Investigating Gender Differences in Helping.

Authors Avatar

Investigating Gender Differences in Helping.

Aim: To find out whether subjects will help opposite gender students faster than same sex helper would.

Introduction: Altruism is a form of pro-social behaviour in which a person will voluntarily help another at some cost to themselves. The primary motivation for altruistic behaviour is seen as a desire to improve the welfare of another person rather than the anticipation of some reward or for any other reason that might indicate self-interest. One of the major problems for psychologists has been determining what is truly altruistic and what might be better explained in terms of egoism. Batson et al.’s (1997) empathy-altruism hypothesis proposes that empathic concern evokes an altruistic motivation. Studies supporting this hypothesis have systematically varied whether individuals can only obtain egoistic goals by helping, or whether they can escape from the situation and obtain the egoistic goals without helping. These studies demonstrate that at least some people have helping intentions that are not explained by egoistic motivations, such as the relief of personal distress, escaping public shame for not helping, the relief of sadness, and the desire to make oneself happy. In one study, Batson et al. (1981) used a placebo drug which had no real effects but would led participants to interpret their reactions as high or low empathy. Participants then watched a female confederate (‘Elaine’) apparently receiving random electric shocks. After two trials the confederate appeared to become distressed. Participants were then faced with a difficult decision – take her place (showing empathetic concern) or leave (showing only personal distress). Batson et al. found that those in the high empathy condition tended to stay even when given the opportunity to leave, whereas those in the low empathy condition, when offered the chance to leave, took it. However if the cost of leaving was high (they had to do an onerous task if they left) then those in the low empathy condition were more likely to stay – even more likely than those in the high empathy condition.

However, it is possible that people who help in such situations do so to avoid punishment, such as social disapproval that could arise as a result of not helping. To test that, further research where the potential for negative social evaluation was manipulated, concern for disapproval of others did not appear to explain why empathic concern motivated helping. (Fultz et al)

Join now!

The negative state-releif model by Cialdini suggests that when we are experiencing negative states, we are motivated to alleviate this condition by helping others, which is personally rewarding. People learn during childhood that helping others is a positive behaviour that will make them feel good about themselves. Therefore, the motivation for helping is for egoistic reasons, depending on the anticipated emotional consequences. The primary objective in any behaviour that appears altruistic is actually the enhancement of our own mood. Cialdini carried out a study, where participants were given instructions to create high or low-empathy conditions and then put into a ...

This is a preview of the whole essay