Beyond the façade of generosity-Regional stereotypes within the same national culture influence prosocial behaviors.

We analyzed prosocial behaviors in a field experiment (N = 307) conducted in an urban context (Timisoara, Banat region, Romania), starting from a classical Cross-Cultural Psychology research organized in UK and Iran by Collet & O'Shea in 1976. If the evoked study is focused on comparing pro...

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Main Authors: Alin Gavreliuc, Dana Gavreliuc, Alin Semenescu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250125
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spelling doaj-8445074a2b194777bc547ad96e3a564e2021-05-30T04:30:50ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032021-01-01165e025012510.1371/journal.pone.0250125Beyond the façade of generosity-Regional stereotypes within the same national culture influence prosocial behaviors.Alin GavreliucDana GavreliucAlin SemenescuWe analyzed prosocial behaviors in a field experiment (N = 307) conducted in an urban context (Timisoara, Banat region, Romania), starting from a classical Cross-Cultural Psychology research organized in UK and Iran by Collet & O'Shea in 1976. If the evoked study is focused on comparing prosocial behaviors in two very different national cultures (UK vs. Iran), we compared helping strangers strategies within the same national culture in relation to the regional identities of the help-seeking subjects. A behavioral scenario was created by asking naïve participants to offer support and give directions to a place even if they did not know its whereabouts. Drawing on social identity theory, it was tested whether regional belonging of the help-seeker (in-group vs. out-group) predicts the availability of help-givers for offering help, their availability for giving wrong directions, as well as their emotional expressiveness. Results are interpreted within the perspective of social distance between groups and show that the more distant regional identities are perceived to be, the less generous help-givers are, both in terms of their decision to help and to give wrong directions, as well as in their expressed emotions.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250125
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Alin Gavreliuc
Dana Gavreliuc
Alin Semenescu
spellingShingle Alin Gavreliuc
Dana Gavreliuc
Alin Semenescu
Beyond the façade of generosity-Regional stereotypes within the same national culture influence prosocial behaviors.
PLoS ONE
author_facet Alin Gavreliuc
Dana Gavreliuc
Alin Semenescu
author_sort Alin Gavreliuc
title Beyond the façade of generosity-Regional stereotypes within the same national culture influence prosocial behaviors.
title_short Beyond the façade of generosity-Regional stereotypes within the same national culture influence prosocial behaviors.
title_full Beyond the façade of generosity-Regional stereotypes within the same national culture influence prosocial behaviors.
title_fullStr Beyond the façade of generosity-Regional stereotypes within the same national culture influence prosocial behaviors.
title_full_unstemmed Beyond the façade of generosity-Regional stereotypes within the same national culture influence prosocial behaviors.
title_sort beyond the façade of generosity-regional stereotypes within the same national culture influence prosocial behaviors.
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
series PLoS ONE
issn 1932-6203
publishDate 2021-01-01
description We analyzed prosocial behaviors in a field experiment (N = 307) conducted in an urban context (Timisoara, Banat region, Romania), starting from a classical Cross-Cultural Psychology research organized in UK and Iran by Collet & O'Shea in 1976. If the evoked study is focused on comparing prosocial behaviors in two very different national cultures (UK vs. Iran), we compared helping strangers strategies within the same national culture in relation to the regional identities of the help-seeking subjects. A behavioral scenario was created by asking naïve participants to offer support and give directions to a place even if they did not know its whereabouts. Drawing on social identity theory, it was tested whether regional belonging of the help-seeker (in-group vs. out-group) predicts the availability of help-givers for offering help, their availability for giving wrong directions, as well as their emotional expressiveness. Results are interpreted within the perspective of social distance between groups and show that the more distant regional identities are perceived to be, the less generous help-givers are, both in terms of their decision to help and to give wrong directions, as well as in their expressed emotions.
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250125
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