Attribution of Egoistic Versus Altruistic Motives to Acts of Helping

The Role of the Helper’s Status and the Act’s Intended Publicity

Bibliographic Data

ID5338932
AuthorsBirte Siem (0000-0003-4697-7856, FernUniversität in Hagen), Stefan Stürmer (0000-0003-2951-5545, FernUniversität in Hagen)
Year2019
Volume50
Issue1
Pages53-66
Publication date2019-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1864-9335 • E-ISSN: 2151-2590
PublisherHogrefe Publishing Group (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1027/1864-9335/a000360
OpenAlexW2904255696
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited44

This research investigated the effects of helpers' status and the intended publicity of the helping act on observers' attributions of altruistic versus egoistic motives to helpers. Results from two studies (overall N = 670), in which we varied helpers' status (low vs. high) and intended publicity of the helping act (private vs. public) suggest that observers attribute more egoistic (and less altruistic) motives to the helping act when helpers intended to make their helping public (vs. keeping it private) and were of high (vs. low) status. Moreover, status and publicity had a negative indirect effect on observers' willingness to assist helpers via increased attribution of predominantly egoistic motives. Implications of these findings for theory and real-world helping will be discussed

Altruism (biology) · Attribution · Helping behavior · Political science · Publicity · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics · Law · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Psychology · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Social Psychology

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