Social Psychology:
Altruism

Altruism

Unselfish behavior and attitude towards the welfare of others.
Intentional behaviors that benefit another person
- Behaviours which have no obvious gain for the provider
- Behaviours which have obvious costs for the provider (e.g. time, resources)
Is there really altruism? Altruism is often for self-benefit e.g., power, status, reward, psychological gain.
What matters in judging the act is the actor's intented outcomes.

Hedonism: acts of altruism are really selfish acts that benefit the actor

Reciprocal altruism: natural selection favors animals that are altruistic if the benefit to each is greater than the cost of altruism

Diminished sense of personal responsibility to act because others are seen as equally responsible
Bystanders who feel anonymous (e.g. part of a large crowd) are less likely to help
75% help when alone vs. 53% in presence of others
"Diffusion of responsibility"

The bystander effect (BE) is a well studied, phenomenon (Darley and Latane and colleagues)
BE is that people are less likely to provide needed help when they are in groups than when they are alone.
Reviews of studies on over 6,000 subjects in a variety of helping situations indicate that subjects who are alone help about 75% of the time, while subjects in the presence of others help about 53% of the time.
The bystander effect is believed to occur because of diffusion of responsibility – when the responsibility is divided among many, everyone thinks that someone else will help.

Myers, D. G. (2001). Social Psychology (Ch. 18). In D. G. Myers (2001). Psychology (6th ed.) (pp. 643-688). New York: Worth.

Westen, D., Burton, L., & Kowalski, R. (2006). Psychology. Australian and New Zealand Edition. Queensland: Wiley.