Attributional Biases: False Concensus
People tend to see own choices as normal and normative (i.e., as how others would act).
"EAT AT JOE'S" Study (Ross, Greene & House, 1977)
Ss asked to wear sandwich-board advertising "Eat At Joe's" around campus.
DVs: 1) Do subjects ("Ss") agree/disagrees to wear sandwich board.2) Ss estimate likelihood others make same choice as self3) Ss make trait judgments about those who chose
same/different from self
FAE Is Profoundly Stubborn
Pro-Castro remarks (Jone & Harris, 1967): Believe responders attitudes reflect true beliefs, even when clear they are following situation demand.
College Bowl Study (Ross):
1. Ss assigned one of three roles: Asker, Answerer, Observer2. Asker--poses question from own knowledge base, Answerer attempts to answer 3. All parties know these are the rules--all know the SITUATIONAL CONSTRAINTS4. DV: All parties rate how GENERALLY KNOWLEGABLE is Asker, is Answerer.
Who is rated higher by Observer?Who is rated higher by Answerer?Who is rated higher by Asker?
___Asker ___Answerer ___ No Diff.
___Asker ___Answerer ___ No Diff.___Asker ___Answerer ___ No Diff.
X
XX
Eat At Joe's Study: Likelihood Others Would Wear Sign
Eat At Joe's Study: Trait Inferences
MENTAL BUSYNESS AND ATTRIBUTIONAL CORRECTION
Gilbert, Pelham & Krull, 1988
Relaxing TopicsFashion trendsWorld TravelGreat booksForeign films
Anxious TopicsPublic humiliationHidden secretsSexual fantasiesPersonal failures
Control Cond: Make a personality judgment after watching the interviewee
Mental busy cond: Personality judgment + recall each discussion topic.
Outcome Measures1. Ratings of interviewee’s trait anxiety2. Predictions of interviewee’s anxiety in stressful situations
MENTAL BUSYNESS AND
ATTRIBUTIONAL CORRECTION
RESULTS
Trait Anxiety Rating Anxiety to Threatening Events
Attribution involves 3 sequential processes
1. Categorization: What is the person doing?2. Characterization: What trait does person’s behavior indicate?3. Correction: What situational pressures may explain behavior?
Busyness disrupts correction. Why?
1. Categorization and Characterization are automatic. No effort.2. Correction is less automatic. Requires conscious effort.
If mentally busy, less resource to correct.Attributions default to disposition (traits).
Explanation for Mental Busyness Results
Daniel Gilbert