Awareness of interpersonal consequences, responsibility denial, and volunteering

Shalom H. Schwartz*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

49 Scopus citations

Abstract

Tested the effects on helping of 2 factors presumed to influence awareness of consequences for others. It was hypothesized that helping increases (a) as the salience of consequences in the situation increases, and (b) when consequences are not salient, as the individual tendency to think spontaneously of consequences to others increases. The tendency to accept vs deny responsibility for the consequences of one's own behavior was also hypothesized to increase helping, but no effect for internal-external control was anticipated. 70 female undergraduates, who had completed relevant personality scales, received telephone appeals to help raise money for Head Start, in which salience of the consequences of volunteering was manipulated. All hypotheses were confirmed. A highrefusal rate among those high on awareness of consequences who were exposed to high salience is discussed in terms of reactance thresholds. The internal-external control results suggest conditions under which internal-external control influences helping. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)57-63
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Personality and Social Psychology
Volume30
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1974
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • responsibility denial, volunteering for helping behavior, female college students
  • salience of consequences &

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