Helping a Distressed Person: Social, Personality, and Stimulus Determinants

Abstract

This chapter describes a series of experiments that show the multiplicity of influences promoting and/or inhibiting the giving of aid to those in physical distress. Physical distress represents one of the most basic and important conditions requiring assistance; this is the reason for selecting helping behavior in response to physical distress as the focus of study. In a series of experiments, Berkowitz and his associates explored the conditions under which a person was willing to expend effort to help another person gain prestige and material reward. They found that, the greater the dependence of one person on another, the more likely it is that the latter will work hard in order to help. Berkowitz and Daniels suggested that a norm of social responsibility, which prescribes that people should help others who are dependent on them, guides this helping behavior. The chapter presents a general theoretical discussion of what motivates or restrains helping behavior, what are some reasons for helping or not doing so. Several groups of experiments have been presented, each introduced by a more detailed discussion of certain relevant determinants of helping.