PSYS 130 FINAL EXAM 2025/2026 EXAM
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS | 100%
PASS
What is prosocial behavior? - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔any action that is intended to benefit
others
What is prosocial motivated by? - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔Altruism and egoism
What is altruism? - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔-motivation to increase another's welfare
without conscious regard to one's self interest.
-intrinsic motivation to help, even at the cost to self
What is egoism? - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔Motivation to increase one's own welfare;
meaning that by helping others you provide yourself with tangible or intangible
benefits.
What is the social exchange hypothesis? - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔Says that there is no
such thing as pure altruism. This states that helping is motivated by a desire to
maximize rewards and minimize costs.
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,What is the empathy-altruism hypothesis? - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔States that when we
feel empathy we attempt to help that person for only altruisic reasons.
What were participants asked to do in Toi & Batson (1982): study? - 🧠ANSWER
✔✔-Participants were asked to help a girl named carol who couldn't attend lectures
because she had lost her legs.
-Aim of this study was to see if participants would help carol by writing to her,
meeting with her, and sharing lecture notes.
What were the independent variables of the Toi & Batson (1982) study? -
🧠ANSWER ✔✔-Independent variable A: Empathy - condition 1: participants were
asked to focus on carol's feelings (high empathy condition) - condition 2:
participants were not asked to focus on her feelings (low empathy condition)
-independent variable B: High or low cost- condition 1: high cost: carol would be
in class. it would be embarrassing to deny her lecture notes
-condition 2: low cost: carol wouldn't be in class
What were the results of the Toi and Batson (1982) study? - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔-
Results: High empathy group were equally likely to help in either condition
-The low empathy group was more likely to help Carol in the high cost condition
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STATEMENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
,What was the evaluation of the Toi and Batson (1982) study? - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔-
Evaluation:
Batson's findings have been consistently replicated, so it appears that the theory of
empathy-altruism is consistent with its predictions that helping behavior based on
empathy is unselfish.
What are some problems with the Toi and Batson (1982) study? - 🧠ANSWER
✔✔only investigated short-term altruism, and the interpretation of the results has
not taken personality factors into account. This could be seen as a weakness of the
explanation.
- Though Batson's model makes it easier to predict behavior, it is difficult to
measure one's level of empathy. Batson argues that empathy is an innate trait in all
of us, but it is not clear why we do not experience a predictable level of empathy in
a given situation.
What is the feel good-do good effect and how does this effect prosocial behavior? -
🧠ANSWER ✔✔The better a mood someone is in, the more likely they are to help
another person
What is the Isen and Levin (1972) study and what effect does it test for? -
🧠ANSWER ✔✔Tests for the feel good-do good effect; staged a helping
COPYRIGHT©JOSHCLAY 2025/2026. YEAR PUBLISHED 2025. COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 619652435. TERMS OF USE. PRIVACY 3
STATEMENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
, opportunity where a man drops his manila folder filled with papers by accident. To
influence the mood of the stranger, experimenters left a dime in a telephone change
slot and waited for people to find it. 84% of those who found the dime stopped and
helped the man. 4% who didn't find the dime still helped the man.
What is the negative state-relief hypothesis? - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔Feel bad-do good
hypothesis: negative mood most likely increases helping because helping makes
them feel better.
What is the Thompson et al (1980) study? - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔Group told sad story
about their friend dying of cancer and asked to think of how sad you'll feel while
they died (Self-Focus)
-Another group told sad story where they're the friend dying and asked to think
how sad it is not knowing when you'll die (Other-focus)
-Researchers found that the 2 sets of participants agreed to help
-25% of self-focus; 83% of other-focus
-When you self-focus, it takes you out of prosocial group i.e. less likely to help
others
What are 3 evolutionary theories that explain prosocial behavior? - 🧠ANSWER
✔✔Kin selection, signaling theory, social norms and customs
COPYRIGHT©JOSHCLAY 2025/2026. YEAR PUBLISHED 2025. COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 619652435. TERMS OF USE. PRIVACY 4
STATEMENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS | 100%
PASS
What is prosocial behavior? - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔any action that is intended to benefit
others
What is prosocial motivated by? - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔Altruism and egoism
What is altruism? - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔-motivation to increase another's welfare
without conscious regard to one's self interest.
-intrinsic motivation to help, even at the cost to self
What is egoism? - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔Motivation to increase one's own welfare;
meaning that by helping others you provide yourself with tangible or intangible
benefits.
What is the social exchange hypothesis? - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔Says that there is no
such thing as pure altruism. This states that helping is motivated by a desire to
maximize rewards and minimize costs.
COPYRIGHT©JOSHCLAY 2025/2026. YEAR PUBLISHED 2025. COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 619652435. TERMS OF USE. PRIVACY 1
STATEMENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
,What is the empathy-altruism hypothesis? - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔States that when we
feel empathy we attempt to help that person for only altruisic reasons.
What were participants asked to do in Toi & Batson (1982): study? - 🧠ANSWER
✔✔-Participants were asked to help a girl named carol who couldn't attend lectures
because she had lost her legs.
-Aim of this study was to see if participants would help carol by writing to her,
meeting with her, and sharing lecture notes.
What were the independent variables of the Toi & Batson (1982) study? -
🧠ANSWER ✔✔-Independent variable A: Empathy - condition 1: participants were
asked to focus on carol's feelings (high empathy condition) - condition 2:
participants were not asked to focus on her feelings (low empathy condition)
-independent variable B: High or low cost- condition 1: high cost: carol would be
in class. it would be embarrassing to deny her lecture notes
-condition 2: low cost: carol wouldn't be in class
What were the results of the Toi and Batson (1982) study? - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔-
Results: High empathy group were equally likely to help in either condition
-The low empathy group was more likely to help Carol in the high cost condition
COPYRIGHT©JOSHCLAY 2025/2026. YEAR PUBLISHED 2025. COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 619652435. TERMS OF USE. PRIVACY 2
STATEMENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
,What was the evaluation of the Toi and Batson (1982) study? - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔-
Evaluation:
Batson's findings have been consistently replicated, so it appears that the theory of
empathy-altruism is consistent with its predictions that helping behavior based on
empathy is unselfish.
What are some problems with the Toi and Batson (1982) study? - 🧠ANSWER
✔✔only investigated short-term altruism, and the interpretation of the results has
not taken personality factors into account. This could be seen as a weakness of the
explanation.
- Though Batson's model makes it easier to predict behavior, it is difficult to
measure one's level of empathy. Batson argues that empathy is an innate trait in all
of us, but it is not clear why we do not experience a predictable level of empathy in
a given situation.
What is the feel good-do good effect and how does this effect prosocial behavior? -
🧠ANSWER ✔✔The better a mood someone is in, the more likely they are to help
another person
What is the Isen and Levin (1972) study and what effect does it test for? -
🧠ANSWER ✔✔Tests for the feel good-do good effect; staged a helping
COPYRIGHT©JOSHCLAY 2025/2026. YEAR PUBLISHED 2025. COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 619652435. TERMS OF USE. PRIVACY 3
STATEMENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
, opportunity where a man drops his manila folder filled with papers by accident. To
influence the mood of the stranger, experimenters left a dime in a telephone change
slot and waited for people to find it. 84% of those who found the dime stopped and
helped the man. 4% who didn't find the dime still helped the man.
What is the negative state-relief hypothesis? - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔Feel bad-do good
hypothesis: negative mood most likely increases helping because helping makes
them feel better.
What is the Thompson et al (1980) study? - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔Group told sad story
about their friend dying of cancer and asked to think of how sad you'll feel while
they died (Self-Focus)
-Another group told sad story where they're the friend dying and asked to think
how sad it is not knowing when you'll die (Other-focus)
-Researchers found that the 2 sets of participants agreed to help
-25% of self-focus; 83% of other-focus
-When you self-focus, it takes you out of prosocial group i.e. less likely to help
others
What are 3 evolutionary theories that explain prosocial behavior? - 🧠ANSWER
✔✔Kin selection, signaling theory, social norms and customs
COPYRIGHT©JOSHCLAY 2025/2026. YEAR PUBLISHED 2025. COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 619652435. TERMS OF USE. PRIVACY 4
STATEMENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
