RISK OF EMBARRASSMENT AND HELPING
To examine the effects of one kind of cost on helping behavior, 32 males and 32 females were provided with an opportunity to offer help spontaneously in a nonemergency situation. In one condition persons risked a somewhat embarrassing encounter by helping, while the other involved little
or no risk of embarrassment. Helping was more frequent in the non-embarrassing condition; there was no overall sex difference in helping, but sex interacted with the experimental treatment to produce a strong interaction. The results support contentions that potential embarrassment deters
helping in nonemergency situations and that person-situation interactions ought to be more carefully studied by social psychologists.
Document Type: Research Article
Publication date: 01 January 1978
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