Emotional reactions, perceived impact and perceived responsibility mediate the identifiable victim effect, proportion dominance effect and in-group effect respectively
Författare
Summary, in English
This study investigated possible mediators of the identifiable victim effect (IVE), the proportion dominance effect (PDE), and the in-group effect (IGE) in helping situations. In Studies 1-3, participants rated their emotional reactions (distress and sympathy toward the victims), perceived impact of helping, perceived responsibility to help, and helping motivation toward four versions of a helping situation. Gradually increasing victim identifiability in the helping situations primarily affected emotional reactions and sympathy completely mediated the IVE. Gradually making the reference-group smaller primarily affected perceived impact, and impact completely mediated the PDE. Gradually increasing in-groupness primarily affected perceived responsibility, and responsibility completely mediated the IGE. Study 4 included real monetary allocations and largely replicated the results using a between-subject design. Together, the results shed light on how contextual factors trigger help motivation, and indicate that different helping effects are primarily mediated by different mechanisms.
Avdelning/ar
Publiceringsår
2015
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
1-14
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
Volym
127
Issue
March
Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
Elsevier
Ämne
- Psychology
Nyckelord
- decision modes
- emotional reactions
- helping
- identifiable victim effect
- in-group bias
- perceived responsibility
- perceived impact
- proportion dominance effect
- sympathy
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 0749-5978