Abstract
In the studies of helping behavior, researchers have focused on the phenomenon of people “giving or not giving” help. However, there seems to be a lack of research about the content of the help that is given and the effects on the recipients of the help. The purpose of this study was to rank various helping behaviors by their quality and to investigate the relationship between four personality traits, gender, and the quality of these helping behaviors. In the first study, thirty university students rated various helping behaviors in terms of their desirability, influence upon self-esteem, and costs. In the second study, one hundred and six university students responded to the questionnaire which included questions about empathy, self-exhibition, perseverance, and social extraversion. The results show helping behaviors can be ranked by their quality. The person with high empathy tends to exhibit both high and low quality helping behaviors. Also, women were more selective than men in choosing helping behaviors.
