Attribution of Egoistic Versus Altruistic Motives to Acts of Helping

Abstract

Abstract. This research investigated the effects of helpers’ status and the intended publicity of the helping act on observers’ attributions of altruistic versus egoistic motives to helpers. Results from two studies (overall N = 670), in which we varied helpers’ status (low vs. high) and intended publicity of the helping act (private vs. public) suggest that observers attribute more egoistic (and less altruistic) motives to the helping act when helpers intended to make their helping public (vs. keeping it private) and were of high (vs. low) status. Moreover, status and publicity had a negative indirect effect on observers’ willingness to assist helpers via increased attribution of predominantly egoistic motives. Implications of these findings for theory and real-world helping will be discussed.

Leader interpersonal emotion regulation motives, group leader–member exchange, and leader effectiveness in work groups

“…When leaders are perceived as acting in the interests of the followers (prosocial motives), their behavior is seen as more sincere, whereas leaders whose behavior is enacted in the interests of themselves (egoistic motives) are viewed as more manipulative and instrumental. These theoretical assertions are supported by empirical studies on attributions, which suggest that “good” behaviors (e.g., helping) may be perceived as more sincere when attributed to prosocial motives but as more instrumental when attributed to more egoistic motives (Newman & Cain, 2014; Rodell & Lynch, 2016; Siem & Stürmer, 2018).…”

“…The influence of interpersonal emotion regulation motives on the quality of the relationship between leaders and group members as perceived by the latter is argued to be due to the information provided by the motivation embedded in leader behavior (López‐Pérez et al, 2017; Netzer et al, 2015; Van Kleef et al, 2012; van Knippenberg & van Kleef, 2016). In this sense, we argued that group members make inferences about the intentions behind the leader's interpersonal behavior (Siem & Stürmer, 2018). Specifically, leader egocentric interpersonal emotion regulation motives taint the relationship quality within groups because members may perceive that leaders seek to benefit themselves by regulating their emotions.…”

The psychological antecedents of resistance to humanitarian aid

“…The belief that humanitarian aid is offered by a party that, in reality, conspires against one's own group can have detrimental consequences in terms of how the aid offer is perceived. In a recent study, Siem and Stürmer (2018) found that participants attributed an offer of help to more strategic or egoistic motives and to less prosocial or altruistic motives when the helper was of high status. Members of low-status groups are more likely to engage in this kind of attribution due to their proneness to assign high-status groups a conspirator role.…”

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: the social costs of prosocial behaviour

“…We propose that observers will be more likely to infer that help stems from strategic rather than altruistic motives when helpful actions appear to be aggrandizing, for example if they are performed in public or are actively broadcast to others by the helpful individual. Several studies have shown that individuals who advertise their good deeds (87)(88)(89) or who know that their good deeds will be visible to others (90) risk being perceived as less generous by observers (91). Similar results have been obtained…”