...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 to Wispe, (1972) as cited by (Michael A. Hogg, 2008) it is a positive attitude that contributes to the physical and psychological well-being of another person. It is a different type of helping behaviour in which the motive of “intentions and benefits” to the person rendering it matters (Dovidio, et al, 2006, p....
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...Humans are capable of displaying many behaviours in the different situations they find themselves or see others in. In society, many people have come across situations where help is needed, and proceed to help, even if they do not know who the other person is. This is prosocial behaviour – any behaviour with the intention of helping or benefitting others. A subgroup of prosocial behaviour is altruism, which is helping others with some sort of risk to yourself (such as time, or getting hurt) and not seeking personal gains or rewards (Carter and Grivas, 2005). There is no definite purpose of altruism, but evolutionists theorize that it relates to helping others to preserve our genes. However, altruism doesn’t just occur spontaneously; the action of helping others without any self-benefit only takes place under certain circumstances. The cost-benefit analysis is when the helper considers the cost (such as their own personal health or time) and benefit (feeling good about themself for helping people) of doing and not doing the behaviour. They will usually be more likely to proceed with the behaviour when the benefit outweighs the cost. Another factor affecting helping behaviour could be personal influences such as feelings and mood. If the person feels guilty for not doing something, they will most likely do whatever it takes to be able to restore a positive view from others and reduce our own personal guilt. When someone is in a happy mood, they are more likely to help others...
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...Assignment: 70 HRPYC81 Research report for project: PYC4809 Title: What motivates people to do volunteer work? Examination period: October/November 2013 Contents What motivates people to do volunteer work? Abstract Introduction The motivation of people to volunteer has long fascinated those researching and working alongside volunteers. Understanding the motivational drives of those who volunteer has long been a recurring theme preoccupying much of literature on volunteering. According to research by Esmond and Dunlop (2004), what actually motivates a person to volunteer is a complex and vexing question, yet understanding these motivations can be of great assistance to organisation. Every year millions of people around the world give of their time and energy to make a difference through volunteering (Esmond, 2004). The types of volunteer activities engaged in by people are as varied as the volunteers themselves and their value to their communities and society as a whole remains immeasurable. Understanding the underlying motivational drives of those who volunteer has been a recurring theme preoccupying much of literature on volunteering. So what is it that motivates and moves people into action, to get up, to go and to volunteer? An examination of previous research investigating this complex issue follows. Literature review According to tutorial letter 103 for HRPYC81 (2013, p.5), “Volunteerism may be defined as contributing one’s time or...
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...Social norms theory: this theory aims to understand the environment and interpersonal influences (such as peers) in order to change behaviour, which can be more effective than a focus on the individual to change behaviour. The social norm theory suggests our behaviour is influenced by the misperception of how people think. Ideal conditions for social norms marketing: the target market thinks “everyone is doing it” when in fact they are in the minority. The target market then engages in the desirable/undesirable behaviour using the justification “everyone is doing it” Misperception: it feeds itself and grows – if the norm is people are being safe, make the ‘norm’ more visible. Examples: Safe sex In reality people are being safe using condoms but people think that no one is using them. Drink driving: people believe its safer to not drink drive and not everyone drinks excessively – exception to the rule that if you make that more visible, people feel like they belong. The misperception is not reality – it’s appropriate to bring out the norm when the behaviour change (safe change) is the norm. The main idea is to make it more visible. HEALTH BELIEF MODEL: The health belie model is a psychological model that attempts to explain and predict health behaviours. This is done by focusing on the attitudes and beliefs of individuals. Example Example of using health belief model – safe sex & HIV – what’s going to assist in likely behaviour change? Perceived susceptibility:...
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...heyAltruism /ˈæltruːɪzəm/ is a concern for the welfare of others. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures, and a core aspect of various religious traditions, though the concept of 'others' toward whom concern should be directed can vary among cultures and religions. Altruism is the opposite of selfishness. Altruism can be distinguished from feelings of duty and loyalty. Altruism is a motivation to provide something of value to a party who must be anyone but the self, while duty focuses on a moral obligation towards a specific individual (for example, a god, a king), or collective (for example, a government). Pure altruism consists of sacrificing something for someone other than the self (e.g. sacrificing time, energy or possessions) with no expectation of any compensation or benefits, either direct, or indirect (for instance from recognition of the giving). Much debate exists as to whether true altruism is possible. Arguably, the act of sharing, helping or sacrificing may be primarily motivated by the gratification it returns. This seems to assume a different understanding of 'benefits', though, from the traditionally assumed meanings (which are external - recognition from others, reciprocation etc. - rather than internal), making this a problematic argument. The term altruism may also refer to an ethical doctrine that claims that individuals are morally obliged to benefit others. Used in this sense, it is the opposite of egoism. Contents[hide] * 1 The notion of altruism...
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...Blood donation behaviour Context and problem/opportunity The Australian Red Cross Blood Service is becoming increasingly concerned as the number of people donating blood is failing to meet the high demand of blood required. At some point, around 30% of the Australian population will require blood (Godin, Sheeran, Connor, & Germain , 2005). The underlying problem is that only 3% of the eligible population donate blood regularly (Godin, Sheeran, Connor, & Germain , 2005). In particular, Generation Y, who made 150,000 donations, present a problematic age group, as their retention rate is only 61% (Godin, Sheeran, Connor, & Germain , 2005). Young donors, aged below 25, make up the lowest generation for repeat donations. As a consultant to the RCBS, it is vital to understand why Australians choose to disengage with blood donation, in order to retain them as active donors. Literature Review Many scholars have undertaken research into the implications of blood donation and specifically, reasons as to why the retention rate is so low. One of the overarching issues discussed by academics is the effect of the gap between intention and behaviour. Research has found that a positive intention to give blood is not sufficient for an individual to actually perform the behaviour (Pomazal and Jaccard, 1976). Intentions represent a person’s motivation in the sense of his or hers conscious plan or decision to exert effort to enact the behaviour (Connor and Armitage, 1998)...
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...Outline one or more explanations of media influence on pro-social behaviour and discuss research support Pro social behaviour is when the acts are intended to benefit others. This is usually seen in fundraising campaigns whereas anti social behaviour is usually seen on the news. The social learning theory explains this by learning through media as indirect reinforcement; the media portrays pro-social behaviour as if you see people helping charities then you become aroused to do the same. Hearold in 1987 completed a meta analysis of over 1000 studies seeing the effect of TV on behaviour. Overall he found pro-social to be more effective than anti-social in effecting people. This study is recognised due to the large amount of studies it used so can be generalised to a lot of different places around the world. However, making a conclusion from this many studies is difficult to operate. Another explanation of the media influence is exposure to the pro-social messages. Children watching TV are exposed to a large number of pro-social acts. An early content analysis of US broadcasting found that on average there were 11 altruistic acts and 6 sympathetic behaviours per programming (Skrafkin 1075). However these acts are frequently appeared in the context of anti-social behaviour. From this we can conclude that studies continue to demonstrate pro-social content on TV is clearly as evident as anti-social behaviour. Howard and Roberts 2002 studied toddlers from the age of 14 months watching...
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...To understand 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...
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...An interpretation of function of leadership using game theory. This paper seek to provide a generalisation of the function of leadership using game theory. Assuming there are 2 ends of spectrum of people- extreme rational and extreme irrational people. Most people will lies within the spectrum with only a handful of them representing extreme rational or extreme irrational. Dixit (2004) define rationality as having 'two essential ingredient: complete knowledge of one's own interests, and flawless calculation of what actions will best serve those interest.' Game theory interpretation of the function leadership assumes the follower lies towards the rational end of the spectrum. Given the follower are mostly rational, we can assume that there are 2 ends of spectrum of people- altruistic people and home economicus. Most people will lies within the 2 ends of spectrum with only a handful of them representing totally altruistic people or homo economicus. The proposed interpretation of the function of leadership assumes the followers lies towards the home economicus end of the spectrum. A brief treatment of the altruistic followers are given at the end of the paper. When followers are given the choice of doing a particular action A. There are two possibilities, either the action result in a positive payoff to the followers or a negative payoff. 1)If action A result in a positive payoff and the assumption that the follower are rational, we can assume that rational followers...
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...a legacy of past behaviour when such an accusation could reasonably be made about many organisations. Our argument is the CSR is a developmental process and changes as organisations mature in their behaviour and attitude towards both their stakeholders and their ideas concerning social responsibility. Of course we also acknowledge that there is a growing body of evidence to show that social responsibility behaviour becomes reflected positively in the financial performance of a company, thereby providing a financial imperative for changing behaviour. Moreover, we argue that there are stages of growth as far as CSR is concerned which become reflected in corporate behaviour. These can be seen as increasing levels of maturity. CSR theories Those theories generally include a certain vision of the human being and society within a social philosophy framework, although sometimes in an implicit manner. Three key approaches to CSR: 1, ethical responsibility theory, which presents strong corporate self-restraint and altruistic duties and expansive public policy to strengthen stakeholders’ rights. 伦理责任理论,提出了强大的公司涵养和利他主义的职责和广阔的公共政策,加强各利益相关者的权利。 2, economic responsibility theory, which advocates market wealth creation subject only to minimalist public policy and perhaps customary business ethics. 3, corporate citizenship, which language invokes a political metaphor which provides neither true intermediate positioning nor theoretical synthesis. Four theories: 1, Corporate Social...
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...Consider Emile Durkheim’s approach to the study of suicide. Why does he associate egoistic suicide with modern society and altruistic suicide with pre-modern suicide? Emile Durkheim goes to great lengths in this article to describe the many different types of suicide and how they affect society. He believes that social influences have a large part to play with suicide rates in different countries. He looks to take the matter away from the individual and focus on how and why suicide rates among different classes, genders, and age groups are similar throughout different countries. Durkheim goes on to discuss the different reasons why people may commit suicide. These include people been over- integrated into society or altruistic suicide, under integrated into society or egotistic suicide, having too much moral regulation or fatalistic suicide and having too little moral regulation or anomic suicide. This assignment will discuss all these different factors and will comment on why Durkheim associates different types of suicide to different types of suicide. Durkheim defines suicide as “The term suicide is applied to all cases of death resulting directly or indirectly from a positive or a negative act of the victim himself, which he knows will produce this result” (E. Durkheim, suicide: A Study in Sociology, pg 214). A positive action like shooting or stabbing oneself is the same as refusing to eat food knowing that you will die as a direct result of your actions or non actions...
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...assess the usefulness of different sociological approaches to suicide There are many different sociological views which approach suicide. Positivists think that suicide can be explained simply by looking at official statistics and there are distinct reasons for every suicide. Interpretists think that there is a reason behind every suicide and this can be found through qualitative studies. Realists think that there are further structural causes behind suicide. Each view is useful in explaining relationships between suicides however; none provide solid reasons behind it. Durkheim used suicide to show that a scientific sociology was possible. In Durkheim's view, our behaviour is asocial fact, social forces found in the structure of our society. Through the use of official statistics he studied facts that shape behaviours. Suicide rates for any society remained more or less constant over time, when rates changed they could be attributed to other factors. For example, the rates fell during wartime while they rose at times of economic depression and at times of rising prosperity. Different societies were seen to have different suicide rates and within society, different social groups had different suicide rates. Two factors, integration and regulation determine the type and level of suicide. Integration refers to the extent to which individuals experience a sense of belonging to a group and obligation to its members, whereas regulation is how much an individual’s actions and desires...
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...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 all progress is a result of the minority influence over the majority. 6. Philip Zimbardo ran a notorious experiment, simulating a prison scenario in the basement of a Stanford University building. 7. Stanley Milgram was a famous psychologist who studied how people interact with authority figures. 8. A classic idea that deals with a love triangle: Robert Sternberg's triangular theory of love....
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...Christy McBride Evaluate explanations of group display of aggression (16 marks) Due to the restrictions of modern society, we can no longer engage in tribal warfare, but the biological need for aggression still stands. Arguably, this has been replaced by various modern group events such as sporting events. Tajfel proposed that the groups e.g sporting teams which people belonged to were an important source of pride and self-esteem. Groups give us a sense of social identity. Social identity theory states that the in-group will discriminate against the out-group to enhance their self-image. Xenophobia is an example of this in sporting events, where crowds take to chanting offensive slurs to the other team’s supporters. An explanation for this is because humans are altruistic towards members of their own group but intolerant towards outsiders. This could have been the biological mechanism that helped our ancestors to survive, due to them being suspicious towards outsiders and thus prevented attack. Furthermore the evolutionary explanation of group displays of aggression states that in modern society, the winning teams hold high status, therefore will have access to more resources and makes the members more attractive mates. Acts of aggressions such as tackling in football are related to good psychical health, which is attractive to females. Therefore, people support the best teams. Victory in matches also holds status for the fans, as they identify as the in-group as an attempt...
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...Nonetheless, this is a controversial topic and there are many other sociologists who have contributed to the study by offering their own points of view of how to categorising and interpreting data. We shall discuss their different approaches further in this essay. As it is said, Durkheim rejects the psychological theories of suicide; evidently he shows that while Jews had higher rates of mental illness than Protestants, they had lower suicide rates. In Durkheim’s view, our behaviour is constrained by social facts – according to Steven Lukes, they are greater and out of reach of individuals and they shape our behaviours. These social facts vary in different groups and societies, explaining the differences in suicide rate. There are two social facts that determine the rate of suicide: social integration, which is the extent to which individuals experience a sense of belonging to a group and obligation to its members. They feel a strong bond and duty towards others. The other is moral regulation: the extent to which individuals’ actions and desires are kept in check by norms and values. From these two social facts, he divides suicide into 4 types: egoistic, altruistic, anomic and fatalistic. Before going into details of these 4 types of suicide, it is important to note that different societies have different levels of integration and regulation. So in modern...
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