Positive and Negative Referent Others as Sources of Influence: A Case of Helping.

Both similar and dissimilar models may be adopted as relevant referents and dissimilar models may serve as negative referents whose perspective suggests what an observer will not experience. On this basis we hypothesized: observers of positive referents tend to behave in congruence with the information provided by the referents, while observers of negative referents tend to behave in opposition to the information the referents provide. This interaction hypothesis received support in three letter-drop experiments in which models expressed feelings toward either the act of helping or the person to be helped. Observers helped most when positive referents expressed favorable feelings and negative referents expressed unfavorable feelings. Neither model type nor feelings alone influenced helping. The findings suggest conditions for balancing tendencies to occur when the Person-Other relation is negative. Alternative interpretations based on attraction, "name-calling," dissonance, and promotive tension were considered and rejected.