evaluate two theories explaining altruism

Evaluate two theories explaining altruism

Prisoner’s DilemmaPrisoner’s DilemmaPlay a game of ‘Prisoner’s Dilemma’

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/pd.html

Remind the person next to you what altruism is.

How does altruism fit into Darwin’s idea of ‘survival of the fittest’?

Course Companion Course Companion page 259page 259

“Altruism is a rather puzzling behaviour. It does not appear to make much sense that an individual would risk his or her life for a stranger.”

Course Companion

Two theories of Two theories of AltruismAltruism

Psychologists believe there are two types of altruism:



Biological altruism (with its roots in evolutionary psychology), and



Biological altruism (with its roots in evolutionary psychology), and

Psychological altruism (based more on cognitive psychology)

Biological AltruismBiological Altruism Is altruism innate or a learned

behaviour? (Nature or nurture?)At what age to humans start to

help each other?

Biological AltruismBiological Altruism

Kin Selection TheoryKin Selection Theory Richard Dawkin’s (1976) ‘selfish gene

theory’ implies that there is an innate drive for the survival of one’s genes. In his controversial book he claimed that it is our genes which compete for survival and propagation rather than individuals.

Kin Selection TheoryKin Selection Theory Richard Dawkin’s (1976) ‘selfish gene

theory’ implies that there is an innate drive for the survival of one’s genes. In his controversial book he claimed that it is our genes which compete for survival and propagation rather than individuals.

Kin selection theory predicts that the extent of altruism depends on genetic relatedness.

Kin Selection TheoryKin Selection Theory In a house fire, who would you save first, your

brother/sister or your neighbour?

Kin Selection TheoryKin Selection Theory If our sole purpose in life is to pass

on our genes, why do we live so long?

That is, why do humans live way beyond their reproductive years?

Kin Selection TheoryKin Selection Theory

Reciprocal Altruism Reciprocal Altruism TheoryTheory

Trivers (1971) suggested this theory in order to explain why people behave altruistically to those who are not genetically related.

With the person next to you, try to work out what is meant by Reciprocal Altruism Theory


definitionIt may benefit an animal to behave altruistically if there’s an expectation that the favour will be returned at some point in the future.


Trivers suggested that altruism can benefit the helper, regardless of genetic relatedness to the recipient.

If A helps B, (as long as B remembers), there is a chance that B will return the favour to A in the future. This would benefit both A and B, thus altruism has survivial benefits.

Reciprocal Altruism: Prisoner’s Reciprocal Altruism: Prisoner’s Dilemma Axelrod & Hamilton (1981)Dilemma Axelrod & Hamilton (1981)

Criminals A and B commit a crime together

Reciprocal Altruism: Reciprocal Altruism: Prisoner’s DilemmaPrisoner’s Dilemma

Criminals A and B commit a crime together They are caught by the police and are interviewed

separately


Criminals A and B commit a crime together They are caught by the police and are interviewed

separately They both know that without the testimony of the other,

there is not enough evidence to imprison them for more than a year


Criminals A and B commit a crime together They are caught by the police and are interviewed separately They both know that without the testimony of the other, there

is not enough evidence to imprison them for more than a year. However, they also know that if they collaborate with the

police and blame the other one, the other would go to prison for 20 years, but they would go free.


Axelrod and Hamilton (1981) tested their theory of reciprocal altruism using a game based on the ‘prisoner’s dilemma’.



If both players cooperate, they both gain, but if they both defect there is no pay off for either of them.




If the players only play against each other once, what is the best strategy?




If the players only play against each other once, what is the best strategy?

What if the players had to play against each other many times?


Axelrod & Hamilton found that a ‘tit for tat’ strategy used in this game demonstrated cooperative behaviour.

They argue that this kind of cooperation is evolutionarily adaptive.

Evolutionary Evolutionary explanations of explanations of

altruismaltruism Re-read pages 258-261 of the course companion Read ‘The kin selection hypothesis’ section of Pearson (p255-

256) Also read page 16 of Pro-Social and Anti-Social Behaviour

(Routledge) Write detailed notes (about 200 words) on: The evolutionary explanations of altruism, explaining kin

selection theory and reciprocal altruism theory. (You will be adding to these notes later when we have

discussed psychological explanantions of altruism.)

Psychological Psychological explanations of explanations of

altruismaltruism

Discuss this issue with the person next to you:

Why do we give money to beggars? (How many reasons can you think of?)

Not Waving But Not Waving But DrowningDrowning


altruismaltruism Where biological explanations of altruism can be

seen in many animals, psychological explanations of altruism are witnessed only in higher-level mammals.


altruismaltruism Where biological explanations of altruism can be

seen in many animals, psychological explanations of altruism are witnessed only in higher-level mammals.

While biological explanations of altruism occur almost automatically, psychological explanations of altruism arise as a result of cognition. That is, this type of altruism relies on the ‘helper’ understanding the situation. This kind of altruism is not innate.

Negative-state relief Negative-state relief model model

When encountering a homeless person asking for money, we can either:

Give them some money or Walk away


Schaller and Cialdini (1988) proposed the negative-state relief model.

Pro-social behaviour results from egoism rather than altruism.

We help others in order to relieve the stress we feel when encountering a bad situation.

This model also explains why people walk away. Walking away also alleviates distress.


This model does explain some behaviour, however feelings of distress do not always lead to helping behaviour.


This model does explain some behaviour, however feelings of distress do not always lead to helping behaviour.

Neither does this model predict how people will behave – will they help, or walk away?

Empathy-altruism Empathy-altruism modelmodel

Batson disagrees with the notion that we only help to relieve negative feelings.

Batson et al (1981) suggests that people experience two kinds of emotion when they see suffering.


According to Batson, if you feel empathy towards a person, you will help, regardless of what you may gain from it.

Relieving suffering becomes the most important thing.

If a person feels no empathy, then they would consider the costs and benefits before making the decision to help.


The empathy-altruism hypothesis has been tested empirically many times, in order to distinguish it from egoist hypotheses (e.g. Schaller and Cialdini’s ‘negative-state relief’ model).

It is, however, very difficult to determine from observed behaviour, whether someone is acting out of empathy or to relieve distress.

Empathy-altruism Empathy-altruism model:model:

Batson et al (1981)Batson et al (1981) Students were asked to listen to recording of a

student called Carol, talking about an accident where she broke both of her legs, the struggles she was having and how she was having difficulty keeping up with her school work.


Batson et al (1981)Batson et al (1981) Students asked to listen to recording of a student called

Carol, talking about an accident where she broke both of her legs, the struggles she was having and how she was having difficulty keeping up with her school work.

The students were divided into two groups: low empathy and high empathy.


Batson et al (1981)Batson et al (1981) Students asked to listen to recording of a student called

Carol, talking about an accident where she broke both of her legs, the struggles she was having and how she was having difficulty keeping up with her school work.

The students were then given a letter,asking them to meet up with Caroland share their lecture notes with her.

The students were divided into two groups: low empathy and high empathy.


Batson et al (1981)Batson et al (1981) Some participants were told that Carol would be finishing

her studies from home. Another group were told that she would be in their class

when she returned to school.

With another student, sketch a quick table / diagram of the different conditionsthat the participants were in


Batson et al (1981)Batson et al (1981)


Batson et al (1981)Batson et al (1981)Which group do you think would be

more likely to share their notes with Carol?


Batson et al (1981)Batson et al (1981) Findings: Participants from the high empathy group were almost

equally likely to help Carol, whether she would be in their class or not.

Participants from the low empathy group were more likely to help if they thought Carol would be in their class.

What does this suggest?


Batson et al (1981)Batson et al (1981) The results of this experiment confirm the

empathy-altruism model. When participants had listened to the recording

of Carol with empathy, they were (almost) just as likely to want to help her, whether it was in their best interest (i.e. she would be in their class) or not.


Batson et al (1981)Batson et al (1981) Strengths: Batson et al’s study has been consistently replicated, with

the same results. Can you think of some more strengths?


Batson et al (1981)Batson et al (1981) Limitationss: Batson et al’s study only looked at short-term altruism. Interpretation of the results did not take personality factors

into account. It is difficult to measure a person’s level of empathy. Batson’s model does not explain why some people show

more empathy than others.

Theoretical Explanations for Prosocial Behavior:

Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis

Observe Emergency

Empathy is aroused

Victim needs helpFeels good to help

Explanation: Motivation: Reason for helping:

Negative- State Relief Model

Observe Emergency

Negative Affect is aroused

To reduce own negative affect

Genetic Determinism

ModelObserve

Emergency

Unconscious desire to help if

victim genetically similar

To maximize survival of similar

genes

Body Language Body Language MimicryMimicry

How does the mimicking of another person’s body language or facial expressions influence helping behaviour?


Reread pages 261-262 of the Course Companion, pages 253-254 of Pearson.

Also read pages 32-33 of Pro-social and Anti-Social Behaviour (Routledge)

Make detailed notes on the Psychological Explanations of Altruism.

evaluate two theories explaining altruism

Documents

types of altruism

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extent of altruism

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yearreciprocal altruism

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kin selection theoryif

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