Effect of helping under normative pressure on self-perceived altruism.

An experiment was conducted to determine whether helping under normative pressure might reduce self-perceived altruism. We reasoned that individuals who help when the norm of reciprocity dictates that they should, i.e., when the person helped has previously helped them, may perceive this norm to be a source of extrinsic pressure that, to some extent, compelled them to help. And if they do, they should be less likely to attribute their decision to help to their own intrinsic altruism. To test this logic, subjects either did or did not receive prior help from another undergraduate; they were then either induced to offer help to the other or were not asked to help. In addition, helpers were provided with consensus information about whether other people agreed to help, for it was thought that helpers might still attribute their helpfulness to personal altruism if their helping was relatively unique. As expected, subjects who agreed to help when the norm of reciprocity specified that they should (i.e., after they had been helped) perceived themselves as less altruistic than subjects who agreed to help when the norm of reciprocity did not apply. Moreover, this effect was qualified by the consensus manipulation. Only helpers informed that others not under normative pressure also helped perceived themselves as less altruistic than those not asked to help.