These are the notes that I made in the 1st block of the International Bachelor of Psychology. I wrote these notes throughout the block and used the best books and sources. I had a 9.4 on my exam :)
Feelings:
Theory of emotion -What comes first,
Emotion: immediate, specific to a stimulus, a complex state of feeling. physiological response or emotion?
Arousal: the body reaction to a stimulus 1. James-Lange – The body first
Emotions have two distinctive components: physiological arousal and responds automatically to the
cognitions. Sometimes, there is unexplained arousal that could be stimulus; only later do we
experience as different emotions, depending on what kind of understand and formulate our
attributions we make of what we experience. emotions. There are specific and
different physiological responses,
James-Lange theory: and it is by feeling these responses
Cognitive assessment doesn’t happen, subjective experience of that we determine our emotions.
emotion is the way we interpret our body’s physiological changes.
Two- factor Theory of emotion, Schater and Singer, 1959:
Emotional experience results from 1) interpretation of bodily
responses in the 2) context of emotional cues. (Cognition ->
2. Cannon-Bard – Its not easy to
emotion). When people are uncertain about how they feel, their
distinguish the bodily changes
emotional reaction is determined by the people around them? The
associated with differed emotion
answer: when people are unclear about their own emotional states,
(fear and excitement). Experience
they SOMETIMES interpret how they feel by watching others.
proves this because when the
o Experiment: students were given an injection of adrenaline.
physiological response was
3 conditions 1) explanation; 2) no explanation with an
provoked in some people, they
angry/euphoric confederate 3) misinformed that they
simply reported the physical
would experience headache. the conclusion: the
symptoms. Therefore, James was
confederate determinate the response of the not-informed
wrong, a person’s perception of
subjects
these bodily effects their
Excitation Transfer, Dolf Zillmann, 1984: |Arousal triggered by one
response/emotion.
stimulus can be transferred or added to the arousal of a second
stimulus (the attractive person). The combination of arousal is
perceived as being inflicted only be the second stimulus |The
expression of an emotions is a combination of learnt behaviour, 3. Schater-Singer – Added that if you
arousal of excitement from another source and the persons are surrounded by people that
interpretation of arousal state. The last point is what Zillmann justify your boldly arousal, you are
investigated through multiple experiences the fact that people more likely to believe it. So bodily
forget why they are aroused and simply attribute their emotional only partially determines
anger/sensual feelings to the second stimulus. The arousal is before the emotion experienced.
the later intensified emotional state.
o Roller coaster experience, Meston and Frohlich, 2003- After
a roller-coaster ride people found a photograph of a person more attractive than before they began the ride.
If you were with a partner excitation transfer was less, almost no difference between the before and the after
Misattribution of arousal: the tendency for people to incorrectly label the source of arousal that they are
experiencing. The stimulus and the misattribution happen simultaneously.
o Bridge experiment: stimulus- high bridge influenced arousal in men in the context of the surrounding
(attractive women)
, Foster’s meta-analysis – misattribution is not necessary for excitation transfer
, Problem 2- Whodunnit
Read: Smith and Kassin
Perceiving need and helping
Norm of social responsibility: a norm that those able to take care of themselves have a duty and obligation
to assist those who cannot. (Berkowitz n Daniels, 1963)
If we think people are in need because of bad luck, we are more likely to help than if we believe they
“brought it on themselves” (Marjanovic 2009) – Just-world hypothesis
Bystander-calculus model: in attending t an emergency, the bystander calculates the perceived cost and
benefits of providing or not help. Piliavin, distinguished between empathy cost of not helping – not helping
can cause distress for the bystander or personal costs of not helping – not helping can be costly for the
bystander. (Like “I’m gonna be late for work)
Perspective taking – being able to experience the world from someone else’s perspective, this goes with
increased empathy and helping.
Empathic concern – theory of helping behaviour in contrast to personal distress, includes feelings of warmth
and compassion for the person in need. Difference between appreciating how a person feels and actually
feeling the person’s feelings (which is a mix of altruism and egoism – empathic stress?)
Bystander effect - Kitty Genovese, Latané n Darley, 1970
Kitty was attacked/murdered and supposedly there were 38 bystanders who did not help. (Later this was unproven,
but at time it was believed to be true). The study that was carried tried to explain why people didn’t help Kitty.
1. Diffusion of Responsibility - the belief that others will or should intervene: Latané and Darley found that a
reason people didn’t help was that there were so many bystanders. Probably because they believed that the
responsibility to help wasn’t only theirs. – The bystander effect: the finding that the presence of more
bystanders consistently decreases the likelihood of any one person giving help.
o Experiment: In a group of students, one starts to fake a seizure: The bigger the student (witness)
believes the group of students is, the less likely the subject will try and help. (Latané and Darley).
38% of the participants didn’t help when they thought they were in 6 people groups.
2. Pluralistic ignorance – The state in which people in a group mistakenly think that their own individual
thoughts, feelings, or behaviours are different from those of the others in the group. Thinking that you are
the only one that thought to help or thinking that you don’t have to help, because others are more able.
(Two-factor theory associated with helping: Other people’s reactions can influence whether any one
individual decides to help. Applying the Singer-Shatter theory, when people aren’t sure what to do (help),
their reaction is determined by others around them, therefore when no one is helping they won’t either.)
However, if there is someone who acts, they serve as model, implicitly helping as an appropriate response.
o Experiment: Smoke starts feeling a room, only 1 of the 24 participants in 3 people groups acted
within 4 minutes, and only 3 did so before the end of the experiment. The rate of action was even
lower when participants were in a room with two passive confederates, 1 in 10 reported the smoke.
However, alone they will ask for help. (Latane and Darley, 1968).
3. Audience Inhibition - Reluctance to help for fear of making a bad impression on observers.
4. Social Influence – the presence of others inhibits helping when a bystander sees that no one is helping.
Another factor may be the arousal that an emergency causes. The combination of arousal, emotions, and split-
second timing usually leads people to respond to emergencies quickly and impulsively.
, The 5 Steps of Helping in an Emergency, Latané and Darley, 1970:
1. Noticing: The presence of other can sometimes by distracting and divert attention away from noticing a victim’s
plight. People who live in big cities may became used to people in need and began to tune them out- Stimulus
Overload, (Milgram, 1970)
2. Interpreting: When interpreting the situation, the behaviour of other people is the most powerful info available.
When the groups are all searching for context clues, looking at what the other bystanders are doing, they may
become victims of pluralist ignorance.
o *Smoke experiment*
3. Taking Responsibility: When help is needed and other people are around, diffusion of responsibility easier, it
does not happen if the person believes they are the only victim’s hope. Some studies suggest that even the
presence of imaginary people can produce diffusion of responsibility (Garcia, 2002).
o Bystander effect in children: A teacher needed a paper towel, when there were other children
present, they were less likely to help.
4. / 5. Deciding How to Help and Providing Help: Obstacles are feeling lack of competence in knowing how to
help, worrying that the potential cost of helping may not justify the risk, feeling socially awkward/embarrassed
to act helpfully in a public setting – Audience Inhibition.
o Gang rape at parties, Carlson, 2008, When Carlson interviewed young men from a university in
California about how they would respond in situations like the gang rape, many of them raised
concerns, indicating that their masculinity would be threatened if they intervened. This kind of concern
plays a tremendous role in bystander action involving rape, sexual assault, bullying, abuse of animals…
o Bystander effect online: studies on individuals’ responses to e-mail or Internet-based requests for
help. Here, the bystander effect emerged, indicating that the virtual presence of others reduced the
likelihood that any one individual would intervene. The diffusion of responsibility can be all the greater
online because of the additional physical and psychological distance the online world creates. (Stalder,
2008)
Avoiding the Bystander Effect
Who helps, (Fisher and other, 2011)
When effective helping requires multiple participants, the presence of others can sometimes lead to
more helping rather than less helping, presumably because the potential costs and benefits of helping
would favour multiple helpers acting together
When the situation is perceived as dangerous the presence of bystanders does NOT diminish helping.
Presumably, this is because emergencies generate higher levels of arousal in potential helpers,
motivating them to act regardless of other considerations such the amount of people around.
When people believe they will be scorned by others for failing to help, the presence of an audience
increase their helpful actions, (Schwartz n Gottlieb, 1980).
The mood of the bystander: when people feel good, they are less preoccupied with themselves and are
more sensitive to the needs and problems of others. When people are in a bad mood helping varies,
depending on weather they are moderated by self-concern. If they are concentrated on themselves (ex.
depression) they are less likely to help. However, when feeling angry, they may feel like promoting
prosocial behaviour.
When they have a specific set of skills, or their job is related to helping. Example of nurses when
confronted with possible physical injury (Cramer, 1988); Paediatric Dr. Liu who jumped in the lake to safe
2 children.
Personality has some influence on whether you help or not: young adults who scored high in attribute of
agreeableness, empathic self-efficacy were more likely to help. People who are helpful in emergency
tend to be taller, heavier, and stronger. In the attachment styles, research found that people with secure
attachment styles were more likely to help. This helping behaviour starts in childhood and continues
through adulthood.
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