Awareness of interpersonal consequences, responsibility denial, and volunteering.

Abstract

Tested the effects on helping of 2 factors presumed to influence awareness of consequences for others. It was hypothesized that helping increases (a) as the salience of consequences in the situation increases, and (b) when consequences are not salient, as the individual tendency to think spontaneously of consequences to others increases. The tendency to accept vs deny responsibility for the consequences of one's own behavior was also hypothesized to increase helping, but no effect for internal-external control was anticipated. 70 female undergraduates, who had completed relevant personality scales, received telephone appeals to help raise money for Head Start, in which salience of the consequences of volunteering was manipulated. All hypotheses were confirmed. A highrefusal rate among those high on awareness of consequences who were exposed to high salience is discussed in terms of reactance thresholds. The internal-external control results suggest conditions under which internal-external control influences helping. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)