Module 38: Prosocial Relations

© 2013 Worth Publishers

Ways that we all can get along

Attraction

Conflicts, Peacemaking

Altruism

What factors make two people feel attraction,

wanting to be together?

Social RelationsUnderstanding Attraction

Proximity/Exposure and Attraction Encounters once depended on proximity, working or living near

the other person, but the key factor here is exposure. The Mere Exposure Effect: Merely seeing someone’s face and

name makes them more likeable. Your are more likely to develop attraction to someone you’ve seen a lot.

This effect probably helped our ancestors survive: What was familiar was more trustworthy, safe.

In the modern age, thanks to mirrors and photos, the face we are most familiar with is our own; so we are now attracted to people that look like us.

Implications

Study: Voters preferred a candidate whose picture incorporated the voter’s features.

Physical Attractiveness

Once proximity affords contact, the next most important thing in attraction is physical appearance.

People who are rated as physically attractive:

1. Become the objects of emotional attraction.2. Are seen as healthy, happy, successfully, and socially skilled...3. However,4. Are not any happier than the average person, 5. Do not have higher self-esteem, in fact mistrust praise as

being about their looks.

Who is rated as physically attractive?

Standards vary from culture to culture and from time to time. However, some aspects do cross place and time (suggesting

evolutionary influence): Men seek apparent youth and fertility Women seek maturity, masculinity, affluence

Also attractive: Nice people, and loved ones.

Birds of a feather flock together? Opposites attract? We already have seen: We like those who share our features. We also enjoy being around people who have similar attitudes,

beliefs, humor, interests, intelligence, age, education, and income. We like those who have similar feelings, especially if they like us

back.

Similarity and Attraction

Once again, what factors make two

people feel attraction, wanting to be

together?

ProximityPhysical attractiveness

similarity

Social RelationsUnderstanding Attraction

Often starts with attraction,

or friendship

Then often has a phase of

Passionate Love

Grows into Compassionate

Love

Made closer by Equity and Self-

Disclosure

Held together by

positive interaction,

support

Romantic Love

Passionate Love A state of strong

attraction, interest, excitement, felt so

strongly that people are absorbed in each other

Two-factor theory of emotion

1.Physical arousal plus cognitive appraisal2.Arousal from any source can enhance one emotion or another, depending upon how we interpret or label the arousal

Misattribution for the causes of arousal

• The “Rickety Bridge” experiment• Painful shocks, running on treadmill

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A deep, affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined.

Keys to a Lasting Love Relationship Equity: Both giving and receiving, sharing responsibilities, with

a sense of partnership Self-Disclosure: Sharing self in conversation increases intimacy Positive Interactions and Support: Offering sympathy, concern,

laughs, hugs

Altruism

Unselfish regard for the welfare of other people;

Helping and protecting others without need for personal gain,

doing it because it is the right thing to do, often despite personal risk

or sacrifice.

Altruism became an important focus of social psychology after the Kitty

Genovese incident in Queens, NY in 1964.

Social Relations: Altruism/HelpingBystander InterventionWhen there is someone apparently suffering or otherwise in need of help, how do people make a decision to help?

Attention: Appraisal: Social Role: Taking Action:

Social Relations: Altruism/HelpingBystander Action: Social factors

Why are there sometimes crowds of people near a suffering person and no one is helping? Because of the Bystander Effect:

Fewer people help when others are available.

Why does the presence of others reduce the likelihood that any one person will help?1. Because of diffusion of

responsibility: The role of helper does not fall just on one person.

2. People in a crowd follow the example of others; which means everyone waiting for someone else to help first.

3. After a while, people rationalize inaction: “if no one is helping, they must know he’s dangerous or faking it.”

Social Relations: Altruism/HelpingOther factors promoting helping

Bystanders are most likely to help when: The person we might help:

appears to be in need, deserving of assistance. is a woman, and/or is similar to us in some way. is in a small town or rural area.

Meanwhile, upon encountering this person: We are feeling some guilt, and/or just saw

someone else trying to help. We are not in a hurry, and/or not preoccupied. Strongest predictor: We are in a good mood.

http://youtu.be/z4S1LLrSzVE

Norms/Processes

Influencing Helping

Social Exchange: We help if it brings more

benefit (social approval, reduced

guilt) than cost (risk,

inconvenience).

Reciprocity: We help those who

have helped us... Although someone

must go first.

Social responsibility: Others depend

on us to help, to go first; it’s the

right thing to do.

Conflict and PeacemakingConflict: A perceived incompatibility in goals, ideas, and actions between people or groups.

The elements of conflict are the same at all levels. People become deeply involved in potentially destructive social processes that have undesirable effects.

Social Traps: Situations in which pursuing self-interest makes things worse for everyone: e.g. an arms race, or overfishing [Flip side: these are situations in which cooperation pays off.]

Social Relations: Conflict and PeacemakingSocial Traps:

Social Trap: The Cheater’s GameRules:

If you both choose A (“compromise”), you both win a little; If just one chooses B (“cheat”), that person wins a lot; if both choose B, no one wins anything.

Challenge: Trying to arrange to cooperate.

Mirror Image Perceptions of an Enemy

People in conflict form diabolical images of one another.

These distorted images are ironically similar, so similar in fact that we call

them mirror - image perceptions.

Does it help to put two conflicting parties in close contact? It depends.

If the contact is noncompetitive and between parties of equal status, it usually

helps.

However, mere contact is not always enough.

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Contact

How can we transform feelings of prejudice, aggression, and conflict into attitudes that promote peace?

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If given superordinate goals, shared goals that override differences among people and require their

cooperation, can help people overcome conflict.

Likewise, a shared predicament, such as a fearful situation, can help conflicting parties to work together.

When real life conflicts become intense, a third-party mediator may facilitate much-needed communication.

http://youtu.be/6QGNxRGgBwM

Cooperation and Communication

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When understanding and cooperation are most needed, they are also least likely.

Charles Osgood advocated Graduated & Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction

(GRIT): This is a strategy designed to decrease international tensions. One side recognizes mutual interests and initiates a

small conciliatory act that opens the door for reciprocation by the other party.

Conciliation

Peacemaking: The 4 C’s Contact: exposure and

interaction familiarity acceptance connection

Cooperation: finding shared goals (superordinate goals), not just focusing on the incompatible goals

Communication: sometimes with mediators

Conciliation: Gestures that reduce tension by showing intension to build alliances rather than winning conflicts. Smile. Apologize.