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Presentation: Origins of prosocial

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  • Presentation: Origins of prosocial

The following presentation supports the study of the origins of prosocial behaviour.

You are not expected to learn all of the material in this presentation.  When using this study for revision, remember to:

  • Focus on key concepts
  • Learn 2 - 3 studies that you feel you understand.  You may also, instead, learn studies from the textbook or from your teacher.
  • Focus on key evaluation points
Evaluating research on the origins of prosocial behaviour
  • Altruism is a fascinating aspect of human behaviour, but putting one's life at risk to help others is not common and therefore sample sizes are low. In addition, many of these stories are of singular individuals. This raises the problem that it is difficult to generalize the findings.
  • Much of the research on naturally occurring altruism is anecdotal in nature. There was no control over the situation and often the actual details are not well or accurately described. Descriptions of "what were you thinking" are retrospective in nature and open to both memory distortion and demand characteristics.
  • Animal models may not be valid for human behaviour. Human behaviour is obviously influenced by culture and is often the product of conscious beliefs and desires.
  • There are problems with construct validity. Biological altruism is defined in terms of fitness consequences, not motivating intentions. If by ‘real’ altruism we mean altruism done with the conscious intention to help, then it is pretty much impossible to determine the intention at the time of helping in human beings, let alone in animals.
  • Experimental research is problematic. The studies are often artificial.  When they are very realistic, then there is the problem that they may pose ethical problems of undue stress or harm.

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