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Guiding Questions
Guiding Questions
- What are examples of how people can be responsive and supportive to individuals and communities that have experienced trauma?
- How can proactive, prosocial, and upstander behaviors be taught and implemented to prevent trauma from occurring in the first place?
- What are tools that one can employ to prevent others’ trauma from worsening/ remaining for long periods of time?
What is Prosocial Behavior?
What is Prosocial Behavior?
Prosocial behaviors are actions that benefit another person or group whether that be through cooperation, comforting, helping, or sharing.
What motivates Prosocial Behavior in Non-Emergency Situations?
What motivates Prosocial Behavior in Non-Emergency Situations?
There are two main ideas on what motivates prosocial behavior in general, the first being Egoistic Motivation and the second being the Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis. Egoistic motivation is a set of theories centered around the idea that helping another (enacting prosocial behavior) will provide a benefit for the person helping or will allow them to avoid an aversive arousal stimulus that becomes present when watching someone in need. The empathy-altruism hypothesis is centered around the idea of genuine altruism, prosocial behavior that is enacted for the pure purpose of helping another, not for one's own benefit. In this case the behavior is motivated by empathy, a set of feelings that are present in response to another's distress.
What causes bystander behavior in the first place?
What causes bystander behavior in the first place?
Altruistic Inertia
Altruistic Inertia
The belief that someone else will step in often generates bystander behavior. This is also known diffusion of responsibility. Since there is no personal burden on any one individual, no one feels the need to step in.
Pluralistic Ignorance
Pluralistic Ignorance
The belief that no threat really exists. If no one else acknowledges the threat at hand, everyone tends to ignore it. Even if the scenario is potentially dangerous, we tend to ignore it when others don't notice the threat
What moves us to help others?
What moves us to help others?
Emergency Identification
Emergency Identification
To counter the diffusion of responsibility, just voicing the emergency at hand can immediately lead to change.
Personal Burden
Personal Burden
Feeling a personal connection to the victim can drastically increase the likelihood for someone to help out.
Prosocial Support for Trauma Victims
Prosocial Support for Trauma Victims
Practical Support
Practical Support
Protecting the victim through practical assistance that helps to decrease stress, reinstate a routine, and give them a stronger sense of control in their lives.
Emotional Support
Emotional Support
Enacting emotional support means providing a safe and comforting environment to discuss the trauma, someone they can trust, and a feeling of outside commitment to their individual wellbeing.
Examples of Practical Support
Examples of Practical Support
Taking care of responsibilities one has, to give them time to deal with the traumatic event
Encourage a healthy lifestyle and routine whilst making that easier for them by providing them with easy access to things like healthy food or time to exercise
Watch for the development of unhealthy dependancies such as a reliance on drugs
Support enjoyable experiences by organizing plans with them and telling those around them to do the same
Emotional Support Strategies
Emotional Support Strategies
Don't pressure them to discuss the event or their feelings
Give them your undivided attention by ensuring you are ready to hear what they have to say and have no other immediate responsibilities
Acknowledge how they feel but don't relate it to yourself, respect that it's their experience
Refrain from using reassurances such as "You will be alright" or "It's going to be ok"
Upstanding for Immediate Social Change
Upstanding for Immediate Social Change
What can upstanders do to specifically plant seeds of change in others?
What can upstanders do to specifically plant seeds of change in others?
each lesson or helpful conversation can be played to an audience as consumable, employable material
make support into "teaching" lessons
encourage empathy in your immediate communities
reinforce upstanding behavior
What are tools that one can employ to prevent others’ trauma from worsening/ remaining for long periods of time?
What are tools that one can employ to prevent others’ trauma from worsening/ remaining for long periods of time?
practical and emotional support
the network of resources around you
therapy/clinical help
extra-community spaces
school counselors
medical community
Support Resources
Support Resources
National Suicide prevention Hotline
1 (800) 273-8255
Online Talk Therapy Programs
The Trevor Project
1 (866) 488-7386
https://www.thetrevorproject.org/
Disaster Distress Hotline
1 (800) 985–5990
National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma, and Mental Health
Techniques for upstander education in communites.
Techniques for upstander education in communites.
Care and Empathy
Care and Empathy
In general, people who tend to be more caring and empathetic are more likely to practice upstander behavior.
While some people are raised to have more altruistic personalities, active upstanding can be learned.
The possession of practical, concrete upstander skills can dramatically influence one's behavior.
Group Encouragement
Group Encouragement
In contrast to adults, children are actually more likely to check on someone in danger if they are in pairs.
Their ability to talk through their fears with each other is what lets them break social norms which they haven’t internalized yet.
Reactive vs. Proactive Behavior
Reactive vs. Proactive Behavior
Reactive behavior tends to be based on conditions and emotions, and is blamed on circumstances
Proactive people make conscious decisions, based in their values, to intervene.
Active bystanding vs Passive Bystanding
Active bystanding vs Passive Bystanding
Even if you don't actively intervene in a situation, just pointing out the problem to others could be effective.
Speak up! Voice your opinion if you think a situation is wrong or if someone is in danger.
Articulating fears
Articulating fears
When teaching children how to avoid the bystander effect, asking them to share their fears about bullying and standing up can be instrumental
When children are open about their concerns, this eliminates Pluralistic Ignorance
Reference Sources
Reference Sources
References
Biglan, A., & Hinds, E. (2009, April). Evolving prosocial and sustainable neighborhoods and communities. Retrieved from National Center for Biotechnology Information database.
Daly, D. (2015). Social support and mental health. In P. Moglia (Ed.), Psychology & Behavioral Health. Hackensack: Salem. Retrieved from https://online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?bookId=723&articleName=PBH_0604&searchText=Responding%20to%20Trauma&searchOperators=all&category=Health
Dayton, T. (n.d.). Talking about Trauma [Illustration]. Retrieved from https://www.idlehearts.com/2572394/part-of-what-makes-a-situation-traumatic-is-not-talking-about-it
Fultz, F. (2015). Altruism, cooperation, and empathy. In P. Moglia (Ed.), Psychology & Behavioral Health. Hackensack: Salem. Retrieved from https://online-salempress-com.lwhs.idm.oclc.org/articleDetails.do?bookId=723&articleName=PBH_0034&searchText=prosocial%20behavior&searchOperators=exact&category=Health
Hall, A. (2016, May 31). How to Donate Food from Your Event: 16 Resources [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.meetingsnet.com/node/23140/gallery?slide=1
Lees, A. B. (2019, January 16). 7 Tools for Managing Traumatic Stress. Retrieved March 9, 2020, from National Alliance on Mental Illness website: https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/January-2019/7-Tools-for-Managing-Traumatic-Stress
Marsh, J., & Keltner, D. (2006, September 1). We are all bystanders. Greater Good Magazine. Retrieved from https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/we_are_all_bystanders
Recovery: Helping Others. (n.d.). Retrieved March 3, 2020, from Phoenix Australia Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health website: https://www.phoenixaustralia.org/recovery/helping-others/
Robinson, L., Smith, M., & Segal, J. (2020, February). Emotional and Psychological Trauma. Retrieved March 3, 2020, from Help Guide website: https://www.helpguide.org/articles/ptsd-trauma/coping-with-emotional-and-psychological-trauma.htm
6 Guiding Principles To A Trauma-Informed Approach [Infographic]. (2018, July 9). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/cpr/infographics/6_principles_trauma_info.htm
Winfeild, A. (2018, March 15). Trauma Survivors have Symptoms not Memories [Infographic]. Retrieved from https://corkpsychotherapyandtraumacentre.ie/trauma/trauma-survivors-symptoms-not-memories/
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