Social Psychology Theories and Prosocial Behaviour

Social Psychology Theories and Prosocial Behaviour Using social psychology theories, discuss the situational factors that affect the likelihood that people will engage in prosocial behaviour. What is the evidence for these effects, and how might changes in our society affect the likelihood of people acting prosocially? Introduction Societies strive for more social cohesion and better integration of members in the community, to foster wellbeing; thus it is important to study ways of achieving better interpersonal relationships. Research indicates that some situational factors increase prosocial behaviour in society. According to Dovidio et al (2006) prosocial behaviour is influenced by biological, psychological, and environmental and social factors. â€Å"Prosocial behaviour is voluntary behaviour intended to benefit another. Thus, it includes behaviours such as helping, sharing, or providing comfort to another† (Roy F. Baumeister Kathleen D. Vohs, 2007, p.1). In addition, Roy F. Baumeister Kathleen D. Vohs (2007) argue that prosocial behaviour is important for the quality of close relationships and interactions with other individuals and groups. People in groups help each other more in time of need or distress, and societies need people to help each other in order to successfully have a healthy and pea ceful society. This essay would explain three social psychology theories; the need-to-belong theory, the self-categorization theory, and the sociometer theory. These theories would be discuss with research about situational factors that affect the likelihood of prosocial behaviour, and how societies could increase these probabilities. Social Psychology Theories Three psychology theories are examined in order to discuss the situational factors that affect the likelihood that people will engage in prosocial behaviour. According to Fiske (2012), these theories are linked with social core motives: these need-to-belong theory is linked to the social need to belong, and reflect the reasons why people want to be part of groups. Secondly, self-categorization theory is related to the social motive of understanding people’s motived for sharing social accounts. Thirdly, sociometer theory is associated with the social motive of self-enhancing where people assert themselves. Need to belong theory Baumeister (2012, 3) claims that humans’ minimum need for forming and maintaining social relationships drives human behaviour, emotion and cognition. The need to belong to groups makes people follow social norms and to act accordingly to social standards, in order to feel accepted and integrated into the community. Several studies observed that excluded people are more likely to engage in aggressive, non-cooperative, and disruptive behaviours. For example, excluded minorities result in less academic performance, more prone for violence and crime, and lack of engagement in prosocial activities (Baumeister, 2012, p.30). Also, Baumeister claims that the government has the duty to make more social connections because of the increasing individualism, decreasing social connections, and continuing small families and relationships. Therefore, the need to belong theory could suggest that people are more likely to act prosocially in order to feel included in the society. Self-categorization theory (SCT) Turner and Reynolds (2012, p.3) clarify that the self-categorization theory explains in what circumstances people perceive themselves as individuals and as members of groups, and its repercussions. Groups change people’s behaviours and attitudes in accordance to expected behaviours in order to maintain their membership in the group. The group impact on member’s attitudes and behaviour depends on the level of internalization of belonging to a group (Turner and Reynolds, 2012, p.15). The authors suggest that it is possible to change core people’s features by altering the norms, values and beliefs that delineate that particular group. They suggest to use social identities to foment cooperation within subgroups, and deeper integration to a group (Turner and Reynolds, 2012, p.24). Sociometer theory Sociometer theory claims that people’s actions are based in protecting and increasing their value in relation with others, therefore enhancing the probabilities of acceptance in society (Leary, 2012, p.3). It has been suggested that through evolution human begins have been able to survive because of living in supportive groups. Acceptance and affiliation of these members facilitated natural selection over those members who did not follow the norms nor values of the community, and who were rejected (Leary, 2012, p.12). People with low self-esteem also lower their value in relation with others, and this could lead to depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug problems, and other troublesome behaviours. (Leary, 2012, p.13). In addition, according to the sociometer theory, there are three problems related with dysfunctional behaviours. First, rejection creates negative feelings in people, and foster abnormal interpersonal behaviour, usually creating depression, anxiety, and hostility. Second, people normally strive higher relational value with desirable social means, but rejected people are more prone to be involved with deviant groups because their standards are lower. Third, people ineffectively accepted make distances and devalue themselves in relation with other individuals, and lower their self-esteem, increasing their probabilities to engage in problematic behaviour, such as drug abuse, and violence (Leary, 2012, pp.22-23). Situational Factors and Prosocial Behaviour There are many situational factors that affect how people act prosocially. For example, people are more likely to engage prosocially if the cost of helping is low, if the person is attractive, if there is no one else who could aid, if they are in a good mood, and if they have been exposed to prosocial models (Roy F. Baumeister Kathleen D. Vohs, 2007, p.2). In addition, personality also plays a role; for example, shy people are more likely to help others in a situation where they won’t be exposed. (Roy F. Baumeister Kathleen D. Vohs, 2007, p.3). Furthermore, Firske (2001) claims that the presence of bystanders can interfere with prosocial behaviour in a negative way. Regarding the need to belong theory, people who have been exposed to prosocial models reflect the importance of following societal norms in order to feel included. Secondly, SCT says that they can change people’s attitudes and beliefs if it is changed in their group; therefore, based on the situational factors mentioned above, people can be taught about the bystander effect to diminish its effect, and to encourage helping others disregarding their mood, appearance of the victim, and the cost-calculation. This would foster a more harmonious society, where people help each other with less trivial impediments. Finally, the sociometer theory would suggest that people would engage more in prosocial activities if they are included in society, and feel valued in regards to others. Prosocial Behaviour According to Dovidio et al (2006) prosocial behaviour is influenced by biological, psychological, and environmental and social factors. Biological: Trivers (1971) introduced â€Å"reciprocal altruism†, where people are more likely to help others because of the probabilities of receiving their help, thus increasing their survival opportunities. For instance: identical twins (sharing 100% genes) are more likely to help each other than fraternal twins (share 50% of genes) (Roy F. Baumeister Kathleen D. Vohs, 2007, p.3). According to the need-to-belong theory, reciprocal altruism could be a societal norm in the community, therefore people would engage in this behaviour to feel accepted. SCT would suggest that reciprocal altruism could be internalized in new groups in order to foster prosocial behaviour. The sociometer theory would claim that reciprocal altruism contributes to the acceptance of the group, therefore member would help more others. Social learning and cultural influences: from childhood people are taught social norms, such as the norm of reciprocity and the norm of social responsibility (De Cremer van Lange, 2001). Several parenting skills of providing support, prosocial values, and behaviours of helping others tend to foster prosocial behaviours in children (Krevans Gibbs, 1996). Limitation: cross-cultural variations in helping. Some evidence are: Robert Hampson (1984) claims that status in the peer group is associated with the level of group acceptance and type of prosocial behaviour. In addition, Francesca Gino and Sreedhari Desai (2012) argue that childhood memories produce moral purity, which elicits to greater prosocial behaviour. Furthermore, Authoritative parents’ models are linked with teaching prosocial behaviour to their children (Roy F. Baumeister Kathleen D. Vohs, 2007, p.3) According to the need-to-belong theory, parents would teach social norms and skills of prosocial behaviour in order to feel part of the community. Secondly. SCT suggests that these norms can be internalized to groups and subgroups in order to increase social cohesion, and prosocial behaviour. Finally, sociometer theory would claim that parents teach these social values in order to increase the relational value of their children compared with others who do not help. Empathy and Altruism: both empathy and altruism could stimulate prosocial behaviours (Batson, 2006). Some evidence is: firstly, some argue that prosocial behaviour is always based on selfish reasons. For example, people help to enhance their mood or to avoid negative feelings. (Eisenberg, 2007). Secondly, Batson et al. (2007) concluded that empathy produces altruistic motivation to help others and is independent of egoistic motivation. Thirdly, Findlay et al. (2006) claim that more empathic children are link to greater prosocial behaviour. Fourthly, Simpson Willer (2008) argues that prosocial behaviour happens even when there are not reputational incentives. Finally, Nancy Eisenberg et al. (1989) argue that sympathy partially facilitates prosocial dispositions in early stages and it is consistent overtime. According to the need-to-belong theory empathy and altruism could be practiced in order to feel part of society. SCT would suggest that altruism and empathy could be internalized in the values of groups, and increase prosocial behaviour. Finally, the sociometer theory would claim that empathy and altruism would be use to increase member’s relational value to others, and to be more accepted in society; therefore people would practice them more if they were more suggested to society. Conclusion The need-to-belong theory, the self-categorization theory and the sociometer theory explain the psychology behind why people act prosocially, which is mainly based on being part and influence by a group, and feeling accepted and integrated. These social psychology theories could be applied in prosocial behaviour research, including biological, social learning and cultural influences, empathy and altruism, and situational factors. These studies suggest that several factors, such as parenting, socialization, level of empathy, altruism, mood of people, among others, play an important role in internalizing prosocial values in society. There are high probabilities of increasing the probabilities of prosocial behaviour with teaching people their importance for belonging into the community.

The purpose for the establishment of the ALSTOM

The ALSTOM Power Service was established in 1999 after the merger of the company with ABB. It was started as an independent unit which was expected to run the service business of the ALSTOM group, which is base in Paris.The purpose for the establishment of the ALSTOM power service was to develop and market the company's service activities for the already installed power generation capacity. The ALSTOM power service was meant to provide a solution for the market demand to service the business within the industry.The main aim for the segment was to provide service to the existing plants in order to prolong their service other than installing new plants in the process of   optimizing maintenance and enhancing plant efficiency, and this accounted for about 35% of the demand of the power industry.The ALSTOM started as a segment of the ALSTOM group which was intended to provide service to the industry and it did this by combining the existing company distributed service departments and d edicated distinct resources and its management towards developing   as a service business, however it was not autonomous until 2003 when it was guaranteed its autonomy. The segment started with a labour force of more than 10000 employees worldwide in various local units of which all were inherited from the ALSTOM group.  Question one: Critical analysis of the industryALSTOM power service operate in the power industry where its provide service to the power industry. The business of ALSTOM power service heavily depend on the operations of the manufacturing company in the industry and in this case they are expected to orient themselves of how the plants which have been installed by the manufacturers perform their functions in order to provide the service of supplying parts and also doing the repair in prolonging the service of the plants. It should get updated on a day to day technological changes that happens in the mother plant manufactures so as to stay relevant in the marketQue stion Two: The leadership, organisational structure and cultural issues in ALSTOM power service i) Leadership issues.The leadership of the company was based on promotions where an individual was to work at a lower post, and later promoted to higher ranks after the mastery of the company's operations and the requirement of the industry.Walter Granicher was given the responsibility to lead the company based on the ground that he had worked within the industry since 1976 till 1999 when he was given the leadership of the ALSTOM power service. This is a good strategy for ensuring efficiency because decisions making will be made by persons with a more understanding of the industry requirements and also with the understanding of the organisation's culture (Hatch, 2006).This kind of leadership can however be perceived as the most   appropriate in maintaining the company's culture but it is limited to the reason that the company's culture might not be the best, thus it will be locking the company to new cultures which could have otherwise been introduced   into the company if the company could have taken a leader from outside the company in the process of encouraging diversity of culture.The decision making of the segment was not done solely done by one person, that is Walter but rather in conjunction with other managers working in specialized divisions within the segment.This scenario enabled effective decision making because each and every manager had a role to play in the making of a joint decision where Walter can be perceived as the coordinator of all the decision that were made within the   segment (Mullins 2005).This is no like in the situation where decision making is done one leader in the organisation with inadequate information about the operation of each division in the segment. The single minded decision making exposes an organisation to the risk of making a wrong decision which might cripple the organisation's performance than when the decision is m ade jointly by involving a wide range of participants with varied experiences.

Autobiography †original writing Essay

I had five months to sort out my work experience placement and thought that I had more than enough time in which to do so. Before long, however, I was called to Mr Williams’s office, the man in charge of finalising the work experience. I had just found out that I had overnight to get a placement somewhere, otherwise I’ll be stuck in school with year 9 for the week. My ideal placement would be something to do with sports because that’s my favourite subject in school but I knew I couldn’t find somewhere and get a reply all in one night. The only placement I knew I could go without having to wait for a reply was with my mother! My mother works at Cardiff University in the Biochemistry Unit. I’m still not sure exactly what she does, but I think it’s something along the lines of teaching and researching into cells. Before I knew it work experience had almost arrived. It was very tense around the house; I suppose I was excited because I didn’t have a clue what I was going to be doing and also a little scared for the same reason. The first morning was pretty easy because I had no dress code, and as my mother is her own boss, I had no strict hours either. Also I didn’t have to be polite around my mother, so I could just be my self. I was sort of expecting it to be boring working with my mother but nothing could prepare me for what I did on my first day. My first chore of the day was to fill, empty, sterilise and prepare bottles for other people. This wasn’t very challenging, so I got bored quickly. In the afternoon my mum noticed I was bored, so let me do the jobs she hates. Firstly, she made me sort out the bookshelves in her office. This included sorting out a 6ft long shelf full of catalogues, into alphabetical order and to date. The earliest being from 1992. After finishing that, she put my keyboard skills to good use by making me type out the register on the computer for four of her classes. At the end of my first day I was disappointed for not having had a fun day. I also felt worried in case my whole week would be this boring. The second day was a little bit more challenging. In the morning I had to draw pictures on a computer for my mother’s poster. This was irritating because nothing was perfect enough for her. She kept on making me change the smallest details, and I realised that day that she was the fussiest person I knew, but the finished product managed to satisfy her. In the afternoon I worked with my mother’s friend, Mike Turner, who works in the Electro Microscopy Unit in the university. This is where they take pictures with really big powerful microscopes. At first I was quite shy because I’ve never met him before. I suppose I was expecting him to be a shy brainy man that wouldn’t really talk to me. On the contrary, he would not stop talking and make jokes. I felt like I could talk to him easy and that made me feel comfortable beeing there. He sat me down by one of the microscopes and made me look at bugs and flowers through it. This was different and I enjoyed it more than my mother’s office, although it got boring after a while sitting in front of a screen just looking at bugs. On the third day, I met another of my mother’s friends, Guy Pitt. He is a photographer and developer in the university. I wasn’t that nervous because my older sister did the same for her work experience and told me he was the best man to work with, and he was by far the best person who looked after me that week because he thought about what I might like to do. He gave me an expensive camera and sent me around town to take photos of anything. I took pictures of Cardiff Castle and animals like birds and squirrels. In the afternoon I met Mike Turner again and took pictures of cells with his microscope camera. Although he was enthusiastic about the cells I didn’t find them that interesting and just pretended to like the pictures I took. The fourth day was the best day of the week. I was in Guy’s hands for the day. I met him in the morning and he gave me the camera with a new film and sent me to town again and told me to return at two o’clock. In town I met a lot of my friends and went shopping and took pictures of a burnt building that was in ruins. When I returned we changed the films into negatives in the dark room by using all sorts of chemicals, and let them dry for Friday. On Friday, Guy and I changed the negatives into real pictures. He was very impressed with the pictures I took of the burnt building and asked if he could keep some. This made me feel good of my self and made me consider a career in photography, maybe sport photography. We finished by eleven o’clock so he gave me the afternoon off and I went home. I enjoyed the experience despite having doubts about it at the beginning of the week. The best part of the week was working with Guy, he really made me think about my career.

Case Assignment Royal Caribbean Essay - 2485 Words

a. Describe Royal Caribbean’s business. How important are international operations for the company? At the end of the 1960’s, Wilhelmsen and Stephan came up with the profitable idea that the wealthy residents of Florida will consider paying top dollar amounts to cruise to the Caribbean Islands as a great alternative for a week or weekend getaway. After proposing this idea to Norwegian entrepreneurs, Royal Caribbean Cruise lines, was born. Forty five years and forty ships later, based out of Miami Florida, Royal Caribbean is the second largest cruise line in the world, behind frontrunner Carnival. RCCL operates its ships under the brand names Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur, Azamara Cruises, and Croisià ¨res†¦show more content†¦Quantum of the Seas will be deployed to Asia, currently considered the emerging market with the highest potential for cruising revenue. The global cruise industry continues to be the fastest growing travel sector in the world with strong consumer attention and substantial cruise line investment in a diversity of mind-blowing ships that travel to the most exotic locations in the world and offer exceptional vacation experiences. b. Discuss the main opportunities and risks faced by Royal Caribbean due to its global nature. Some of the opportunities from global perspectives would be vertical growth, such as constant improvement, close financial monitoring, reducing costs, differentiating, or horizontal growth as territorial expansion, occupying new potential niches. Product differentiation is one of the main strategies in order to face some of the risks; however, Royal Caribbean, as well as, Carnival Corporation and Norwegian Cruises are the most visible players in this industry. It is not easy to differentiate with their huge size, economies of scale. The industry is very lucrative, has high profit margins; hence, the level of risk is extremely high as well. Some of the risks Royal Caribbean face could be anything from tax laws and regulations, economic issues, geo-political uncertainties, terrorist activities, armed conflicts, pirates, oil spills, and even unavailability of air service and other conditions, like unusual weather, or more serious naturalShow MoreRelatedEssay on Caribbean Society1353 Words   |  6 PagesCaribbean Society An Essay on the Culture of Incarceration A suggestion was made, in the context of the classroom setting that an interesting assignment would be to question shoppers at a suburban mall about slavery in the Caribbean and to capture the responses on videotape. An initial thought in response to this suggestion was to wonder just how one would go about eliciting any sort of meaningful response from a likely ill-informed and possibly disinterested group of consumers in centralRead MoreSocial Disorganization839 Words   |  4 PagesUNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTHERN CARIBBEAN MARACAS ROYAL ROAD, MARACAS, ST. JOSEPH Social Disorganization An assignment Presented in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Course SOCI 325 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY INSTRUCTOR: Mr.Lloyd Johnson By Tekeisha Charles 9th February 2016 Approval............................ Question 1 Why is the social disorganization theory for the most part, relegated to specific areas in the society? Social disorganization is defined asRead MoreSocial Work Code Of Ethics2359 Words   |  10 Pagesestimate of 679,000 children as victims of child abuse and neglect in America. In addition to this problem, but more specific to the Caribbean Island of St. Lucia, a research conducted by the Immigration Law Practitioners Association (ILPA), recorded a total of 725 cases of child abuse over the course of three years; 232 cases in 2009, 239 cases in 2010 and 254 cases in 2011. Clearly, child abuse is a growing problem in St. Lucia, and as a result, the narrator has taken interest in this topic. Read MoreMy First Year At The Centene Talent Acquisition Transformation Project1620 Words   |  7 Pagesuse in sales presentations. Additionally, I’ve been learning recent wins in the West by attending webcasts, such as the PAS Digital Transformation win at Royal Caribbean. b. I helped a few leaders develop sales leads and actively involved in several proposal sprints. For example, I assisted the Blue Origin RFP team with the Org Assessment and Case Studies decks, made creative demo videos for Mattel, helped improve the pitch deck for Slalom consulting, built the Starbucks and 10k Refugee Hires pitchRead MoreSpanish 1: High School Course Notes3074 Words   |  13 Pagesvariation 6.1 Phonology 6.2 Grammar 6.2.1 Voseo 6.2.2 Ustedes 6.2.3 Usted 6.2.4 Third-person object pronouns 6.3 Vocabulary 7 Relation to other languages 7.1 Vocabulary comparison 7.2 Judaeo-Spanish 8 Writing system 9 Organizations 9.1 Royal Spanish Academy 9.2 Association of Spanish Language Academies 9.3 Instituto Cervantes 9.4 Official use by international organizations 10 See also 11 References 12 Bibliography 13 Further reading 14 External links Names of the language MainRead MoreThe History of Social Work in the Caribbean3239 Words   |  13 Pagesas the establishment of the Elizabethan poor laws, the emancipation of slavery and the social unrest which resulted in the 1937 riots, played a momentous role in the development of social work and social welfare. This was evident throughout the Caribbean since they share a common colonial history for a number of years, according to John Maxwell. For the purpose of this essay, specific focus will be on two of its English speaking countries namely Barbados and Guyana. Compton and Gallaway (1990) definedRead MoreEssay about The Roanoke Colony3826 Words   |  16 PagesRoanoke Island, in Dare County. This is where North Carolina is located today. In 1584, explorers Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe were the first Europeans to set view the island. They were sent to that particular region by Sir Walter Raleigh with the assignment of exploring the extensive sounds and estuaries in hunt of an ideal location for settlement. Barlowe wrote bright information of Roanoke Island, and when the explorers returned to England a year afterward with two Natives, Manteo and Wanchese, allRead MoreLabor Relations Research Paper2081 Words   |  9 PagesMG420 DL Labor Relations Research Assignment (Arthur Crump) (September 27, 2009) Professor Stroud    1. Define and discuss the term â€Å"collective bargaining.† Include and discuss [showing relevance or applicability] a current web-based news item/magazine article about a real life example of a collective bargaining action. Write a succinct and complete summary on the contents of the article you ve provided along with your critical comments about that article. Support your findings with referencedRead MoreProj587 Course Project rough draft b Essay7672 Words   |  31 PagesCriteria 8 Program Management Plan 10 Change Management Plan 14 Bibliography 17 Executive Summary Carnival is â€Å"The World’s Most Popular Cruise Line† with 24 â€Å"Fun Ships† operating voyages ranging from three to 16 days in length to the Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, New England, Europe, and Bermuda. Carnival’s success is attributed to its marketing program directed towards pretty much all types of travellers (Young, middle age, seniors, first time and seasoned cruisers)Read MoreMy Phone Thesis16066 Words   |  65 Pagessixth spot as one of the top twenty countries with the highest per capita cell phone use. Anguilla is the most northern of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It also has garnered 95 percent literacy on English. It is good for tourist destinations since it’s the only island in the Caribbean which tourists can feel at ease when it comes to language. The positioning statement is â€Å"For those who want a more â€Å"customized† look, My|Phone is a P hilippine mobile phone brand