title: The selfish hero: a study of the individual benefits of self-sacrificial prosocial behavior.
abstract: Twenty-four same-sex, three-person groups (a confederate plus two naive participants) completed a "group decision-making study" in which the success of the group depended upon the willingness of one of its members (the confederate) to endure pain and inconvenience. The ordeal that the altruistic confederate endured was judged to be more difficult and costly than the experience of other group members, and the altruists were ultimately awarded more money and accorded higher status. In a second study, 334 undergraduates read a description of the procedures used in Study 1 and made judgments and monetary allocations to the hypothetical people described in the scenario. The concordance of the data in the two studies support a costly signaling, rather than a reciprocal altruism explanation for such "heroic" behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Knox College, Galesburg, IL 61401-4999, USA. fmcandre@knox.edu
authors.forename: Francis T
authors.initials: FT
authors.lastname: McAndrew
authors.forename: Carin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Perilloux
mesh_terms: D000533:Altruism; D002605:Character; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D006608:Hierarchy, Social; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology; D011340:Problem Solving; D012201:Reward; D012649:Self Concept; D012737:Sex Factors; D012941:Social Responsibility; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult