Perceived Utility (not Sympathy) Mediates the Proportion Dominance Effect in Helping Decisions
(2014) In Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 27(1). p.37-47- Abstract
- The proportion dominance effect (PDE) refers to a higher motivation to help when the victims are part of a small (you can help 56 out of 60) rather than a large (you can help 56 out of 560) reference group. In two studies using different experimental paradigms, we investigated possible mediators of the PDE. Study 1 (N = 168) was conducted in three separate steps in order to test each link of the mediator model independently. Students read six vignettes where it was possible to help a fixed number of victims but where the size of the reference group was either small or large. When the reference group was small, helping motivation and perceived utility were higher, whereas sympathy towards the victims and perceived rights were not. A... (More)
- The proportion dominance effect (PDE) refers to a higher motivation to help when the victims are part of a small (you can help 56 out of 60) rather than a large (you can help 56 out of 560) reference group. In two studies using different experimental paradigms, we investigated possible mediators of the PDE. Study 1 (N = 168) was conducted in three separate steps in order to test each link of the mediator model independently. Students read six vignettes where it was possible to help a fixed number of victims but where the size of the reference group was either small or large. When the reference group was small, helping motivation and perceived utility were higher, whereas sympathy towards the victims and perceived rights were not. A within-subject mediation analysis showed that perceived utility mediated the PDE. Study 2 (N = 36) presented four versions of a single helping-situation in a joint evaluation mode where the size of the reference group got gradually smaller in each version. All participants compared and responded to each version. Helping motivation increased as the reference group got smaller, and this effect was mediated by perceived utility rather than by distress, sympathy or perceived responsibilities. Our results suggest that unlike e.g. the identifiability and singularity effects, which have been suggested to be mediated by emotional reactions, the PDE is mediated by perceived utility. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3516032
- author
- Erlandsson, Arvid
LU
; Björklund, Fredrik
LU
and Bäckström, Martin LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2014
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- helping motivation, identifiable victim effect, perceived utility, proportion dominance effect, sympathy
- in
- Journal of Behavioral Decision Making
- volume
- 27
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 37 - 47
- publisher
- John Wiley & Sons Inc.
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000328541400004
- scopus:84890370318
- ISSN
- 1099-0771
- DOI
- 10.1002/bdm.1789
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 9adf7d11-17b1-49b7-9adb-9d5c5e2e08f7 (old id 3516032)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 09:52:48
- date last changed
- 2022-04-27 08:24:23
@article{9adf7d11-17b1-49b7-9adb-9d5c5e2e08f7, abstract = {{The proportion dominance effect (PDE) refers to a higher motivation to help when the victims are part of a small (you can help 56 out of 60) rather than a large (you can help 56 out of 560) reference group. In two studies using different experimental paradigms, we investigated possible mediators of the PDE. Study 1 (N = 168) was conducted in three separate steps in order to test each link of the mediator model independently. Students read six vignettes where it was possible to help a fixed number of victims but where the size of the reference group was either small or large. When the reference group was small, helping motivation and perceived utility were higher, whereas sympathy towards the victims and perceived rights were not. A within-subject mediation analysis showed that perceived utility mediated the PDE. Study 2 (N = 36) presented four versions of a single helping-situation in a joint evaluation mode where the size of the reference group got gradually smaller in each version. All participants compared and responded to each version. Helping motivation increased as the reference group got smaller, and this effect was mediated by perceived utility rather than by distress, sympathy or perceived responsibilities. Our results suggest that unlike e.g. the identifiability and singularity effects, which have been suggested to be mediated by emotional reactions, the PDE is mediated by perceived utility.}}, author = {{Erlandsson, Arvid and Björklund, Fredrik and Bäckström, Martin}}, issn = {{1099-0771}}, keywords = {{helping motivation; identifiable victim effect; perceived utility; proportion dominance effect; sympathy}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{1}}, pages = {{37--47}}, publisher = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}}, series = {{Journal of Behavioral Decision Making}}, title = {{Perceived Utility (not Sympathy) Mediates the Proportion Dominance Effect in Helping Decisions}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bdm.1789}}, doi = {{10.1002/bdm.1789}}, volume = {{27}}, year = {{2014}}, }