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Social Psychology
Chapter 14
Helping Theories
 Helping behavior: act intended to benefit
another
 Altruism: unselfish concern for another’s
welfare
Helping Theories
 Arousal Theory: sight of victim produces anxiety
so you act
 Cost-Reward Theory:
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Cost of helping low & cost of not helping high - help
Cost of helping high & cost of not helping low - no
 Empathy-Altruism Theory: feeling empathy for
other increases chances of helping
 Evolutionary Theory: contributed to our survival in
the past
Kitty Genovese
 Bystander effect: as number of
bystanders increases, the
likelihood of any one by-stander
helping decreases
 Diffusion of responsibility: Dilution
or weakening of each group
member’s obligation to act when
responsibility is perceived to be
shared with all group members
Bystander Intervention Problem: Latane and Darley;
Best predictor of bystander intervention was group size
100
2-person groups
Percentage helping
80
3-person groups
60
6-person groups
40
20
0
20
80
120
160
200
240
280
Seconds from beginning of emergency
The Bad Samaritan – What
influences helping behavior?
 Bystander Effect/Diffusion of Responsibility
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Fake seizure
 Social Cues
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Frisbee girls
Hurt worker
Smoke in room
 Appearance/background
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Lover’s quarrel
Drunk or old guy
Race
Why don’t people help???
 Diffusion of Responsibility; Bystander effect
 Conformity – when we don’t know what to do,
we take our cues from others
 More likely to help if…
How does the social situation affect
our behavior?
 Situationism: The view that environmental
conditions influence people’s behavior as much or
more than their personal dispositions do
 Stanford Prison Experiment
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Philip Zimbardo and Craig Haney (1971)
Created a new social reality
Called off after 6 days (planned 2 weeks)
Never underestimate the power of a bad situation to
overwhelm the good.
Social Norms
 Socially based rules that prescribe what is
acceptable and what is not
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Taught by family, friends, teachers, culture
Often not verbalized
Reciprocity: candy = bigger tip
Examples?
Why do people conform???
 Conformity: change behaviors or beliefs to match those of
others
 Asch Effect: group majority influences individual
judgments
 Asch identifies three factors that influence whether a
person will yield to pressure:
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The size of the majority
The presence of a partner who dissented from the majority
The size of the discrepancy between the correct answer and
the majority position
Cognitive Dissonance
 A highly motivating state in which people
have conflicting cognitions, especially when
their voluntary actions conflict with their
attitudes – Leon Festinger
 Must change either behavior or thoughts
Inducing Compliance
 Foot-in-the-door technique: get one to agree
to small request and then gradually present
larger ones

Drive Carefully sign & charities
 Door-in-the-face technique: ask for large
favor likely to be denied and then ask for
something less

Political groups and labor/management
 Low-ball approach: oral commitment made
and then cost of fulfilling it raised

Car salesmen
Other Topics in Social Psychology
 Social facilitation: Presence of other people or working with
others can improve performance
 Social loafing: People exert less effort when performing a
group task than when performing the same task alone
 Deindividuation: When group members lose individuality
and tend to do things not normally done when alone
 lose sense of personal responsibility
 group “assumes” responsibility
 Group polarization: tendency of people to make decisions
that are more extreme when they are in a group as opposed
to a decision made alone or independently.
Groupthink
 Conform opinions to what you believe is the
consensus; increases when…
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Isolation of the group
High group cohesiveness
Directive leadership
Homogeneity of members’ social background and
ideology
High stress from external threats with low hope of a
better solution than that of the group leader

Vietnam, Bay of Pigs, space shuttles
Making Cognitive
Attributions
 Fundamental attribution error: Tendency to
emphasize internal causes and ignore
external pressures (looking at others)
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Focus on dispositional factors
 Self-serving bias: One takes credit for
success but denies responsibility for failure
(looking within you)
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Focus on situational factors
Interpersonal Attraction
 Reward theory of attraction: A social learning
view that says we like best those who give us
maximum rewards at minimum cost – combo of
 Proximity
 Similarity
 Self-disclosure
 Physical
attractiveness
Expectations and the
Influence of Self-Esteem
 Matching hypothesis: Prediction that most people
will find friends/mates that are about their same
level of attractiveness
 Expectancy-value theory: People decide whether or
not to pursue a relationship by weighing the
potential value of the relationship against their
expectations of success in establishing the
relationship
Loving Relationships
 Romantic love: A temporary and highly
emotional condition based on sexual desire
and some intimacy
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Americans often believe that this is the basis
for long-term commitment
What do you think?
Robert Sternberg’s
Triangular Theory of Love
Passion
Intimacy
Commitment
Triangular Theory of Love
 Passion: erotic, physical attraction
 Intimacy: sharing feelings & confidences;
emotional, not physical
 Commitment: putting the relationship first in your
life
 Liking/friendship:
 high intimacy, zero passion, zero commitment
 Romantic love:
 high passion, high intimacy, low commitment
 Infatuation:
 high passion, low intimacy, low commitment
 Complete love: balance of all three 
Prejudice and Discrimination
 Prejudice: A negative attitude toward an
individual based solely on his or her membership
in a particular group
 Discrimination: A negative action taken against
an individual as a result of his or her group
membership
 Cognitive, affective, and behavioral components
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Stereotyped thinking
Hatred/anger
Discrimination
Prejudice and Discrimination
 In-group: The group with which an individual
identifies
 Out-group: Those outside the group with
which an individual identifies
 Social distance: The perceived difference or
similarity between oneself and another
person – easier it is to feel differently
Causes of Prejudice
Dissimilarity and Social Distance
Causes of Prejudice
Dissimilarity and Social Distance
Economic Competition
Causes of Prejudice
Dissimilarity and Social Distance
Economic Competition
Scapegoating
Causes of Prejudice
Dissimilarity and Social Distance
Economic Competition
Scapegoating
Conformity to Social Norms
Causes of Prejudice
Dissimilarity and Social Distance
Economic Competition
Scapegoating
Conformity to Social Norms
Media Stereotypes
Combating Prejudice
 Research suggests that the possible tools for
combating prejudice include:
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Equal status contact
Legislation
New role models