Find and example of altruistic behaviour in the media. Post a comment giving a brief outline of what happened (BLUE/COMPREHENSION), explain the behaviour using BOTH of the models (GREEN/APPLICATION) and then evaluate the model’s ability to explain the behaviour using the standard criticisms (RED/EVALUATION)
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Miss Duffin
One example of altruistic behaviour in the media is about a mother, baby and a lady. The mother and baby were in a shopping centre when all of a sudden the baby stop breathing, when the mother was screaming for help no one helped her except a woman who took control over the situation calmly, called 999 and followed their instructions and saved the baby.
The Empathy-Altruism model can explain the behaviour of the lady as if the lady has a child of her own, she would not like it happening to her child so why someone else’s. Therefore witnessing that someone is in need should motivate observers to meet the need.
The negative state relief model would explain this behaviour, this is because the lady might be feeling guilty that know one else in the shopping centre was helping the women and her child.
The negative state relief model is reductionist, this means that it brings the model down to one factor that guilt is the only reason for helping someone.
The empathy-altruism model has ecological validity; this means that the model is still valid today as this can be seen through the newspaper where I have obtained the article from.
Both models ignores individual differences, this means that it doesn’t take into account that not everyone is the same. In this situation if everybody thought the same lots of people would have come to help, whereas they walked off, this shows that the lady who helped has a different way of thinking than the rest of the people in the shopping centre.
Comment by Reshma — November 18, 2008 @ 10:35 am |
One example of altruism is Mary’s meals, which provides food and education for disadvantaged children in poor counties such as Malawi. Magnus MacFarlane Barrow established the charity which would provide sources such as basic education about HIV and aids and also provide nourishing meals. With the charity operating for six years the school registration have increased by 20-30%. The charity is now feeding 350 000 children In 13 countries.
This article relates to the empathy-altruism model as Mr Magnus has an emotional response to helping poor children in countries that cannot provide basic resources.
This also relates to the Negative state relief model as Mr Magnus may have a guilty feeling for these children when thinking about food wastage and unnecessary goods in the household.
One criticism of the empathy model is it ignores individual differences this means that all factors are not taken into consideration. For example if everyone thought like Mr Magnus then poverty wouldn’t exist because everyone would help out.
Another criticism of the negative model is that it is reductionist this means that everything is reduced down to one factor, in this situation Mr Magnus is not receiving rewards for the deed he is carrying out.
Comment by Hemisha — November 18, 2008 @ 10:54 am |
One experiment into altruism hasa found that that there is a part of the brain that makes a person to behave altruistically. Scientists in the US have found that a region in the brain makes a person behave in a selfless manner.
The study would be supported by the empathy altruism model because both relate all situations leading the person helping the person in need.
It also supports negative state model as people may feel that it is their right to help those in need which may have developed in the EEA as a survival measure to ensure the race.
The empathy altruism model ignores individual differences which is where it does not account for variation in behavior from different genders, ages and personalities. this is a problem beause some people may not have this part of the brain which makes them act altruistically and so it may not be fully valid.
The negative state model falls lacks ecological validity which is where it has not been replicated in other cultures. This is a problem because different cultures may react diiferently to certain pressures to help and so the model may not completely reliable until it is replicated
Comment by Kunal — November 18, 2008 @ 11:53 am |
An example of altruism behaviour in the media is where two men where stranded out at sea in a boat for three days and only survived on water and biscuits that they had onboard. They were saved by a man who sailed past them on a ship and rescued them by pulling them on board.
This example can relate to the empathy-altruism model as the man that rescued the men may have a past experience of being stranded out at sea himself and feel that he must resuce them as he knows how it felt.
This example can also relate to the negative state model as the rescuer may relise that if he saves the two men then they might reward him for saving thier lives.
The empathy- altruism model lacks indivdual differences because it does not always mean that if someone has suffered the same past experience then they will be willing to help someone else.
The negative state model is reductionist as it suggests that the only reason, someone is willing to help is because they will recieve a reward.
Comment by Yasmin — November 18, 2008 @ 11:53 am |
Recent findings by german researchers indicate that children as young as 18 months and chimps displayed characteristics of alruistic behaviour.
The experimenters performed simple tasks like dropping a clothes peg out of reach while hanging clothes on a line, or mis-stacking a pile of books. Nearly all of the toddlers and chimps in the experiment went to help the stranger if they believed it too be an accident.
The behaviour seen can explain both the Negative State Relief and Empathy models. The negative state relief model can be applied to these findings as when we see someone in need we help to as it reduces negative state, which is rewarding. Also the behaviour can be applied to the empathy model as it draws upon past experience, making the bystander more likely to help.
A criticism of this study is that it has ecological validity, this is because the theory applies not only to different ages but also across species, indicating that it is constant among higher intelligence primates. Also the study is determinist as the theory indicates that a major cause of atruistic behaviour is due to genes and the evolutionary past, over six million years ago.
Comment by Jamie Harria — November 18, 2008 @ 12:12 pm |
A simple case of altruism which is sometimes overlooked is giving blood so that people can receive blood transfusions and have a better chance at survival. An example of a life saved could be Beth who was just 17 months old when she was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer (Lymphoblastic Leukaemia) and survived from blood transfusions. One reason for giving blood could be that they can identify with a person in a similar situation if that person has needed blood before themself or for a family member who is seriously ill. The negative side of altruism could be that those who give blood could be to receive reward from others and recognition for committing the good deed and so feels that they should in order to be noticed.
A criticism of the negative model could be that it is determinist and leaves no room for interpretation and that someone may donate blood just to be rewarded afterwards.
Comment by Laura Edwards — November 18, 2008 @ 1:20 pm |
An alleged offender was tackled to the floor after grabbing an 18 month old baby. The member of the public then got the baby back to its’ mother.
This relates to the empathy – altruism model as the man rescuing the baby may have experienced this before, and didn’t want it to happen again. It also relates to the negative state model, as he may have thought that he would get a reward to getting the baby back to its’ mother.
A criticism of the negative state model is that it is reductionist. This means that it is reducing everthing down to one factor, and says that the only reason people will help others is because they think they will get a reward for this afterwards.
Comment by Jess Aires — November 18, 2008 @ 2:26 pm |
one example is when two men were recently attacked in the town centre, a member of the public saw this and bravely ran to help the two men, and was lucky enough not to get hurt.
This relates to the empathy altruism state as the man that ran to help may haver experienced this before and therefore wanted to help to make sure they didnt get too hurt, or the man may have known the people that were being attacked.
This relates to the negative state as the man that ran in to help may have thought he may have been rewarded for helping the people.
A critism of this could be that it ignores individual differences because not everyone is willing to help someone just because they know them or have experienced things like it before.
Comment by Jenny — November 18, 2008 @ 2:30 pm |
One example of altruistic behaviour is when a woman was in a car accident. The car was on fire and there was petrol leaking from the fuel tank. A man by standing ran up to the car and managed to drag the woman out to safety before the car exploded. The empathy altruism model can explain this because the man would not want to be in the same situation and he would like someone to help him if it ever happened to him. The negative state model can explain this also, because the man may be feeling guilty and that he had to help the woman because it would be on his conscious and relieve his guilt. This is egoistic.
The negative state relief model is reductionist, this means that it brings the model down to one factor that guilt is the only reason for helping someone.
The empathy altruism model ignores individual differences. This means that everybody is different and has different ways of thinking for example the man who pulled the woman out of the car has a different attitude and way of thinking than the other people who just watched and didn’t help.
Comment by Chelsea Hannan — November 19, 2008 @ 3:47 pm |
An air stewardess who stole up to £100,000 donated by her passengers to a children’s charity was yesterday given a suspended prison sentence and fined £13,000.
Gillian Paterson was described as ‘despicable’ by a judge and told she was lucky to escape jail.
The 36-year-old British Airways worker was in charge of collecting unwanted foreign currency from long-haul passengers to give to Unicef.
The Empathy-altruism model would explain this as the stewardess having the feelings of another and understanding their experience. This can cause personal distress or empathetic concern which leas to Altruism or Egoistic helping.
The negtive state relief model says she did a ”wrong doing” which leads to a feeling of guilt creating a negative state. This model gives her the opportunity to help or esape the situation.
This is not deterministic. This is when the individual has a choice and free will into their decision. This is good because the individual can think for themself and do what they think is right.
However, these theories ignore individual differences. This is when the study ignrores the fact that everyone is different. This is a problem because different people will choice to do different ideas within the situation. Some people may not take the money, some may hide it, some may give to the charity and tell nobody and some might give to the charity and tell someone hat happened.
Comment by Steph — November 25, 2008 @ 9:16 pm |