What makes people help others, and what makes people behave aggressively or fail to help?
Explain the factors that influence prosocial behaviour and the factors that influence antisocial behaviour and aggression, using studies such as Bandura's and the bystander research
A focused answer to the QCE Psychology Unit 4 dot point on prosocial and antisocial behaviour. Explains the situational and personal factors behind helping (reciprocity, social responsibility, empathy, mood), the bystander effect and diffusion of responsibility, and the influences on aggression including Bandura's social learning study.
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What this dot point is asking
QCAA wants you to explain both sides of social behaviour: what leads people to help others (prosocial behaviour) and what leads people to harm others or fail to help (antisocial behaviour and aggression). You need named factors for each, the bystander effect with its mechanisms, and named studies, including Bandura's work on learned aggression. The goal is to show that both helping and harming are shaped by situational and personal factors.
The answer
Prosocial and antisocial behaviour are two ends of how we treat others. Both are powerfully shaped by the social situation and by individual characteristics, which is why ordinary people can be remarkably helpful in one context and unhelpful or aggressive in another.
Prosocial behaviour and what increases it
Prosocial behaviour is any voluntary action intended to help or benefit another person. Altruism is a subset: helping with no expectation of reward. Several factors increase helping.
- Social factors. The reciprocity principle (we help those who have helped us, or expect future return) and the social responsibility norm (the expectation that we should help those who depend on us) both encourage helping.
- Personal factors. Empathy (feeling another's distress) is a strong driver, along with a positive mood (the good-mood effect), competence (believing you can help effectively), and a stable disposition toward altruism.
The bystander effect and what reduces helping
The bystander effect is the finding that the more people present, the less likely any individual is to help. Bibb Latane and John Darley investigated this after the murder of Kitty Genovese. Their studies (such as the staged seizure experiment) showed helping dropped as group size rose. They identified the mechanisms.
- Diffusion of responsibility. Each bystander assumes someone else will act, so personal responsibility is shared and diluted.
- Audience inhibition (evaluation apprehension). People fear being judged for intervening wrongly, so they hold back.
- Pluralistic ignorance. People look to others to judge whether it is an emergency; if everyone appears calm, each concludes there is no problem.
Latane and Darley described a five-step decision model: notice the event, interpret it as an emergency, assume responsibility, decide how to help, then act. Failure at any step stops helping.
Antisocial behaviour and aggression
Antisocial behaviour includes actions that harm or disregard others, with aggression as a central example. It is influenced by both situational and learned factors.
- Social learning. Albert Bandura's Bobo doll study showed that children who watched an adult behave aggressively toward an inflatable doll later imitated that aggression, especially when the model was rewarded or went unpunished. This demonstrated that aggression can be learned by observation and modelling, not only through direct reinforcement.
- Group and situational factors. Deindividuation (losing self-awareness in a group), diffusion of responsibility, and the influence of an aggressive social norm can all increase antisocial behaviour.
- Cost-benefit analysis. People may weigh the personal costs and benefits before acting either prosocially or antisocially.
Linking the two
The same situational variables cut both ways. The presence of others can inhibit helping (bystander effect) and can also disinhibit aggression (deindividuation). Personal factors such as empathy push toward prosocial behaviour, while observed aggressive models push toward antisocial behaviour.
Putting it together for an exam
A strong answer names a factor, classifies it as social or personal, and attaches a study. For example: helping decreases as group size grows because of diffusion of responsibility, demonstrated by Darley and Latane, while aggression can be acquired through observation, demonstrated by Bandura's Bobo doll study.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of QCAA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
2023 QCAA2 marksExplain how perceived competence can lead to increased prosocial behaviour by bystanders in emergencies. Use an example in your response.Show worked answer →
Explanation (1 mark): perceived competence is a bystander's belief that they have the skills or ability to help effectively. When people feel competent to deal with the situation, they are more likely to take responsibility and act, overcoming the hesitation caused by diffusion of responsibility and fear of doing the wrong thing.
Example (1 mark): a bystander trained in first aid or CPR who witnesses someone collapse is more likely to step in and assist, because they believe they can help effectively, whereas an untrained bystander may hold back.
2022 QCAA3 marksExplain how advertising, video games and social media can influence aggression.Show worked answer →
Award up to 3 marks, ideally one mark for each medium, framed through social learning theory (observation, imitation and reinforcement of modelled aggression).
- Advertising can model aggressive or dominant behaviour as desirable or rewarded, so viewers imitate it (vicarious reinforcement).
- Violent video games provide repeated, often rewarded, rehearsal of aggressive actions and can desensitise players to violence and prime aggressive thoughts.
- Social media exposes users to aggressive models and norms, can reward aggression with attention or approval, and reduced accountability (anonymity) can disinhibit hostile behaviour.
2022 QCAA2 marksDescribe altruism and provide an example of this behaviour.Show worked answer →
Description (1 mark): altruism is a form of prosocial behaviour in which a person voluntarily helps another at some cost to themselves and with no expectation of reward or personal benefit in return.
Example (1 mark): a stranger diving into a river to rescue a drowning person, risking their own safety with nothing to gain, or anonymously donating to charity. The key feature is that the helper acts for the other's benefit, not for any reward.