Define social factors .

Social factors are any external environmental stimuli that could influence someone’s behaviour, such as the presence of other people, geographical location or time of day.

What is the bystander effect ?

The bystander effect is the finding that help is less likely to be given to someone in need when the number of bystanders present is high, and more likely when only one bystander is present.

In Latane & Darley’s (1968) smoke study, % of participants who were alone in the room left and reported the smoke.

In Latane & Darley’s (1968) smoke study, 75% of participants who were alone in the room left and reported the smoke.

True or False? In Latane & Darley’s (1968) study, only 10% of participants reported the smoke when they were alone in the room.

False. Only 10% reported the smoke when they were in a group with two confederates; 75% reported it when they were alone.

Define bystander apathy .

Bystander apathy is when a bystander does nothing to help another person.

Why are people in a group less likely to help than someone on their own?

People in a group are more likely to do nothing because they look to others for guidance on how to act, or assume that someone else will help .

Give one strength of using social factors to explain prosocial behaviour.

Research — particularly from the 1960s and 70s — gives good support for bystander apathy.

Give a second strength of using social factors to explain prosocial behaviour.

Understanding bystander apathy is useful when applied to real-world situations — for example evacuating people when a building is on fire, or targeted ad campaigns raising awareness of prosocial behaviour.

Define the costs of helping .

The costs of helping are the negative consequences of helping someone, such as being late for work, feeling embarrassed if it turns out not to be a real emergency, the victim attacking or being unpleasant to be near, or having to go out of your way to help — for example accompanying the victim to hospital, or getting the police or ambulance involved.

Give two examples of the costs of not helping.

Two examples are feeling guilty that you did nothing, and social disapproval from others who judge you for not helping.

In Darley & Batson’s (1973) study, only % of priest trainees in the high hurry condition stopped to help a man in need.

In Darley & Batson’s (1973) study, only 10% of priest trainees in the high hurry condition stopped to help a man in need.

True or False? In Darley & Batson’s (1973) study, 63% of priest trainees in the low hurry condition stopped to help.

True. 63% of participants in the low hurry condition stopped to help, compared with only 10% in the high hurry condition.

What did Darley & Batson’s (1973) study show about ‘good’ people?

It showed that even ‘good’ people, such as trainee priests, can act as bystanders when the social factor of being told not to be late is introduced.

Define the costs of not helping .

The costs of not helping are the negative consequences of not helping someone, such as feeling guilty, facing social disapproval, or the victim becoming unwell or dying.

Give one weakness of using social factors to explain prosocial behaviour.

The theory of bystander apathy does not account for instances of helping which happen even when many people are present .

Give a second weakness of using social factors to explain prosocial behaviour.

There are ethical concerns with bystander-effect research, as it necessarily involves putting people into situations where they may feel stressed, nervous or alarmed .

Define dispositional factors .

Dispositional factors are individual characteristics, such as personality, specific skills, attributes and qualities, that differentiate one person from another and could influence their behaviour.

What does a dispositional explanation of prosocial behaviour suggest?

It suggests that some people are naturally more likely to help others because they possess characteristics that predispose them to behave in a prosocial way.

Define similarity as a factor in prosocial behaviour.

Similarity means people are more inclined to help others who are similar to them, for example in race, gender or age.

What did Levine et al. (2005) find about Manchester United fans?

They helped a confederate wearing a Manchester United shirt, but hardly helped him at all when he wore a Liverpool shirt.

Why does similarity to a victim make helping more likely?

The helper identifies with the victim, and may help in the hope that at some future point, someone similar to them might return the favour.

Define expertise as a factor in prosocial behaviour.

Expertise refers to the special skills, training or knowledge that an individual may possess, which can make them more likely to help.

What did Cramer et al. (1988) find about nurses and law students?

Nurses were more likely than law students to help someone who had fallen off a ladder, because their expertise meant they were in a better position to help.

Kirschenbaum & Rapaport (2020) found that and having sufficient skills to intervene were good predictors of prosocial behaviour.

Kirschenbaum & Rapaport (2020) found that self-efficacy and having sufficient skills to intervene were good predictors of prosocial behaviour.

True or False? A lack of expertise can be a cost of helping, as a person may feel that intervening would do more harm than good.

True. If someone does not feel they have the expertise to help, they may not give help because they fear making the situation worse.

Give an example of how expertise might make someone more likely to help.

Someone with medical training would feel confident coming to the aid of a person who had been involved in an accident or was choking.

Give one strength of dispositional explanations of prosocial behaviour, relating to research design.

Many studies use naive participants who are unaware they are taking part, which increases the validity of the findings.

Give a second strength , relating to real-world application.

Understanding how similarity influences prosocial behaviour is useful when applied to real-world situations — for example ‘buddy’ programmes in schools, or anti-racist strategies .

Give one weakness of dispositional explanations of prosocial behaviour.

The theory of bystander apathy does not account for helping that happens when the helper is completely different to the victim.

It is difficult to prosocial behaviour variables, as researchers cannot be certain whether someone is helping because of expertise or similarity to the victim.

It is difficult to operationalise prosocial behaviour variables, as researchers cannot be certain whether someone is helping because of expertise or similarity to the victim.

Define the aim of Piliavin, Piliavin & Rodin's (1969) subway study.

The aim was to investigate the degree of help given to a victim who appeared to be either drunk or disabled .

What method did Piliavin, Piliavin & Rodin (1969) use?

A field experiment with an opportunity sample .

Piliavin’s study used a sample of passengers on the New York subway.

Piliavin’s study used a sample of 4,450 passengers on the New York subway.

True or False? The victim in Piliavin's study collapsed immediately as the train pulled out of the first station.

False. The victim collapsed after passing the first station, approximately 70 seconds into the journey.

Define the critical area in Piliavin's study.

The critical area was the area in the immediate vicinity of the victim, where the collapse occurred.

How many confederates were used in each carriage, and what were their roles?

Four confederates: two female observers , one white male model (aged 24–29) who modelled helping, and one male victim (aged 26–35, either white or black , dressed identically per trial).

The victim received spontaneous help on % of trials in the ‘cane’ condition.

The victim received spontaneous help on 95% of trials in the ‘cane’ condition (62 out of 65 times).

True or False? The ‘drunk’ victim received help on 50% of trials.

True. The ‘drunk’ victim received help on 19 out of 38 trials, which is 50%.

What did Piliavin's results suggest about the type of victim?

The ‘drunk’ victim may have appeared less deserving of help than the ‘cane’ (disabled) victim .

What did Piliavin's results find about race and helping?

There was more same-race helping in the ‘drunk’ condition than in the ‘cane’ condition.

Define the four helping conditions used in Piliavin's study.

Critical area early/late : the model stood near the victim and waited 70/150 seconds before helping. Adjacent area early/late : the model stood a little further away and waited 70/150 seconds before helping.

Give one strength of Piliavin's subway study.

It is high in ecological validity due to the natural setting and the unmanipulated behaviour of the naïve participants.

Give a second strength of Piliavin's subway study.

The use of two observers should help ensure inter-rater reliability .

Define one extraneous variable that may have affected Piliavin's study.

Individual differences , such as personality and mood, could not be controlled and may have affected whether a participant helped.

Give two further extraneous variables that may have affected Piliavin's study.

Regular subway users may have experienced the procedure more than once , and other passengers in the carriage may have obscured the observers' view .

Give one further limitation of Piliavin's study, relating to the setting.

If replicated in a more rural , less urban setting, the results might have been different — New Yorkers are used to witnessing many different types of behaviour.

How many trials were conducted in Piliavin's study, and by whom?

103 trials , conducted by alternating teams of researchers.

True or False? In Piliavin's study, males and females helped the victim equally often.

False. Males helped more than females.

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Prosocial Behaviour (AQA GCSE Psychology): Flashcards

Exam code: 8182

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FrontSocial Factors in Prosocial Behaviour
Define social factors.

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Cards in this collection (48)

Define social factors.
Social factors are any external environmental stimuli that could influence someone’s behaviour, such as the presence of other people, geographical location or time of day.
What is the bystander effect?
The bystander effect is the finding that help is less likely to be given to someone in need when the number of bystanders present is high, and more likely when only one bystander is present.
In Latane & Darley’s (1968) smoke study, % of participants who were alone in the room left and reported the smoke.
In Latane & Darley’s (1968) smoke study, 75% of participants who were alone in the room left and reported the smoke.
True or False?
In Latane & Darley’s (1968) study, only 10% of participants reported the smoke when they were alone in the room.
False.
Only 10% reported the smoke when they were in a group with two confederates; 75% reported it when they were alone.
Define bystander apathy.
Bystander apathy is when a bystander does nothing to help another person.
Why are people in a group less likely to help than someone on their own?
People in a group are more likely to do nothing because they look to others for guidance on how to act, or assume that someone else will help.
Give one strength of using social factors to explain prosocial behaviour.
Research — particularly from the 1960s and 70s — gives good support for bystander apathy.
Give a second strength of using social factors to explain prosocial behaviour.
Understanding bystander apathy is useful when applied to real-world situations — for example evacuating people when a building is on fire, or targeted ad campaigns raising awareness of prosocial behaviour.
Define the costs of helping.
The costs of helping are the negative consequences of helping someone, such as being late for work, feeling embarrassed if it turns out not to be a real emergency, the victim attacking or being unpleasant to be near, or having to go out of your way to help — for example accompanying the victim to hospital, or getting the police or ambulance involved.
Give two examples of the costs of not helping.
Two examples are feeling guilty that you did nothing, and social disapproval from others who judge you for not helping.
In Darley & Batson’s (1973) study, only % of priest trainees in the high hurry condition stopped to help a man in need.
In Darley & Batson’s (1973) study, only 10% of priest trainees in the high hurry condition stopped to help a man in need.
True or False?
In Darley & Batson’s (1973) study, 63% of priest trainees in the low hurry condition stopped to help.
True.
63% of participants in the low hurry condition stopped to help, compared with only 10% in the high hurry condition.
What did Darley & Batson’s (1973) study show about ‘good’ people?
It showed that even ‘good’ people, such as trainee priests, can act as bystanders when the social factor of being told not to be late is introduced.
Define the costs of not helping.
The costs of not helping are the negative consequences of not helping someone, such as feeling guilty, facing social disapproval, or the victim becoming unwell or dying.
Give one weakness of using social factors to explain prosocial behaviour.
The theory of bystander apathy does not account for instances of helping which happen even when many people are present.
Give a second weakness of using social factors to explain prosocial behaviour.
There are ethical concerns with bystander-effect research, as it necessarily involves putting people into situations where they may feel stressed, nervous or alarmed.
Define dispositional factors.
Dispositional factors are individual characteristics, such as personality, specific skills, attributes and qualities, that differentiate one person from another and could influence their behaviour.
What does a dispositional explanation of prosocial behaviour suggest?
It suggests that some people are naturally more likely to help others because they possess characteristics that predispose them to behave in a prosocial way.
Define similarity as a factor in prosocial behaviour.
Similarity means people are more inclined to help others who are similar to them, for example in race, gender or age.
What did Levine et al. (2005) find about Manchester United fans?
They helped a confederate wearing a Manchester United shirt, but hardly helped him at all when he wore a Liverpool shirt.
Why does similarity to a victim make helping more likely?
The helper identifies with the victim, and may help in the hope that at some future point, someone similar to them might return the favour.
Define expertise as a factor in prosocial behaviour.
Expertise refers to the special skills, training or knowledge that an individual may possess, which can make them more likely to help.
What did Cramer et al. (1988) find about nurses and law students?
Nurses were more likely than law students to help someone who had fallen off a ladder, because their expertise meant they were in a better position to help.
Kirschenbaum & Rapaport (2020) found that and having sufficient skills to intervene were good predictors of prosocial behaviour.
Kirschenbaum & Rapaport (2020) found that self-efficacy and having sufficient skills to intervene were good predictors of prosocial behaviour.
True or False?
A lack of expertise can be a cost of helping, as a person may feel that intervening would do more harm than good.
True.
If someone does not feel they have the expertise to help, they may not give help because they fear making the situation worse.
Give an example of how expertise might make someone more likely to help.
Someone with medical training would feel confident coming to the aid of a person who had been involved in an accident or was choking.
Give one strength of dispositional explanations of prosocial behaviour, relating to research design.
Many studies use naive participants who are unaware they are taking part, which increases the validity of the findings.
Give a second strength, relating to real-world application.
Understanding how similarity influences prosocial behaviour is useful when applied to real-world situations — for example ‘buddy’ programmes in schools, or anti-racist strategies.
Give one weakness of dispositional explanations of prosocial behaviour.
The theory of bystander apathy does not account for helping that happens when the helper is completely different to the victim.
It is difficult to prosocial behaviour variables, as researchers cannot be certain whether someone is helping because of expertise or similarity to the victim.
It is difficult to operationalise prosocial behaviour variables, as researchers cannot be certain whether someone is helping because of expertise or similarity to the victim.
Define the aim of Piliavin, Piliavin & Rodin's (1969) subway study.
The aim was to investigate the degree of help given to a victim who appeared to be either drunk or disabled.
What method did Piliavin, Piliavin & Rodin (1969) use?
A field experiment with an opportunity sample.
Piliavin’s study used a sample of passengers on the New York subway.
Piliavin’s study used a sample of 4,450 passengers on the New York subway.
True or False?
The victim in Piliavin's study collapsed immediately as the train pulled out of the first station.
False.
The victim collapsed after passing the first station, approximately 70 seconds into the journey.
Define the critical area in Piliavin's study.
The critical area was the area in the immediate vicinity of the victim, where the collapse occurred.
How many confederates were used in each carriage, and what were their roles?
Four confederates: two female observers, one white male model (aged 24–29) who modelled helping, and one male victim (aged 26–35, either white or black, dressed identically per trial).
The victim received spontaneous help on % of trials in the ‘cane’ condition.
The victim received spontaneous help on 95% of trials in the ‘cane’ condition (62 out of 65 times).
True or False?
The ‘drunk’ victim received help on 50% of trials.
True.
The ‘drunk’ victim received help on 19 out of 38 trials, which is 50%.
What did Piliavin's results suggest about the type of victim?
The ‘drunk’ victim may have appeared less deserving of help than the ‘cane’ (disabled) victim.
What did Piliavin's results find about race and helping?
There was more same-race helping in the ‘drunk’ condition than in the ‘cane’ condition.
Define the four helping conditions used in Piliavin's study.
Critical area early/late: the model stood near the victim and waited 70/150 seconds before helping. Adjacent area early/late: the model stood a little further away and waited 70/150 seconds before helping.
Give one strength of Piliavin's subway study.
It is high in ecological validity due to the natural setting and the unmanipulated behaviour of the naïve participants.
Give a second strength of Piliavin's subway study.
The use of two observers should help ensure inter-rater reliability.
Define one extraneous variable that may have affected Piliavin's study.
Individual differences, such as personality and mood, could not be controlled and may have affected whether a participant helped.
Give two further extraneous variables that may have affected Piliavin's study.
Regular subway users may have experienced the procedure more than once, and other passengers in the carriage may have obscured the observers' view.
Give one further limitation of Piliavin's study, relating to the setting.
If replicated in a more rural, less urban setting, the results might have been different — New Yorkers are used to witnessing many different types of behaviour.
How many trials were conducted in Piliavin's study, and by whom?
103 trials, conducted by alternating teams of researchers.
True or False?
In Piliavin's study, males and females helped the victim equally often.
False.
Males helped more than females.

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