Spouses' attributions for helping: the effects of styles of help-seeking, self-serving bias, and sex.
This paper examines the effects of (a) how clearly the desire for help is presented, (b) self-serving bias, and (c) sex differences on the source of the cause of helping happening (or not) that spouses attribute to a potential helper. In two studies, a total of 138 couples imagined situations in which a person wanted his or her spouse to do a chore. How clearly the desire for help was expressed, whether help was given, and whether it was the participant or the spouse who was expected to help were manipulated. The participants reported their attributions for the cause of helping (or not) to themselves and the spouse on visual analog scales. There was strong support for a proposed interaction between how clearly the desire for help was expressed and whether help was given in predicting spouses' attributions. No support was obtained for a predicted self-serving bias or for a suggestion that men make more self-enhancing attributions than women, the findings were instead congruent with a relationship-enhancing bias. The findings are discussed in terms of the context of housework.
D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D012944:Social Support; D018454:Spouses; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires