Helping when the desire is low: Expectancy as a booster

• Published in: Motivation and emotion Vol. 44; no. 6; pp. 819 - 831
• Main Authors: Kossowska, Małgorzata, Szumowska, Ewa, Szwed, Paulina, Czernatowicz-Kukuczka, Aneta, Kruglanski, Arie W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-12-2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Behavior; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Charities; Clinical Psychology; Decision making; Declarations; Desire; Helping behavior; Motivation; Original Paper; Personality and Social Psychology; Policy making; Psychology; Intention to help; Helping behavior; Motivation to help; Social judgment; Social cognition
• ISSN: 0146-7239; 1573-6644
• DOI: 10.1007/s11031-020-09853-3

One might assume that the desire to help (here described as
Want
) is the essential driver of helping declarations and/or behaviors. However, even if desire to help (
Want
) is low, intention to help may still occur if the expectancy regarding the perceived effectiveness of helping is high. We tested these predictions in a set of three experimental studies. In all three, we measured the desire to help (
Want
) and the
Expectancy
that the aid would be impactful for the victim; in addition, we manipulated
Expectancy
in Study 3. In Studies 1 and 3, we measured the participants’ declaration to help while in Study 2, their helping behavior was examined. In all three studies, we used variations of the same story about a victim. The results supported our hypothesis. Thus, the studies help to tease apart the determinants of helping under conditions of lowered desire to do so, an issue of great importance in public policymaking.