Why is Helping Behavior Declining in the United States But Not in Canada?: Ethnic Diversity, New Technologies, and Other Explanations

Abstract

This paper explores whether there has been a recent decline in helping behavior in the United States. In a lost letter experiment, 7,466 letters were “lost” in 63 urban areas in the United States and Canada in 2001 and 2011. There has been a 10 percent decline in helping behavior in the United States, but not in Canada. Two arguments anticipate change in the level of help provided to strangers: the rise of new technologies, and neighborhood racial and ethnic diversity. Findings exclude increased privatism as a source for the decline in helping. In 2001 there was no variation in altruistic behavior based on neighborhood diversity. However, areas of the United States where the proportion of noncitizens increased since 2001 experienced reduced helping; the opposite was found in Canada. Possible explanations include changing attitudes toward noncitizens, and differences in public policy related to economic inequality, social inclusion, and the acceptance of multiculturalism.

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Prosocial Beliefs and Prevention Behavior During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Reluctance to engage in behaviors that protect others as well as the self, including mask wearing and social distancing, may, in part, be due to American society having become less prosocial [ 4 ] and less empathic [ 5 ] over time. Being more prosocial, measured prior to the pandemic with a laboratory task that assesses peoples’ decisions when self-interest and equity are at odds, predicted engaging in more COVID-19 prevention behaviors [ 6 ].…”

Empathy rules, maps and paths: A qualitative exploration of the factors that facilitate or inhibit empathy and prosocial responding among youth

“…Students appeared to believe that adults did not value young people's opinions about how to address societal issues and suggested that although young people need help, to help others, there is a lack of guidance from older generations about how to achieve this. Although other research has indicated that helping and prosociality appear to be declining among younger generations (Hampton, 2016; Konrath et al, 2011), these findings may suggest that youth's apparent lack of empathic/prosocial engagement may reflect a lack of opportunity or lack of knowledge as to how to help, as opposed to their lack of willingness. It could be argued that established societal frames (Goffman, 1974) regarding empathy are adultist and fail to allow for the possibility that young people have the capacity to act.…”

Down to Earth: Planetary Health and Biophilosophy in the Symbiocene Epoch

“…Levels of trust in one other, and in major institutions-political, medical, and journalistic-have declined in the United States [33]. Declines in helping behavior have also been noted, with indications that this might be a product of growing inequalities, social exclusion, and/or resistance to multiculturalism [34]. Surges in nationalism, evident in recent elections in the United States and Europe, may also be a symptom of the anthropocene syndrome; in particular, the disparities of globalization are pushing money, geyser-like, upward to a progressively smaller minority of society's most affluent [35], which, in turn, opens a window of opportunity for authoritarian, narcissistic leaders to emerge [36].…”