Definitions

Altruism – A motivational state with the ultimate goal of increasing another’s welfare.

Bystander Effect – Phenomenon in which someone is less likely to intervene in an emergency situation when others are present than when he or she is alone.

Conformity – The process by which people’s beliefs or behaviors are influenced by others. People can be influenced via subtle or even unconscious processes or by direct and overt peer pressure. It is a group behavior – factors such as group size, unanimity, cohesion, status, prior commitment and public opinion all help to determine the level of conformity an individual will reflect toward his group.

• Informational Conformity – When one turns to one’s own group to obtain accurate information.
• Normative Conformity – When one conforms to be liked or accepted by the members of the group.

Diffusion of Responsibility – Phenomenon whereby each bystander’s sense of responsibility to help decreases as the number of witnesses increases.

Discrimination – Differential treatment based on unfair categorization. It is a denial of fairness prompted by prejudice.

Empathy – The ability to experience events/ emotions the way another person experiences them.

Group Think – A type of thought exhibited by group members who try to minimize conflict and reach consensus without critically testing, analyzing and evaluating ideas.

Norm of Reciprocity – Helping others will increase the likelihood that they will help us in the future.

Perspective Taking – Reflects a tendency to use one’s existing role-taking capacities in order to entertain the psychological point of view of another person.

Pluralistic Ignorance – Phenomenon whereby bystanders assume that nothing is wrong in an emergency because no one else looks concerned. This greatly interferes with the interpretation of the event as a problem/emergency and therefore reduces helping.

Prejudice –  An attitude, opinion or feeling without adequate prior knowledge, thought or reason.

Prosocial Behavior – Any act performed with the goal of benefiting another person.

Social Norms Theory – Individuals incorrectly perceive the attitudes and/or behaviors of peer and other community members.

Spiral of Silence – A theory that asserts a person is less likely to voice an opinion if one feels that one is in the minority for fear of reprisal or isolation from the majority.

Stereotype – An oversimplified generalization about a person or a group of people without regard for individual differences.

Value Based Decisions – where the total value of the chosen behavior is more than the alternative choice.