title: Helping them stay where they are: status effects on dependency/autonomy-oriented helping.
abstract: On the basis of expectation states theory and Weiner's attributional model of help giving (Weiner, 1980), we predicted that low-status help seekers would be viewed as chronically dependent and their need as due to lack of ability, leading to the giving of dependency-oriented help (i.e., full solution to the problem). High-status help seekers were expected to be viewed as competent and their request as representing their high motivation to overcome a transient difficulty, resulting in autonomy-oriented help (i.e., tools to solve the problem). Help seeking is viewed as a stigma-consistent behavior that implies weakness when help seekers are low-status individuals and as strength when they are high-status individuals. Three experiments supported these predictions. The 4th experiment indicated that low-status persons who seek autonomy-oriented help are not seen as chronically dependent. Implications of these findings for helping and inequality are discussed.
authors: School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University.
authors: Arie
authors: A
authors: Nadler
authors: School of Behavioral Sciences, Netanya Academic College.
authors: Lily
authors: L
authors: Chernyak-Hai
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017004:Codependency, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D012930:Social Dominance; D012938:Social Perception; D055815:Young Adult