Helping behavior of females: effects of stress and commonality of fate.
In a design replication of Dovidio and Morris' study, the effects of stress and commonality of fate on helping behavior were examined. Ss were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: high stress/common fate (n = 15), high stress/dissimilar fate (n = 15), or low stress/common fate (n = 15), or low stress/dissimilar fate (n = 15). While the initial study involved male Ss, the present study involved females in order to assess the generality of the original findings. Other aspects of the original experiment were repeated as closely as possible. Consistent with the original study, a significant interaction was found, indicating that Ss were more helpful under conditions of high stress and common fate. Results also revealed a greater overall amount of helping behavior than that found by Dovidio and Morris.
D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006801:Humans; D012718:Set, Psychology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*