Prosocial Behaviour: Cognitive Theories of Altruism (DP IB Psychology)

Revision Note

Claire Neeson

Last updated

Empathy-altruism hypothesis

  • Psychological theories of altruism emphasise the cognitive and social processes involved in helping another person

  • Psychological theories are based on the idea that specific states of mind (e.g. empathy, egoism, negative mood) can influence the degree of help given to a person in need

  • The empathy-altruism hypothesis (EAH) was suggested by Batson (1981):

    • The EAH is based on the idea that acts of altruism are not necessarily motivated by a selfless desire to help someone in need

    • Batson proposed that egoistic motivation may underlie some acts of altruism:

      • in other words, help is provided not to alleviate the unpleasant, negative feelings that stem from seeing another’s pain 

      • help may also be given to derive praise or external reward rather than out of a genuine desire to help

  • Batson was interested in identifying the difference between:

    • prosocial behaviour based on empathy (true altruism)

    • prosocial behaviour based on egoism (motivated by self-serving needs)

  • Batson (1981) stated that:

    • egoistically motivated helping is directed toward the end goal of increasing the helper's own welfare; in contrast, a person's helping is altruistic (empathic) to the degree that he or she helps from a desire to reduce the distress or increase the benefit of the person in need’ (p.290)

Negative state relief model

  • The negative state relief model (NSRM) was proposed by Schaller & Cialdini (1988):

    • it considers the extent to which personal discomfort at the sight of another’s distress motivates altruistic acts (akin to egoistic helping in the EAH)

    • when someone witnesses another in need of help they experience a negative mood, for example:

      • sadness

      • guilt

      • anxiety

      • distress

      • discomfort

  • The NSRM assumes that if an individual feels empathy for someone in need then they are likely to experience sadness or guilt about it:

    • this negative mood may then prompt the individual to offer help in order to improve their own mood

    • the model is directed towards the egoistic motivation of making oneself feel better (‘self-rewarding’) rather than simply helping the person in need

  • According to the NSRM there are two ways to alleviate the unpleasant symptoms experienced when in the presence of someone in need: 

    • 1) walk away (out of sight, out of mind)

    • 2) stay and help (guilt disappears)

    • either of these decisions should then reduce or eliminate the negative state

Examiner Tip

These two psychological theories of altruism are similar so make sure that you don’t confuse them in the exam: the EAH includes the dimension of true altruism whereas the NSRM only really considers the dimension of egoistic helping.

Evaluation of psychological theories of altruism

Strengths

  • Psychological theories of altruism are less reductionist than biological theories:

    • They consider a range of factors which influence prosocial behaviour

    • They consider the individual in terms of the context of the help needed and their attitudes/motivations towards helping

  • Both theories acknowledge that prosocial behaviour is not a ‘knee-jerk’ response but is something that is likely to go through a process of decision-making and cost-benefit analysis

Limitations

  • Both the EAH and the NSRM rely on researchers being able to measure empathy and sadness respectively:

    • Each theory includes key variables that are highly subjective and open to interpretation

    • The key variables of empathy, egoism and negative mood are difficult to operationalise

    • These difficulties mean that research in this field tends to lack reliability

  • Neither theory adequately explains why someone may feel empathy towards someone in need and yet still not offer any help

Research which investigates psychological theories of altruism

  • Batson et al. (1981): EAH tested in lab conditions

  • Batson et al. (1989): NSRM tested in lab conditions

Batson et al. (1981)and Batson et al. (1989) are available as ‘Two Key Studies of Psychological Theories of Altruism’ – just navigate the Social Responsibility section to find them.

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Claire Neeson

Author: Claire Neeson

Expertise: Psychology Content Creator

Claire has been teaching for 34 years, in the UK and overseas. She has taught GCSE, A-level and IB Psychology which has been a lot of fun and extremely exhausting! Claire is now a freelance Psychology teacher and content creator, producing textbooks, revision notes and (hopefully) exciting and interactive teaching materials for use in the classroom and for exam prep. Her passion (apart from Psychology of course) is roller skating and when she is not working (or watching 'Coronation Street') she can be found busting some impressive moves on her local roller rink.