Chapter 14 Student Resources

Flashcards

Key Terms

Pro-social behaviour

behaviour that is positive (e.g., cooperative; affectionate) and that is designed to be of benefit to someone else.

Altruism

a form of pro-social behaviour that is generally costly to the altruistic person, and which is motivated by the desire to help someone else.

Empathy

the capacity to enter into another person’s feelings and more generally to understand that person’s perspective.

Inclusive fitness

the successful transmission of one’s genes directly via reproduction and indirectly by helping genetically-related individuals.

Kin selection

helping genetically-related relatives to enhance inclusive fitness.

Mutualistic collaboration

co-operation between two or more humans on a joint goal (e.g., survival) that is beneficial to all of them.

Reciprocal altruism

the notion that someone will show altruism in their behaviour toward someone else if they anticipate that person will respond altruistically.

Third-party punishment

punishing someone else who has treated a third party unfairly at some cost or sacrifice to yourself.

Bystander effect

the finding that individuals are less likely to assist a victim if other individuals are also present.

Diffusion of responsibility

the larger the number of bystanders who observe what happens to a victim, the less the sense of personal responsibility to help experienced by each one.