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PubMed1991

Empathic joy and the empathy-altruism hypothesis.

Three experiments tested whether empathy evokes egoistic motivation to share vicariously in the victim's joy at improvement (the empathic-joy hypothesis) instead of altruistic motivation to increase the victim's welfare (the empathy-altruism hypothesis). In Experiment 1, Ss induced to feel either low or high empathy for a young woman in need were given a chance to help her. Some believed that if they helped they would receive feedback about her improvement; others did not. In Experiments 2 and 3, Ss induced to feel either low or high empathy were given a choice of getting update information about a needy person's condition. Before choosing, they were told the likelihood of the person's condition having improved--and of their experiencing empathic joy--was 20%, was 50%, or was 80%. Results of none of the experiments patterned as predicted by the empathic-joy hypothesis; instead, results of each were consistent with the empathy-altruism hypothesis.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

The altruistic personality: in what contexts is it apparent?

Hypotheses concerning the specific contexts in which an altruistic personality might be most apparent were investigated. College students completed questionnaires tapping components of an altruistic personality, emotionality, and social desirability. At a 2nd session, the emotional evocativeness and ease of escape from the helping situation were experimentally manipulated. Ss were exposed to a distressed woman, completed state sympathy and personal distress indexes, and were given an opportunity to assist the woman. High scorers on dispositional altruism were expected to assist most when escape was easy, particularly when the distress cues were obvious. Altruistic and emotionally reactive persons were also expected to help most in a psychologically "weak" environment. Both predictions were supported. The relations between helping and the other predictors were also examined.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Defensiveness in response to aid from a sibling.

Defensive reactions to aid in the context of a close relationship were studied. Young adult siblings reported on their self-esteem, the quality of the sibling relationship, relevant demographic variables, and a variety of components of defensiveness to aid. Consistent with theory, the components of defensiveness were interrelated. A large percentage (52%) of the variance in defensiveness was accounted for by conflict between siblings, dominance relative to one's sibling, low global self-esteem, high self-esteem when comparing oneself with one's sibling, and low levels of feelings of entitlement. Siblings were least defensive in reaction to aid from older and female siblings. Corroboration from a subset of benefactor siblings was obtained. The results are discussed in relation to recent thinking about the nature of receiving support in close relationships and recipients' reactions to aid.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Overhelping.

Overhelping occurs when one attempts to spoil an observer's impression of a performer by explicitly helping the performer achieve a goal, thereby inviting the observer to attribute the performer's success to the help. The results of 4 experiments suggest (a) that people are most likely to overhelp when they believe that their interventions will be ineffective but will be considered effective by observers and (b) that when either of these beliefs is wrong, the strategy will backfire. The results point to an intervention principle that predicts how and when people may most effectively influence a performance so as to shape observer's inferences about the performer.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Received and perceived social support in times of stress: a test of the social support deterioration deterrence model.

The authors evaluated the impact of receiving social support on subsequent levels of perceived social support and psychological distress in 2 independent samples of victims of severe natural disasters: Hurricane Hugo (n = 498) and Hurricane Andrew (n = 404). A social support deterioration deterrence model was proposed that stipulated that postdisaster mobilization of received support counteracts the deterioration in expectations of support often experienced by victims of major life events. LISREL analyses of data collected 12 and 24 months after Hugo and 6 and 28 months after Andrew provided strong evidence for the hypothesized model: Perceived support mediated the long-term effects on distress of both scope of disaster exposure and postdisaster received support. Theoretical and application issues of social support are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

Construing action abstractly and blurring social distinctions: implications for perceiving homogeneity among, but also empathizing with and helping, others.

Most people's actions serve goals that, defined abstractly enough, are quite similar to one another. The authors thus proposed, and found, that construing action in abstract (vs. concrete) terms relates to perceiving greater similarity among persons both within and across different social groups (Studies 1-3). By fostering perspective taking, viewing action abstractly also related to empathizing with and expressing willingness to help nonstigmatized and stigmatized others (e.g., AIDS patients; Studies 3-5) and to donating money to help those in need (Study 6). These findings held when controlling for ideological, motivational, and broad personality variables. Abstract action construals, then, appear to blur social distinctions, fostering perspective taking and empathy on the one hand but also perceptions of group homogeneity on the other.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

The influence of cancer patients' symptoms and functional states on patients' depression and family caregivers' reaction and depression.

In this article the paths among cancer patients' physical and mental health and the reactions and mental health of their family caregivers were examined. Data for these analyses came from a cross-sectional sample of cancer patients who were recruited through ambulatory outpatient chemotherapy units, and their family caregivers. Patients' depression was explained largely by their symptomatology and, to a lesser extent, by loss of mobility. Patients' physical limitations impacted caregivers' daily schedules but not their physical health. Patients' levels of depression were related to those of their caregivers. However, caregivers' optimism proved to be a significant predictor of their mental health and reactions to caregiving.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1998

Caregiving from the recipient's perspective: negative reactions to being helped.

This study investigated predictors of negative reactions to assistance provided to a physically disabled spouse (n = 276, M age: 76.6 years) and the consequences that negative reactions may have for the mental health of the care recipient. Nearly 40% of recipients reported some emotional distress in response to help they received. Fatalistic attitudes, perceived control, and lower self-esteem predicted greater helping distress, whereas lower self-esteem, fatalistic beliefs, and marital conflict were especially likely to lead to helping distress for those who received higher levels of assistance. Helping distress was also found to predict depression as much as 1 year later, suggesting that there may be long-term consequences of negative reactions to assistance. These findings have important implications for the study of caregiving and the relationship between physical impairment and depression.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1986

Illness representations: a prototype approach.

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that laypeople cognitively organize and recall information about physical symptoms according to prototyped conceptions they have of physical diseases. Based on pilot studies that identified the extent to which subjects associated specified symptoms with specific diseases, symptom sets were assembled to vary in the extent to which the symptoms were perceived to be associated with (to be prototypical of) a given disease. Experiment 1 asked subjects to indicate whether a given set of symptoms indicated a disease and, if so, which one. Experiment 2 tested subjects' recall for symptom sets varying in prototypicality for given diseases and also tested the effects on recall of giving subjects a diagnosis. Results of both experiments support the prototype hypothesis that information about physical symptoms is organized and processed according to people's preexisting beliefs about the association between particular symptoms and diseases. Implications for illness behavior and help seeking are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Age-cohort differences in treating symptoms of mental illness: a process approach.

This study examines age-cohort differences in conceptually organizing, observing, and responding to unclustered symptoms of mental illness. Older (M = 70.8) and younger (M = 19.9) adults sorted symptoms of depression, schizophrenia, and age-associated changes into similarity groupings. Hierarchical cluster analysis showed that both older and younger adults sorted the statements similarly, although labels given for depressive symptoms differed across groups. Participants then reported which symptoms they had observed within their families and listed what actions were taken. Age groups showed significant differences in symptom reporting, with older individuals observing depressive symptoms less frequently. There were small differences in the kinds of actions reported. These results suggest that differences in help-seeking behavior for mental illness may be explained by differences in the way symptoms are observed by younger and older cohorts.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Effects of interpersonal control, perspective taking, and attributions on older mothers' and adult daughters' satisfaction with their helping relationships.

Older mother-adult daughter dyads (N = 44) were interviewed separately about 3 variables hypothesized to affect satisfaction with the help provided to mothers by their daughters: feelings of interpersonal control, perspective-taking abilities, and attributions made about the self and other dyad member during positive and negative helping interactions. The most important predictors of partner satisfaction were mothers' and daughters' ability to accurately perceive the partner's feelings about the helping relationship and their feelings of interpersonal control. The most salient predictors of mothers' and daughters' own satisfaction were the attributions they made about the partner during a negative helping situation and their feelings of interpersonal control. These findings underscore the importance of considering interpersonal psychological variables in research concerned with helping relationships in later life.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Distributions of caregiving tasks among family members: the place of gender and availability.

To extend family-oriented approaches to caregiving, participants in 2 studies were asked to distribute tasks among a set of adult children, first with information only about gender and then with systematically varied information about commitments to paid work, marriage, and/or parenting. Making the distributions, using a computer-based program, were 2 groups of older adults (ages 60 to 90 years). In Study 1, gender composition was kept constant (2 sons and 2 daughters). In Study 2, it was varied. The results showed several ways in which people combine attention to gender and to availability. The results also pointed to the need to consider both the number and type of tasks allocated. The results are discussed in terms of implications for the way caregiving is regarded, the development of multiple-factor models for variations among family members, and the possible replications and extensions to other circumstances and populations.

Aged↗
PubMed2003

From children's hands to adults' ears: gesture's role in the learning process.

Children can express thoughts in gesture that they do not express in speech--they produce gesture-speech mismatches. Moreover, children who produce mismatches on a given task are particularly ready to learn that task. Gesture, then, is a tool that researchers can use to predict who will profit from instruction. But is gesture also useful to adults who must decide how to instruct a particular child? We asked 8 adults to instruct 38 third- and fourth-grade children individually in a math problem. We found that the adults offered more variable instruction to children who produced mismatches than to children who produced no mismatches--more different types of instructional strategies and more instructions that contained two different strategies, one in speech and the other in gesture. The children thus appeared to be shaping their own learning environments just by moving their hands. Gesture not only reflects a child's understanding but can play a role in eliciting input that could shape that understanding. As such, it may be part of the mechanism of cognitive change.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

When it is better to give than to receive: long-term health effects of perceived reciprocity in support exchange.

The authors examined esteem enhancement theory and equity theory in explaining the long-term health status of men (n = 178) and women (n = 575). Baseline characteristics were measured in 1990-1993, intimate reciprocity in 1993, and recorded sickness absences for a 9-year period during 1993-2001. Among women, giving more support than receiving in intimate relationships positively affected subsequent health status, as indicated by fewer sickness absences. Among men, receiving more support than giving predicted fewer absences. These effects remained even after significant covariates were included in the model. Thus, women seem to benefit from giving support in intimate relationships, and men seem to benefit from receiving support in intimate relationships. The findings on women are in line with the esteem enhancement theory. No support was obtained for the equity theory.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Intergroup helping as status relations: Effects of status stability, identification, and type of help on receptivity to high-status group's help.

Integrating research on social identity processes and helping relations, the authors proposed that low-status group members who are high identifiers will be unwilling to receive help from the high-status group when status relations are perceived as unstable and help is dependency-oriented. The first experiment, a minimal group experiment, found negative reactions to help from a high-status outgroup when status relations were unstable. The 2nd and 3rd experiments, which used real groups of Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews, replicated this finding and showed that high identifiers were less receptive to help from the high-status outgroup than low identifiers. The 4th experiment, a help-seeking experiment with real groups of competing high schools, found that the least amount of help was sought from a high-status group by high identifiers when status relations were perceived as unstable and help was dependency-oriented. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Anxiety disorders research with African Americans: current status.

Anxiety disorders are the most common psychiatric disorders in the general population of the United States. Recent findings indicate that the prevalence of certain anxiety disorders may be higher in African Americans. In addition, anxiety disorders in African Americans may be manifested differently. Despite the high prevalence and the suggestion of different patterns of manifestation, a paucity of research exists on anxiety disorders in this population. This may be due in part to the pattern of help-seeking behavior among African Americans, a negative perception of research by members of this community, the small number of African American researchers, and perhaps to some extent a general disinterest on the part of researchers. The available research on anxiety disorders in African Americans is critically reviewed, the need for research in the area is highlighted, and ways to facilitate such research are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

A developmental model of recipients' reactions to aid.

A developmental model of recipients' reactions to aid, which is based on the threat-to-self-esteem model (the dominant theoretical framework in the field), is presented. Various refinements of the threat-to-self-esteem model are proposed to extend its range of applicability and heuristic value to encompass the study of children's reactions to aid. The moderating influences of developmental changes in cognitions regarding self and others, as well as in children's social environment, are examined. Literature from a variety of sources that is relevant to children's reactions to aid, or to processes that may be involved, is reviewed and discussed in light of our model.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Increasing participation of blood donors in a bone-marrow registry.

In an experiment to increase recruitment of unrelated bone-marrow donors, Ss were selected from a list of people who had donated blood within the past 24 months. They were randomly assigned to 3 groups. Members of the experimental group, 2 months before receiving a mailed brochure about a bone-marrow registry, were complimented on being blood donors and asked to complete a self-descriptive questionnaire. One control group received only the mailed brochure, and the other did not receive any mailing. The experimental group joined the registry at over 2 times the control-group rates. These results appear to be attributable to an attitude change associated with being recognized as a special group that contributed to the community's welfare.

Blood Donors↗