14.2 Interacting With Others: Helping, Hurting, and Conforming

Question 1

altruism

Answer 1

• any behavior that is designed to increase another person’s welfare, and particularly those actions that do not seem to provide a direct reward to the person who performs them

Question 2

reciprocal altruism

Answer 2

• the principle that, if we help other people now, those others will return the favor should we need their help in the future

Question 3

diffusion of responsibility

Answer 3

• when we assume that others will take action and therefore we do not take action ourselves

Question 4

aggression

Answer 4

• behavior that is intended to harm another individual

Question 5

catharsis

Answer 5

• the idea that observing or engaging in less harmful aggressive actions will reduce the tendency to aggress later in a more harmful way

Question 6

desensitization

Answer 6

• the tendency over time to show weaker emotional responses to emotional stimuli

Question 7

conformity

Answer 7

• a change in beliefs or behavior that occurs as the result of the presence of the other people around us

Question 8

obedience

Answer 8

• the tendency to conform to those in authority

Question 9

psychological reactance

Answer 9

• a strong emotional reaction that leads people to resist pressures to conform