Deck 14: Altruism and Cooperation

Question 1

According to research, all of the following victim characteristics should increase helping EXCEPT

A) some bleeding.
B) being a female.
C) being similar to a potential helper.
D) unambiguous need.

Answer 1

some bleeding.

Question 2

Nonmonetary assistance that we provide with no expectation of receiving any compensation is called

A) volunteerism.
B) nonmonetary helping.
C) empathic helping.
D) reciprocity.

Answer 2

nonmonetary helping.

Question 3

When we help others in order to receive positive attention or gratitude, we are motivated by _______________, but when we help others because we identify with people in need, we are motivated by ________________.

A) reciprocity; social rewards
B) personal distress; empathic concern
C) sympathy; empathy
D) social rewards; empathic concern

Answer 3

social rewards; empathic concern

Question 4

Daniel Batson has argued that there are three main motives behind helping others.These motives include

A) reciprocity, kinship selection, and social rewards.
B) social rewards, personal distress, and empathic concern.
C) sympathy, reputational advantages, and reciprocity.
D) personal distress, sympathy, and empathic concern.

Question 5

Janet is sitting in the front of the bus when she hears someone cry out in pain from the back of the bus.Research suggests that she is more likely to help this person if she

A) has a cell phone.
B) is worried about an upcoming test.
C) has just read a story about altruism.
D) can see other passengers' facial expressions.

Question 6

The concept of altruism refers to

A) behavior that enhances the survival of one's own genes.
B) unselfish behavior that benefits others without regard to consequences for the self.
C) feelings of compassion toward a needy other.
D) an action intended to benefit both the self and someone else at the same time.

Question 7

Imagine that you witness a car plowing into a pedestrian.Research on bystander intervention suggests that you are most likely to offer help if there

A) is only one other eyewitness.
B) are two other eyewitnesses.
C) are six other eyewitnesses.
D) are eight other eyewitnesses.

Question 8

Stephen notices that Jenny is sitting by herself in the cafeteria, crying.Watching her cry makes Stephan feel upset, so he goes over to try to comfort her.Steven's behavior is motivated by Batson's ______________ motive for helping others.

A) affiliative.
B) personal distress.
C) empathic concern.
D) reciprocity.

Question 9

Stephanie Brown and her colleagues have conducted longitudinal research on volunteerism in elderly couples.What did they find about the connection between volunteerism and health?

A) People who received help from others were less likely to die over the course of the study.
B) People who gave more to others were less likely to die over the course of the study.
C) People who gave more to others were healthier throughout the study, but there was no connection with mortality rates.
D) People who received help from others were healthier than people who spent their time helping others.

Question 10

Recall that Kitty Genovese was brutally murdered in front of several eyewitnesses who did not intervene or call for help.According to social psychologists, this failure to assist Kitty was due to

A) the selfish nature of human beings.
B) a diffusion of responsibility.
C) inclusive fitness effects.
D) deficits in empathy.

Question 11

Recall that Latané and Darley (1968)made sure that smoke would filter into a room where participants were filling out a questionnaire.Results indicated that participants were most likely to report the smoke to the experimenter when they were in the room

A) with the experimenter.
B) alone.
C) with two calm confederates.
D) with two other study participants.

Question 12

Recall that Daniel Batson and his colleagues tried to demonstrate the existence of empathy-based motives.They found that

A) people were less likely to feel empathy toward a single person than toward a group of people.
B) most people volunteered to alleviate another person's pain when they felt high levels of their own experienced distress.
C) people only expressed empathy in response to people who were physically attractive.
D) people who felt more empathy were more likely to volunteer to alleviate another person's pain.

Question 13

Imagine your car breaks down on a street late at night.According to research on culture and altruism, you are more likely to receive help

A) on the U.S.West Coast than on the U.S.East Coast.
B) in a town with 60,000 residents than a town with 120,000 residents.
C) in an urban setting than in a rural setting.
D) in a town with 1,000 residents than a town with 5,000 residents.

Question 14

According to Daniel Batson's theory about the motives that produce altruistic action, only one motive is not selfish.That motive is

A) affiliative.
B) personal distress.
C) empathic concern.
D) reciprocity.

Question 15

According to Darley and Latané's research, the greater the number of individuals who witness a person in trouble, the

A) more likely it is that any one person will help the person in need.
B) more sympathy any one person will feel toward the person in need.
C) less likely it is that any one person will help the person in need.
D) the less sympathy any one person will feel toward the person in need.

Question 16

Imagine that you are sitting in class and smoke starts to filter into the room.but nobody else seems to be doing anything about it.According to research and theorizing by Latané and Darley (1968), you are

A) likely to report the smoke to the professor in order to appear smart and observant.
B) likely to construe the smoke as dangerous if there are many other students in the room.
C) unlikely to report the smoke to the professor because you suspect you are in a research study.
D) unlikely to report the smoke to the professor for fear of embarrassing yourself in front of the class.

Question 17

According to Darley, who studied factors affecting bystander intervention for more than a decade, there are some things you can do to improve your chances of getting help when you need it.Which of the following recommendations did Darley actually make?

A) Single out a specific person whom you ask for help.
B) Moan or groan loudly.
C) Do not explain your problem in great detail.
D) Remain quiet and still.

Question 18

Recall that Piliavin and Piliavin (1972)conducted an experiment in which a "victim" (actually a confederate)staggered across the aisle of a subway car.In one condition, the victim was bleeding.In another condition, he was not.Results showed that

A) the presence of blood neither increased nor decreased the victim's chances of receiving help.
B) the presence of blood increased the victim's chances of receiving help from men, but the presence of blood decreased the victim's chances of receiving help from women.
C) the victim was more likely to get help when he was bleeding.
D) the victim was less likely to get help when he was bleeding.

Question 19

The textbook describes a study conducted by Nancy Eisenberg and colleagues that examined if a distinct physiological signature exists that predicts whether a person will act altruistically.Participants watched a videotape of a woman and children who had been in an accident.The children were forced to miss school while they recovered in the hospital.While participants watched this tape, their facial expressions were recorded.Finally, participants were asked if they would be willing to help by taking homework to the injured children in the hospital.What did the results of this study suggest about predicting altruism through recording facial expressions?

A) There was no relationship between participants' facial expressions and their willingness to help.
B) Participants who showed a concerned gaze and a slowing of their heart rate were more willing to help.
C) Participants who showed a painful wince in the face and an increased heart rate were more willing to help.
D) Participants who frowned were more likely to help compared to those who smiled.

Question 20

The textbook describes research examining whether empathy can motivate altruism, even when the helping is anonymous.This study manipulated whether participants were feeling more or less empathic when evaluating another person, and asked participants if they would help the person in the future.In addition, some participants thought that both the experimenter and the person needing help knew their decision, but other participants thought that their responses were anonymous.The results showed that

A) when helping was made public, low-empathy participants helped just as much as high-empathy participants.
B) low-empathy participants helped more when helping was public, but high-empathy participants helped more when helping was anonymous.
C) high-empathy participants helped more than low-empathy participants, even when the helping was anonymous.
D) participants said they would help more when the helping was public, but they did not follow through on their promises.

Question 21

According to the textbook, what is the connection between social class and altruism?

A) People who are wealthy give a higher proportion of their income to charity.
B) People who are not wealthy give a higher proposition of their income to charity.
C) People who are wealthy give more to charity, as long as they live in rural areas.
D) People who are wealthy do not give more to charity, but they show higher levels of empathic concern for those in need.

Question 22

In the typical prisoner's dilemma game, which of the following strategies would bring you the best immediate outcome if you were a participant playing the game?

A) You and your partner cooperate.
B) Both you and your partner defect.
C) You defect, and your partner cooperates.
D) You cooperate, and your partner defects.

Question 23

____________ occurs when those who have observed an emergency help the victim of that emergency.

A) Reciprocal empathy
B) Eyewitness altruism
C) Bystander intervention
D) Diffusion of responsibility

Question 24

Researchers have offered three explanations for the rural-urban difference in helping rates.Which of the following is NOT one of those three explanations?

A) People who choose to live in cities are less empathic than people who live in rural areas.
B) People who live in cities experience stimulus overload and are less likely to notice others to may need help.
C) Urban areas are more diverse, and we are less likely to help people who are different from ourselves.
D) There are more people around in urban compared with rural areas, so there is more risk of diffusion of responsibility occurring.

Question 25

Recall that the textbook describes research that primed participants with either religious concepts or neutral words, and then asked them to give some money away to a stranger.Which of the following best describes the results of this research?

A) Participants who were experiencing more empathy gave more money away, regardless of the type of prime they were exposed to.
B) Participants chose to give more money away to a relative compared to a stranger.
C) Participants who were primed with religious concepts indicated they would give less money to a stranger than those primed with neutral words.
D) Participants who were primed with religious concepts indicated they would give more money to a stranger than those primed with neutral words.

Question 26

Sometimes eyewitnesses fail to help someone because (a)they are uncertain about what is happening; and (b)they assume that nothing is wrong because no one else seems to be alarmed.This phenomenon is called

A) pluralistic ignorance.
B) diffusion of responsibility.
C) a social responsibility violation.
D) social loafing.

Question 27

According to Darley and Batson's "Good Samaritan Study," seminary students

A) who listened to a sermon about the parable of the Good Samaritan were more likely to help a distressed man than seminary students who had listened to a speech about job opportunities.
B) were more likely to help a distressed man than were nonseminary students.
C) who thought they would be late to an appointment were less likely to help a distressed man than seminary students who thought they would arrive on time.
D) Both a and c are correct.

Question 28

Diffusion of responsibility entails

A) being unaware of cultural norms that promote helping behavior.
B) overestimating one's own responsibility for the welfare of others.
C) assuming that other people who are present during an emergency will provide help to a victim.
D) underestimating the harmfulness of a situation.

Question 29

The tendency to help others with the expectation that they will be likely to help in return at some other time is referred to as _____________________.

A) mutual helping.
B) the prisoner's dilemma.
C) reciprocal altruism.
D) kin selection.

Question 30

According to the evolutionary perspective, altruism

A) is a selfless act.
B) should occur only in response to the needs of genetically related relatives.
C) toward nonkin follows rules related to reciprocity.
D) is unrelated to gaining social rewards.

Question 31

You volunteer to participate in a game in which you are told that you and another participant, whom you will never meet but is playing nearby, must each make a decision: either to cooperate and benefit each of you, or to defect and benefit only yourself.Depending on how you and the other person choose, you stand to receive a certain amount of money.You are participating in the ____________________________ game.

A) cooperation
B) prisoner's dilemma
C) ultimatum
D) decision

Question 32

Which of the following does NOT support the concept of kin selection?

A) Friends jump into a river to save a drowning friend, but all of them die.
B) Across cultures, people are more willing to help closely related individuals than strangers.
C) A ground squirrel will put itself in danger to warn another genetically related squirrel of danger.
D) Identical twins cooperate more when working together than do fraternal twins.

Question 33

Evidence that humans and nonhuman animals have a highly developed capacity to recognize their relatives supports the idea of _____________________.

A) exclusive fitness.
B) mate preferences.
C) parental investment.
D) kin selection.

Question 34

Recall that the researcher Nancy Steblay reviewed 35 studies that compared helping rates in rural and urban environments.What did she find?

A) Women help more in urban areas, but men help more in rural areas.
B) People are more likely to receive help in rural areas than in urban areas.
C) People are more likely to receive help in urban areas than in rural areas.
D) People are more likely to help friends in urban areas, but more likely to help strangers in rural areas.

Question 35

Which of the following does the textbook mention as supporting the concept of reciprocal altruism?

A) Human mothers can recognize their new babies from photographs, even when they have had little contact with the baby.
B) Across cultures, people are more willing to help closely related individuals than strangers.
C) Chimpanzees will share food with other primates who share with them.
D) Identical twins cooperate more when working together compared to fraternal twins.

Question 36

Which of the following will NOT lead to a greater likelihood of being helped?

A) Crying out dramatically that you have been injured.
B) Singling out a specific person and asking them to help you.
C) Being in a group with your friends.
D) Staying calm so that you do not alarm passersby.

Question 37

The textbook describes the arms race between India and Pakistan.Each country must decide whether to keep building up its own arsenal, or to stop spending money on arms and try to reach peace with the other country.Both will benefit most if each stop building up armaments, but each country is worried that if it stops spending money on weapons, the other one will keep buying weapons and gain an advantage.This situation is a real-world example of the

A) reciprocal altruism principle.
B) prisoner's dilemma.
C) ultimatum game.
D) arms race.

Question 38

The textbook describes research by Kelley and Stahelski, who asked participants, before they played the prisoner's dilemma game, whether they thought competition or cooperation was the goal of the game.How did the participants' beliefs affect the outcomes of the game?

A) As long as one person wanted to cooperate, both players were likely to cooperate.
B) Competitors made everyone more competitive, even those initially inclined to cooperate.
C) Competitors assumed their partners wanted to cooperate, and played the game to take advantage of them.
D) Participants' goals did not influence how they played the game after the first few trials.

Question 39

The concept of ____________ refers to the tendency for natural section to favor behaviors that increase the chances of survival of genetic relatives.

A) exclusive fitness
B) mate preferences
C) parental investment
D) kin selection

Question 40

In many industrialized nations, strong social norms dictate efforts to behave in a cool, calm, and collected manner in public, especially during emergencies.Unfortunately, this norm can promote

A) reciprocal indifference.
B) altruism.
C) pluralistic ignorance.
D) bystander intervention.

Question 41

Volunteering more to help others is related to living longer and being in better health.

Question 42

When using the tit-for-tat strategy, you would defect during the first round of the prisoner's dilemma, and then mimic whatever decision your partner makes.

Question 43

The Good Samaritan study found that those who were thinking about the Good Samaritan parable were more likely to help someone in need.

Question 44

According to research presented in the textbook, students majoring in economics were more likely to _______________ when playing the prisoner's dilemma game, compared with students majoring in other disciplines.

A) defect
B) cooperate
C) quit
D) challenge

Question 45

Alex and Janet are playing the prisoner's dilemma game, and Janet has been told to use the tit-for-tat strategy.Alex begins the game by being competitive and defecting on the first round.According to the tit-for-tat strategy, what should Janet do?

A) Janet should respond to Alex by also being competitive and choosing to defect.
B) Janet should always do exactly what Alex does.
C) Janet should be cooperative on the first round, and then mimic Alex's choices.
D) Janet should begin by defecting, and then alternate between defecting and cooperating on each following round.

Question 46

The Machiguenga people of Peru collaborate little with others outside their family, whereas the Lamerala people of Indonesia collaborate extensively in fishing.Which group of people would we expect to give more money or resources to a stranger?

A) It depends on how they construe the situation.
B) The Lamerala would give more.
C) The Machiguenga would give more.
D) Both would give equal amounts.

Question 47

The most rational choice to maximize your own gains when playing the prisoner's dilemma is to defect.

Question 48

The concept of diffusion of responsibility describes the following phenomenon: knowing that others have seen an emergency, each individual is likely to assume that others will intervene, and thus each feels less responsibility for helping the victim.

Question 49

Axelrod contends that the success of the tit-for-tat strategy is due to five principles: the strategy is

A) cooperative, not envious, forgiving, not exploitable, and competitive.
B) trusting, not envious, forgiving, exploitable, and competitive.
C) cooperative, not envious, forgiving, not exploitable, and easy to read.
D) uncooperative, not envious, forgiving, not exploitable, and easy to read.

Question 50

People are less likely to experience pluralistic ignorance if they see other people looking scared or upset at the scene of an emergency.

Question 51

Research has shown that exposure to hostile words increases cooperation in people playing the prisoner's dilemma game.

Question 52

Which cultural factor best predicts an individual offering greater amounts of money to the responder in the ultimatum game?

A) Individuals from more competitive cultures offered more money to the responder.
B) Individuals from cultures where people need to collaborate with others to survive offered more money to the responder.
C) Individuals from cultures where people are more independent offered more money to the responder.
D) Individuals from cultures that are more altruistic offered more money to the responder.

Question 53

Daniel Batson's research indicates that empathy, but not personal distress, promotes altruistic behavior.

Question 54

The beliefs, evaluations, and impressions other people hold about an individual are referred to as their _____________________.

A) personal construal.
B) reputation.
C) self-schema.
D) interaction history.

Question 55

Lauren is participating in research involving the prisoner's dilemma, but she has been told it is called the Wall Street game.David is participating in the same experiment, but he has been told the game is called the cooperation game.How will these labels affect their decisions?

A) David will focus on maximizing his own profits, because men are more competitive.
B) David is more likely to be competitive in the first round of the game, whereas Lauren is more likely to cooperate.
C) The labels will not influence their decisions in the game.
D) Lauren is more likely to be competitive in the first round of the game, whereas David is more likely to cooperate.

Question 56

To ensure that you receive help in a public place, it is best for you to remain calm and not make a scene, so that you don't scare people away.

Question 57

Which of the following examples best demonstrates how situational factors can affect cooperation, as discussed in the textbook?

A) Jodi expects to compete with people playing the prisoner's dilemma game; because she is the most competitive, she is likely to win the game.
B) Steve expects to compete with people playing the prisoner's dilemma game but becomes more cooperative in the game if his partner is cooperative.
C) Mary thinks the prisoner's dilemma game is competitive but assumes everyone else thinks the game is cooperative.
D) Brian expects to compete with people playing the prisoner's dilemma game, and his competitiveness makes his partners more competitive.

Question 58

Neuberg (1988)primed some participants with hostile words and others with neutral words before the participants played the prisoner's dilemma game.How did exposure to the hostile words affect the actions of the participants?

A) Participants primed with hostile words were more likely to defect in the game.
B) Participants primed with hostile words were more likely to quit playing the game earlier than the neutral-primed participants.
C) Participants primed with hostile words were more likely to cooperate in the game.
D) Participants primed with hostile words began the game by defecting but then switched to cooperating if they were with a cooperative partner.

Question 59

According to the logic of the evolutionary perspective, altruistic behavior directed toward nonkin follows rules related to reciprocity.

Question 60

In the _______________ strategy for the prisoner's dilemma game, an individual cooperates in the first round, and in all later rounds mimics the other person's behavior.

A) competitive
B) cooperative
C) tit-for-tat
D) evolutionary