PSYS 130 - Final Exam UPDATED Questions
and CORRECT Answers
What is prosocial behavior? - CORRECT ANSWER - any action that is intended to benefit
others
What is prosocial motivated by? - CORRECT ANSWER - Altruism and egoism
What is altruism? - CORRECT ANSWER - -motivation to increase another's welfare
without conscious regard to one's self interest.
-intrinsic motivation to help, even at the cost to self
What is egoism? - CORRECT ANSWER - Motivation to increase one's own welfare;
meaning that by helping others you provide yourself with tangible or intangible benefits.
What is the social exchange hypothesis? - CORRECT ANSWER - Says that there is no
such thing as pure altruism. This states that helping is motivated by a desire to maximize rewards
and minimize costs.
What is the empathy-altruism hypothesis? - CORRECT ANSWER - States that when we
feel empathy we attempt to help that person for only altruisic reasons.
What were participants asked to do in Toi & Batson (1982): study? - CORRECT
ANSWER - -Participants were asked to help a girl named carol who couldn't attend
lectures because she had lost her legs.
-Aim of this study was to see if participants would help carol by writing to her, meeting with her,
and sharing lecture notes.
What were the independent variables of the Toi & Batson (1982) study? - CORRECT
ANSWER - -Independent variable A: Empathy - condition 1: participants were asked to
focus on carol's feelings (high empathy condition) - condition 2: participants were not asked to
focus on her feelings (low empathy condition)
,-independent variable B: High or low cost- condition 1: high cost: carol would be in class. it
would be embarrassing to deny her lecture notes
-condition 2: low cost: carol wouldn't be in class
What were the results of the Toi and Batson (1982) study? - CORRECT ANSWER --
Results: High empathy group were equally likely to help in either condition
-The low empathy group was more likely to help Carol in the high cost condition
What was the evaluation of the Toi and Batson (1982) study? - CORRECT ANSWER --
Evaluation:
Batson's findings have been consistently replicated, so it appears that the theory of empathy-
altruism is consistent with its predictions that helping behavior based on empathy is unselfish.
What are some problems with the Toi and Batson (1982) study? - CORRECT ANSWER -
only investigated short-term altruism, and the interpretation of the results has not taken
personality factors into account. This could be seen as a weakness of the explanation.
- Though Batson's model makes it easier to predict behavior, it is difficult to measure one's level
of empathy. Batson argues that empathy is an innate trait in all of us, but it is not clear why we
do not experience a predictable level of empathy in a given situation.
What is the feel good-do good effect and how does this effect prosocial behavior? - CORRECT
ANSWER - The better a mood someone is in, the more likely they are to help another
person
What is the Isen and Levin (1972) study and what effect does it test for? - CORRECT
ANSWER - Tests for the feel good-do good effect; staged a helping opportunity where a
man drops his manila folder filled with papers by accident. To influence the mood of the
stranger, experimenters left a dime in a telephone change slot and waited for people to find it.
84% of those who found the dime stopped and helped the man. 4% who didn't find the dime still
helped the man.
What is the negative state-relief hypothesis? - CORRECT ANSWER - Feel bad-do good
hypothesis: negative mood most likely increases helping because helping makes them feel better.
, What is the Thompson et al (1980) study? - CORRECT ANSWER - Group told sad story
about their friend dying of cancer and asked to think of how sad you'll feel while they died (Self-
Focus)
-Another group told sad story where they're the friend dying and asked to think how sad it is not
knowing when you'll die (Other-focus)
-Researchers found that the 2 sets of participants agreed to help
-25% of self-focus; 83% of other-focus
-When you self-focus, it takes you out of prosocial group i.e. less likely to help others
What are 3 evolutionary theories that explain prosocial behavior? - CORRECT
ANSWER - Kin selection, signaling theory, social norms and customs
Kin selection theory - CORRECT ANSWER - idea that we are more likely to provide help
to family members/genetic relatives
signaling theory - CORRECT ANSWER - Behaving generously implies other favorable
characteristics
What are some social norms and customs that help us evolutionary explain prosocial behavior? -
CORRECT ANSWER - help explain prosocial behavior; social responsibility norm:
expectation that people will help those needing help; reciprocity norm: Expectation that helping
others will increase the likelihood that they will help us in the future
what is indirect reciprocity? - CORRECT ANSWER - One individual acts as a donor, the
other as a recipient
Benefactor and beneficiary will never meet
How does the Benner et al (2004) study explain reciprocity norm? - CORRECT
ANSWER - Participants asked how much $ out of $10 they wanted to share with partner
and CORRECT Answers
What is prosocial behavior? - CORRECT ANSWER - any action that is intended to benefit
others
What is prosocial motivated by? - CORRECT ANSWER - Altruism and egoism
What is altruism? - CORRECT ANSWER - -motivation to increase another's welfare
without conscious regard to one's self interest.
-intrinsic motivation to help, even at the cost to self
What is egoism? - CORRECT ANSWER - Motivation to increase one's own welfare;
meaning that by helping others you provide yourself with tangible or intangible benefits.
What is the social exchange hypothesis? - CORRECT ANSWER - Says that there is no
such thing as pure altruism. This states that helping is motivated by a desire to maximize rewards
and minimize costs.
What is the empathy-altruism hypothesis? - CORRECT ANSWER - States that when we
feel empathy we attempt to help that person for only altruisic reasons.
What were participants asked to do in Toi & Batson (1982): study? - CORRECT
ANSWER - -Participants were asked to help a girl named carol who couldn't attend
lectures because she had lost her legs.
-Aim of this study was to see if participants would help carol by writing to her, meeting with her,
and sharing lecture notes.
What were the independent variables of the Toi & Batson (1982) study? - CORRECT
ANSWER - -Independent variable A: Empathy - condition 1: participants were asked to
focus on carol's feelings (high empathy condition) - condition 2: participants were not asked to
focus on her feelings (low empathy condition)
,-independent variable B: High or low cost- condition 1: high cost: carol would be in class. it
would be embarrassing to deny her lecture notes
-condition 2: low cost: carol wouldn't be in class
What were the results of the Toi and Batson (1982) study? - CORRECT ANSWER --
Results: High empathy group were equally likely to help in either condition
-The low empathy group was more likely to help Carol in the high cost condition
What was the evaluation of the Toi and Batson (1982) study? - CORRECT ANSWER --
Evaluation:
Batson's findings have been consistently replicated, so it appears that the theory of empathy-
altruism is consistent with its predictions that helping behavior based on empathy is unselfish.
What are some problems with the Toi and Batson (1982) study? - CORRECT ANSWER -
only investigated short-term altruism, and the interpretation of the results has not taken
personality factors into account. This could be seen as a weakness of the explanation.
- Though Batson's model makes it easier to predict behavior, it is difficult to measure one's level
of empathy. Batson argues that empathy is an innate trait in all of us, but it is not clear why we
do not experience a predictable level of empathy in a given situation.
What is the feel good-do good effect and how does this effect prosocial behavior? - CORRECT
ANSWER - The better a mood someone is in, the more likely they are to help another
person
What is the Isen and Levin (1972) study and what effect does it test for? - CORRECT
ANSWER - Tests for the feel good-do good effect; staged a helping opportunity where a
man drops his manila folder filled with papers by accident. To influence the mood of the
stranger, experimenters left a dime in a telephone change slot and waited for people to find it.
84% of those who found the dime stopped and helped the man. 4% who didn't find the dime still
helped the man.
What is the negative state-relief hypothesis? - CORRECT ANSWER - Feel bad-do good
hypothesis: negative mood most likely increases helping because helping makes them feel better.
, What is the Thompson et al (1980) study? - CORRECT ANSWER - Group told sad story
about their friend dying of cancer and asked to think of how sad you'll feel while they died (Self-
Focus)
-Another group told sad story where they're the friend dying and asked to think how sad it is not
knowing when you'll die (Other-focus)
-Researchers found that the 2 sets of participants agreed to help
-25% of self-focus; 83% of other-focus
-When you self-focus, it takes you out of prosocial group i.e. less likely to help others
What are 3 evolutionary theories that explain prosocial behavior? - CORRECT
ANSWER - Kin selection, signaling theory, social norms and customs
Kin selection theory - CORRECT ANSWER - idea that we are more likely to provide help
to family members/genetic relatives
signaling theory - CORRECT ANSWER - Behaving generously implies other favorable
characteristics
What are some social norms and customs that help us evolutionary explain prosocial behavior? -
CORRECT ANSWER - help explain prosocial behavior; social responsibility norm:
expectation that people will help those needing help; reciprocity norm: Expectation that helping
others will increase the likelihood that they will help us in the future
what is indirect reciprocity? - CORRECT ANSWER - One individual acts as a donor, the
other as a recipient
Benefactor and beneficiary will never meet
How does the Benner et al (2004) study explain reciprocity norm? - CORRECT
ANSWER - Participants asked how much $ out of $10 they wanted to share with partner
