Emotional reactions, perceived impact and perceived responsibility mediate the identifiable victim effect, proportion dominance effect and in-group effect respectively

Summary, in English

This study investigated possible mediators of the identifiable victim effect (IVE), the proportion dominance effect (PDE), and the in-group effect (IGE) in helping situations. In Studies 1-3, participants rated their emotional reactions (distress and sympathy toward the victims), perceived impact of helping, perceived responsibility to help, and helping motivation toward four versions of a helping situation. Gradually increasing victim identifiability in the helping situations primarily affected emotional reactions and sympathy completely mediated the IVE. Gradually making the reference-group smaller primarily affected perceived impact, and impact completely mediated the PDE. Gradually increasing in-groupness primarily affected perceived responsibility, and responsibility completely mediated the IGE. Study 4 included real monetary allocations and largely replicated the results using a between-subject design. Together, the results shed light on how contextual factors trigger help motivation, and indicate that different helping effects are primarily mediated by different mechanisms.

• Author: Arvid Erlandsson; Fredrik Björklund; Martin Bäckström
• Department/s: Department of Psychology
• Publishing year: 2015
• Language: English
• Pages: 1-14
• Publication/Series: Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
• Volume: 127
• Issue: March
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2014.11.003
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Topic: Psychology
• Keywords: decision modes; emotional reactions; helping; identifiable victim effect; in-group bias; perceived responsibility; perceived impact; proportion dominance effect; sympathy
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 0749-5978