AFFECTING THE SALIENCE OF THE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY NORM: EFFECTS OF PAST HELP ON THE RESPONSE TO DEPENDENCY RELATIONSHIPS.

A series of experiments by the authors assumes that many people in our society are motivated to aid others who are dependent upon them because such help is prescribed by a “social responsibility norm.” The present study also assumes that prior help can increase the salience of this norm. In a 2 X 2 X 2 factorial design using 80 Ss (college women), ½ of the Ss were individually helped by a peer (E's confederate) on a preliminary task, while the others were not aided. After this, the Ss worked on another task under the supposed supervision of yet another peer, with ½ of the Ss being told the supervisor was highly dependent upon their work and the others told she was less dependent upon them. The 1st peer would supposedly learn of their work in ½ of the cases but not in the other ½. The previously helped Ss tended to exert the greatest effort in behalf of their dependent peer. A self-report scale assessing social responsibility tendencies was significantly correlated with the effort measure in the Prior Help-High Dependency condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)