Depletion makes the heart grow less helpful: helping as a function of self-regulatory energy and genetic relatedness.
Often people are faced with conflict between prosocial motivations for helping and selfish impulses that favor not helping. Three studies tested the hypothesis that self-regulation is useful for managing such motivational conflicts. In each study, depleted self-regulatory energy reduced willingness to help others. Participants who broke a habit, relative to participants who followed a habit, later reported reduced willingness to help in hypothetical scenarios (e.g., donating food or money; Studies 1 and 3). Controlling attention while watching a video, relative to watching it normally, reduced volunteering efforts to help a victim of a recent tragedy- but drinking a glucose drink undid this effect (Study 2). Depleted energy reduced helping toward strangers but it did not reduce helping toward family members (Study 3). Helping requires self-regulatory energy to manage conflict between selfish and prosocial motivations-a metabolically expensive process-and thus depleted energy reduces helping and increased energy (glucose) increases helping.
Dewall
C Nathan
CN
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA. nathan.dewall@uky.edu
Baumeister
Roy F
RF
Gailliot
Matthew T
MT
Maner
Jon K
JK
D000533:Altruism; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D004327:Drinking Behavior; D002149:Energy Intake / Q000502:physiology; D005195:Family Relations; D005947:Glucose / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000502:physiology; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D009042:Motivation; D012919:Social Behavior; D012927:Social Control, Informal; D014741:Video Recording; D014796:Visual Perception
D005947:Glucose