Two Key Studies of Cognitive Theories of Altruism (DP IB Psychology)

Key study one: Batson et al. (1981)

Aim: To test altruistic versus egoistic helping as predicted by the empathy-altruism hypothesis

Participants: 44 female psychology students from the University of Kansas

Procedure:

• The participants were told that they would be working with another student, ‘Elaine’ in a study looking at how stress affects performance

  • Elaine was in fact a confederate who was working with the researchers

• The participants were told that they had been randomly allocated to the position of observer

• Elaine performed tasks (e.g. a test of memory) while the participants observed her over CCTV

• Elaine was given electric shocks at random intervals, which were described as ‘moderately uncomfortable’

• The independent variables were as follows:

  • Empathy: manipulated by giving them either very similar or very different questionnaire responses (supposedly filled in by Elaine) from their own:

    • participants in the similar condition believed that Elaine had filled in the questionnaire with responses almost identical to their own

    • participants in the dissimilar condition were not told anything about Elaine’s responses

  • Escape: 

    • the difficult escape condition consisted of participants being told that they had to stay and keep observing Elaine for the whole 10 trials

    • the easy escape condition involved the participants being able to leave after observing two trials

  • The participants were then given the chance to swap places with Elaine and to take the shocks in her place

Results: 

• The similar (high empathy) condition:

  • most participants agreed to swap places with Elaine, regardless of whether escape was easy or difficult 

• The dissimilar (low empathy) condition:

  • most participants opted to leave early in the easy escape condition without offering to take Elaine’s place

• Some participants in the low empathy group offered to take her place in the difficult escape condition

Conclusion: 

• There may be a difference between altruistic and egoistic helping:

  • in the high empathy condition it is more likely that help was given because Elaine appeared to be similar to the participants, and so help was offered even when escape was easy i.e. ‘She’s just like me’

  • the low empathy condition prompted more egoistic helping in the difficult escape condition 

  • the above finding suggests that it was the discomfort of having to observe Elaine being shocked that prompted the offers of help rather than empathic concern

Evaluation of Batson et al. (1981)

Strengths

• This is a well-designed experiment with four clear manipulations of the independent variable which increases reliability:

  • the use of quantitative data adds to the reliability of the research as the results are easy to compare and to analyse

  • the standardised procedure means that the study is replicable which means that the reliability of the findings can be checked for consistency

• The higher levels of helping from the high-empathy group and difficult escape condition in the low empathy group support the EAH which means that the study has face validity

Limitations

• The sample presents some issues:

  • the sample consisted of female-only participants who were on an introductory psychology course which makes generalising the results difficult due to gender bias

  • the use of this sample also sets up possible demand characteristics as, being psychology students, some of the participants may have guessed the true aim of the study and behaved in an self-conscious manner

• There are ethical concerns with the procedure:

  • the participants were deceived as to the true aim of the research

  • they may have suffered distress at having to observe someone receiving electric shocks

  • those participants who did not offer to take Elaine’s place may also have experienced guilt at their ‘selfish’ behaviour

Key study two: Batson et al. (1989)

Aim: To test the negative state-relief model of prosocial behaviour

Participants:

• 44 students (20 male; 24 female), 

• The participants were enrolled on an introductory psychology course at the University of Kansas

 Procedure:

• The participants were randomly allocated to one of two conditions of the independent variable: 

  • The depression of mood condition:

    • the participants were told that they would be watching a video that would cause them “moderate feelings of depression and sadness” 

  • the enhancement of mood condition:

    • the participants were told that they would be watching a video that would cause “strong feelings of happiness and pleasure” 

• The participants in the depression of mood condition were asked to recall for a few minutes an event from their past that made them feel sad

• The participants in the enhancement of mood condition were simply asked to explain everyday activities such as driving or performing household chores

• The researcher left the room and a female confederate entered and asked the participants if they would be willing to give some time to help make phone calls related to blood donation, requiring their involvement in this helpful task up to a total of 10 calls

 Results:

• There were more offers of help from participants in the sad mood condition than in the positive mood condition

Conclusion:

• The participants who had been induced to feel sad may have helped in a bid to female themselves feel better (self-reward)

• The above finding supports the NSRM:

  • the participants offered to make the phone calls for blood donors in a bid to self-reward from helping

Evaluation of Batson et al. (1989)

Strengths

• The use of naïve participants means that the validity of the results is strong:

  • the participants were not told that it was their offer (or not) of help that was being measured

  • this lack of awareness of the measure therefore reduces the possibility of demand characteristics.

• The use of random allocation to condition and a single blind design means that the research has a degree of objectivity that increases its reliability

Limitations

• Participant variables may have affected the validity of the findings: 

  • some people are simply more helpful than others

  • some of the participants may have reacted strongly or negatively to the female confederate for a range of reasons e.g. she reminded them of someone they knew

  • some people are phobic about blood and so would be unlikely to volunteer to talk about it on the phone to strangers

• This study only provides evidence of a single instance of altruism therefore it is not possible to state conclusively that the participants would be likely to behave in a similar way in other contexts, which means the study lacks external validity