...why people engage or not in prosocial behaviours we should predominately look at their situational factors together with the other pre-dispositional psychological, environmental and emotional imperatives that comprise the basis of people’s core beliefs and value systems. Attitudes to multiculturalism are influenced by situational factors that have been shown to have an effect on social behaviour, including; racial bias, prejudice, conformity, obedience, attitudes and changes to group norms. Out-group bias identified by race can influence prosocial behaviour as in-group members are more productive for their groups benefit and less helpful to the out-groups (Stepanikova, Simpson, 2011). Prosocial behaviour is behaviour intended to solely help or benefit another (Eisenberg, 2007). Research into the relationship between prosocial behaviour and socioeconomic status has also shown that lower socio economic groups have more compassion and therefore behave more prosocially when allocating resources (Piff, Kraus, 2010). Situational factors include people being more likely to help their family members. Kin selection refers to the theory that people will choose to help people first that are related to them so that their family’s biological genes will live on. Kinship can be extended to other groups that we are familiar with, community groups that we may belong to and people that we socialise with and share common values (Hippel, Hasselton, 2007). Social learning and how we have been...
Words: 1084 - Pages: 5
...PYC4805 ASSIGNMENT 02 PYC4805 ASSIGNMENT 02 (691014): PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR IN CHILDREN 1 PYC4805 ASSIGNMENT 02 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 2. PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR: INFLUENTIAL FACTORS 2.1) CULTURTAL FACTORS 2.2) SOCIALISATION OF PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR WITHIN THE FAMILY 2.3) THE CHILD’S INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS 3. CONCLUSION 4. REFERENCES 5 6 7 8 3 3 4 2 PYC4805 ASSIGNMENT 02 1.) Introduction According to Berk (2013, p. 417) prosocial behaviour can be defined as follows: “Actions that benefit another person without any expectation of reward for the self.” Prosocial development in early childhood is of great importance for promoting positive and healthy relationships later on in life (Scrimgeour, Blandon, Stifter & Buss 2013). In can start emerging within the first two years of life and it includes helpfulness, sharing, comforting etc. (Dunfield, Kuhlmeier, O’Connell & Kelley, 2011). In this assignment some of the factors that have an influence on the prosocial behaviour of young children will be discussed. They are as follows: cultural factors, socialisation of prosocial behaviour within the family, and the individual characteristics of children. These are only 3 of many factors that play a role in the development of prosocial behaviour. 2.) Prosocial behaviour: influential factors. There are a number of theories and perspectives that aim to explain prosocial behaviour. There are philosophical perspectives, psychological theories and empirical literature...
Words: 1670 - Pages: 7
...Biographical Information of Parents p.2 2.2. Table 2: Biographical Information of Children p.2 2.3. Table 3: Authoritative child-rearing style p.2 2.4. Table 4: Authoritarian child-rearing style p.3 2.5. Table 5: Permissive child-rearing style p.3 2.6. Table 6: Uninvolved child-rearing style p.4 2.7. Table 7: Kind of prosocial behaviour: Empathy p.4 2.8. Table 8: Kind of prosocial behaviour: Awareness of p.4 wrong-doing 2.9. Table 9: Kind of prosocial behaviour: Cooperation p.5 1.10 Table 10: Kind of prosocial behaviour: Helping p.5 behaviour 1.11 Table 11: Kind of prosocial behaviour: Awareness p.5 of someone else’s problem 1.12 Table 12: Kind of prosocial behaviour: Accommodating p.6 others 1.13 Table 13: Total scores for prosocial behaviour p.6 1.14 Table 14: Total scores for child-rearing styles and p.6 prosocial behaviour 2. Question one: Report p.7 3. References p.8 Table 1 Research participant | Age | Gender | Ethnic group | Marital status | Working or stay-at-home-parent | Average time spend with child per week | Number of children | 1 | 29 | Female | White | Married | Stay-at-home | 40 Hours | one | 2 | 36 | Female | Coloured | Married | Working | 20 Hours | three | Biographical...
Words: 1326 - Pages: 6
...Prosocial behaviour, a term invented as an antonym for antisocial behaviour by social scientists (Batson & Powell, 2003), nurtures positive characteristics and builds relationships. Comforting, helping, as well as sharing materials or information are examples of prosocial behaviours which develop early in ontogeny and are fundamental to an individual’s social life (Liebal, Vaish, Haun, & Tomasello, 2014). There are many aspects that can influence and affect the prosocial behaviour of an individual, but the focus of the present study is to identify whether prosocial behaviour is affected by the presence of bystanders. As Latane and Nida (1981) had pointed out, the bystander effect is among the most deeply ingrained research in social psychology...
Words: 1529 - Pages: 7
...THE EVENTS OF SEPT 11 2011 (THE HIJACKING OF THE 4 JETS AND THE ATTACKS ON THE WORLD TRADE CENTRE AND PENTAGON IN US) HAVE RAISED NUMEROUS QUESTIONS IN VARIETY OF DIFFERENT TOPICS. DOES SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY HAVE AN ANSWER FOR ANY OF THESE QUESTIONS? THERE WAS A LARGE INCREASE IN VOLUNTEERING AFTER SEPT 11thIN US. WHY DID SO MANY PEOPLE VOLUNTEER AFTER SEPT 11? The events of September 11th 2001 changed people’s behaviour in different ways. People’s attitude to volunteering changed in such a way that social psychologists could attribute part of that change to altruistic behaviour. Volunteering and altruism shares common connection as such some volunteering work can be seen as altruistic though not every part of altruism can be said to mean volunteering. Volunteering is just one part of the different parts of altruism. Within this understanding it is possible to say the two concepts are strongly related and connected as well. This essay will try to explore the concept of volunteering in relation to altruism and to show that the large number of people that volunteered after September 11th had their altruistic tendency invoked. Altruism from social psychologists point of view is a prosocial behaviour that has been defined as “a motive to increase the welfare or wellbeing of another person without conscious regard for one’s own self-interests (David Myers, 2010). It is a norm or an act that is highly valued and cherished by individuals and society alike. According...
Words: 1091 - Pages: 5
...Social Psychology: Prosocial Behavior Social psychology is one of the wide topics in sociology that have been widely studied. Social psychology is the study of human behavior in a social context. Stangor (2013) has described social psychology as the scientific study of how people think, feel and behave around people and how people’s feelings, thoughts and behaviors are influenced by these people. It aims at studying and explaining how individual personalities change due to social groups. Social psychology helps one understand how individuals fit in the society. Social psychology exists in our daily life. When we make friends, when we argue with friends, how we live with people and relate with them, are all examples of social psychology. There are different study areas in social psychology and they are; prosocial behaviors, prejudice, discrimination and diversity, self and social behavior, social influence, cultural links, psychology of gender and violence, conflict resolution and peace. In this paper I will discuss prosocial behavior. Prosocial behavior is the opposite of anti-social behavior. While anti-social people will exclude themselves from the society, are selfish and don’t contribute much in conversations, prosocial people are philanthropic, obedient and cooperate with others. Prosocial behavior has been described as the phenomenon where people help each other, either willingly or with a hidden motive. Prosocial behavior should not be confused with altruism, which is...
Words: 2266 - Pages: 10
...social cognition | Attribution | attitudes | Heuristics | persuasion | Empathy | attraction | Idiosyncracy credit | prosocial behavior | Individualism | stereotype | Collectivism | prejudice | Personal identity | discrimination | Multiculturalism | social psychology | Prejudice | conformity | Normative influence | schemata | Sexism | idiosyncrasy credits | Racism | obedience to authority | Schema | altruism | Reciprocity norm | bystander effect | Self-assessment | halo effect | Self-presentation | kin selection | Social influence | reciprocity norm | Flattery | empathy-altruism hypothesis | mere exposure | altruistic personality type | propinquity effect | 1. Write 1-2 sentences of definition/explanation opposite to each concept. 2. Write the appropriate scientists' names. 1. Kurt Lewin was a famous psychologist who is largely considered to be the father of social psychology, due to the fact that his studies paved the way for future psychologists to look at the relationship between a person's thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and the society around them. 2. Solomon Asch was a famous social psychologist whose study on conformity showed that people often conform to the group, even when they know the correct answer. 3. Albert Bandura is a famous social psychologist whose Bobo doll study illustrates the social learning theory of psychology. 4. Edwin Hollander made idiosyncrasy credit theory popular in 1958. 5. Serge Moscovici believed that...
Words: 349 - Pages: 2
...2013) Word count of your essay (1,265) Internet is a fast developing technology and the popularity of video gaming had been growing in recent years as well. Many people or institutions therefore investigate the negative impacts of video gaming. Since video games often include violence or aggressive language, people often think that video games lead to violent crime such as robbing, bullying and so on. However, Video games do not have direct impact on teenagers’ criminal behaviour because it is not proven that it leads to any criminal activities. This essay will examine the relationship between video games and teenagers’ aggressive behaviour and argue that video games do not assist to any criminal activities. Furthermore, video games also influence teenagers in a positive way. In recent years, many researchers found that teenagers tent to be more violent in behaviour after playing video games which might lead to crime for instance. Bösche (2010) states that video games lead to both aggressive behaviours and positive cognitions simultaneously. One of the positive effects of video games is securing players' attention and it can be implemented in education. Ferguson (2010) suggests that the violence and excitement of video games can draw players' attention easily, therefore video games can be used as a medium for spreading positive information. For example, educational tasks can be included in a first-person shooter game which appears to be a life saving mission. Besides conveying...
Words: 1480 - Pages: 6
...games and violence. The Vehement Link Between Video Games And Aggression Researchers from the University of Innsbruck, examined 98 studies that tested close to 37,000 participants from the start of the year 2009 (this study was published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and was a “meta-analysis.” http://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2014/may/06/violent-video-games-murder-aggression-ann-maguire ). In this study, they came to the realization that video games do affect social behaviours of players of violent video games. Between prosocial outcomes and aggressive outcomes, it was evident that players who participated in games with more aggressive and violent plots and tendencies, (Call of Duty, Halo, and Ghost Recon) had a decrease in acts of kindness, care, and compassion- or altruism-, and an increase in aggressive behaviour, and where more likely to become misanthropic- disliking human-kind and avoiding human society. They also made an interesting discovery that supported the idea that games such as “Super Mario Sunshine,” (a game released by Nintendo in 2002, intended for the GameCube-http://www.mariowiki.com/Super_Mario_Sunshine)- where the objective of the game is that of a “prosocial” nature- created the opposite effect on game players and proved them to be more productive and sociable members of society. In a Christian based society, it is not uncommon for us to view violent video games as secular- denoting attitudes, activities, or other things...
Words: 598 - Pages: 3
...Developmental psychologists have long been interested in how parents impact child development. However, finding actual cause-and-effect links between specific actions of parents and later behavior of children is very difficult. Some children raised in dramatically different environments can later grow up to have remarkably similar personalities. Conversely, children who share a home and are raised in the same environment can grow up to have astonishingly different personalities than one another. Despite these challenges, researchers have uncovered convincing links between parenting styles and the effects these styles have on children. During the early 1960s, psychologist Diana Baumrind conducted a study on more than 100 preschool-age children (Baumrind, 1967). Using naturalistic observation, parental interviews and other research methods, she identified four important dimensions of parenting: * Disciplinary strategies * Warmth and nurturance * Communication styles * Expectations of maturity and control Based on these dimensions, Baumrind suggested that the majority of parents display one of three different parenting styles. Further research by also suggested the addition of a fourth parenting style (Maccoby & Martin, 1983). The Four Parenting Styles 1. Authoritarian Parenting In this style of parenting, children are expected to follow the strict rules established by the parents. Failure to follow such rules usually results in punishment. Authoritarian...
Words: 2863 - Pages: 12
...P SY CH O L O G I CA L SC I ENC E Research Report Mimicry and Prosocial Behavior Rick B. van Baaren, Rob W. Holland, Kerry Kawakami, and Ad van Knippenberg University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands ABSTRACT—Recent studies have shown that mimicry occurs unintentionally and even among strangers. In the present studies, we investigated the consequences of this automatic phenomenon in order to learn more about the adaptive function it serves. In three studies, we consistently found that mimicry increases prosocial behavior. Participants who had been mimicked were more helpful and generous toward other people than were nonmimicked participants. These beneficial consequences of mimicry were not restricted to behavior directed toward the mimicker, but included behavior directed toward people not directly involved in the mimicry situation. These results suggest that the effects of mimicry are not simply due to increased liking for the mimicker, but are due to increased prosocial orientation in general. When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other. —Demotivatorsr 2000 calendar (Despair, Inc., http://www.despair.com) By now, there is substantial evidence that humans mimic a wide range of behaviors. People not only mimic several speech-related behaviors, such as accents (Giles & Powesland, 1975), tone of voice (Neumann & Strack, 2000), pauses (Cappella & Planalp, 1981), rate of speech (Webb, 1969, 1972), and syntax (Levelt & Kelter, 1982)...
Words: 3155 - Pages: 13
...Social Cognition ECE: 353 Cognitive Development of Infants and Young Children Instructor: Sandi Levinson August 14, 2012 Social Cognition Social cognition refers to the awareness of one’s own and other people’s mental states (i.e., acquiring a theory of mind), including emotions, motives, desires and feelings. Socio-cognitive skills, such as the ability to understand, describe and predict people’s mental states, allow children to develop a strong social cognition (Moore, 2010). Developing social and cognitive awareness is especially important during infancy to prepare children to interact properly with the social world prior to school entry. For example, it is through group activities that children gradually learn the importance of sharing. This crucial ability originates from children’s understanding that other children may have a desire to play with the same toys (Moore,2010). Along the same line, recent evidence indicates that children’s socio-cognitive skills may have a direct impact on the quality of their relationships and school success. Children with a more developed social cognition tend to be better communicators, socially competent, popular with peers, happier at school, and academically more advanced. In contrast, those with poor social cognition are more likely to have difficulty making the transition to school, to react more violently in face of harsh parenting, and to experience difficulties in school that may be misread as conduct problems...
Words: 2221 - Pages: 9
...INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS AND GROUP PROCESSES Going Green to Be Seen: Status, Reputation, and Conspicuous Conservation Vladas Griskevicius Joshua M. Tybur University of Minnesota University of New Mexico Bram Van den Bergh Rotterdam School of Management Why do people purchase proenvironmental “green” products? We argue that buying such products can be construed as altruistic, since green products often cost more and are of lower quality than their conventional counterparts, but green goods benefit the environment for everyone. Because biologists have observed that altruism might function as a “costly signal” associated with status, we examined in 3 experiments how status motives influenced desire for green products. Activating status motives led people to choose green products over more luxurious nongreen products. Supporting the notion that altruism signals one’s willingness and ability to incur costs for others’ benefit, status motives increased desire for green products when shopping in public (but not private) and when green products cost more (but not less) than nongreen products. Findings suggest that status competition can be used to promote proenvironmental behavior. Keywords: altruism, environmental conservation, costly signaling, status competition, consumer behavior ported that the number one reason for purchasing the car is because it “makes a statement about me.” What statement does the Prius make? “It shows the world that its owner...
Words: 12982 - Pages: 52
...although Penner, Fritzsche, Craiger and Freifield (1995) argues that although prosocial behaviour is usually linked with empathy, the findings insist that it is instead situational. Personality trait ratings and the ability to interpret facial expressions are conducted through questionnaires such as Goldberg’s Unipolar Big-Five Markers to map out personality attributes (Thompson 2008) and Baron-Cohen’s Reading the Mind in the Eyes test (Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Hill, Raste and Plumb, 2001). The basic traits of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness also known as the Five Factor model are closely linked to an individual’s disposition (Hartmann, Heidesgades, 2006) and through a study on 832 Spanish adolescents using both the Spanish versions of Bryant’s Empathy Index for Children and Adolescents and the Big Five Questionnaire, del Barrio et all (2004) reported that there was a strong correlation between positive traits such as agreeableness and empathy for both boys and girls. Based on previous meta-analytic research that suggest female have a higher aptitude in decoding non-verbal information (Hall, Hutton and Morgan, 2010), Hall states that women indeed have a higher accuracy on facial expression recognition than men. These findings which suggests there is difference in the ability to empathise between men and women. A research was conducted on a sample of psychology students at UoW to determine whether the ability to empathise was associated...
Words: 555 - Pages: 3
...11) from 12 to 18 years of age from Gebeni High School in Swaziland was used. The researcher aimed to investigate the extent of determinants of moral development in curbing adolescents’ moral decay and to make recommendations on the development of socialization structures to curb adolescents’ moral decay. Findings revealed that the determinants played a major role in adolescents’ moral development. However, further research is needed to be conducted with a lager sample for the qualitative study. 2 From a scholarly point of view, the interest in moral development among psychologists was inspired by Kohleberg’s work on moral judgment. Kohleberg’s combined insights from liberal philosophers such as Rawls, Piagets’ cognitive-developmental psychology and Baldwin. From his work an understanding of moral issues such as rights and justice was developed. Hence, Moral development during the adolescent years can be defined as...
Words: 8684 - Pages: 35
