THE EFFECT OF PROSOCIAL LABEL ON HELPING BEHAVIOR

Abstract

The present experiment was conducted to separate the effects of prosocial label and positive feeling on helping behavior by manipulating these two factors independently. Subjects (76 female undergraduate students) were assigned randomly to 4 conditions: labeling condition (L); positive feeling condition (P); labeling and positive feeling condition (LP); control condition (C). In L condition, subjects were induced to select a prosocial label for their personality trait. In P condition, subjects completed a bogus task and were given positive feedback. In LP condition, subjects received both treatment in L and treatment P. In C condition, subjects did not select any label and were not given any feedback. The dependent variable was measured according to the occrrence of helping behavior when the ex perimenter was in trouble and the data of ques tionnaire. The percentage of the helpers in each condition was L (73.7), P (68.4), LP (84.2), C (26.3). The result indicated that labeling was effective in facilitating helping behavior without positive feeling.