To what extent do biological, cognitive and sociocultural factors influence human relationships?
Evaluate psychological research (that is, theories and/or studies) relevant to the study of human relationships.
Social responsibility
Distinguish between altruism and prosocial behaviour
Pro-social behavior benefits others or has positive social consequences (Staub, 1978)
Helping behavior intentionally helps or benefits others in the spirit of making a difference
Altruistic behavior is helping someone else without reward and can even be at some cost to yourself
However, distinguish between fairness and actual altruism (List; Fehr)
Contrast two theories explaining altruism in humans
Negative-state relief model (Schaller and Cialdini, 1988) - motivated to reduce distress experienced by watching others in awful situations
does not explain why some people who experience distress do not act
cannot predict behavior
Empathy-altruism model (Batson et al., 1981) - we experience either
personal distress - anxiety or fear which motivates us to help egoistically to relieve our fear or anxiety
empathetic concern - sympathy or compassion which motivates us to help where the goal is relieving the person's suffering (not your own fear or anxiety)
Using one or more research studies, explain cross-cultural differences in prosocial behavior
Whiting (1979) found that nurturing behavior in children (3-11) is higher in Kenya, Mexico and the Philippines compared to US (who scored lowest)
Graves and Graves (1985) - family environment where you are expected to care for younger children increases prosocial behavior
Levine et al. studies
US population density predicts prosocial behavior (lower = more likely to help)
Replicated in 23 cities - Rio de janeiro and San Jose were most likely to help (role of collectivist society?)
Low economically productive countries are more likely to help
