Complete Schedule
Gender Differences in Helping and Receiving Help across the United States and India
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Abstract
In short-term encounters with strangers, North American men tend to help more than women, and women to receive more help than men (Eagly & Crowley, 1986). With friends, however, American women may be more likely to offer help (Belansky & Boggiano, 1994). There is little research on how gender and relationship affect helping in nonwestern cultures. Indians regard a failure to help in various situations morally, whereas Americans tend to regard helping as a matter of personal choice (Miller & Luthar, 1989), which may suggest differences in who and when they would help. In this study, 172 U.S. and 140 Indian college students completed measures of personality and indicated how likely it was that a person in each of eight scenarios would help someone else. Scenarios varied by gender of the potential helper, gender of the helpee, and relationship of the two persons (stranger vs. friend). Across both cultures, participants were less likely to expect the actor to help the male stranger. In the United States, helping expectations for men and women were fairly similar, but in India, men were seen as more likely to help than women in all situations except with the male stranger.
Start Date
25-4-2015 8:30 AM
End Date
25-4-2015 9:45 AM
Faculty Advisor
Helen C. Harton
Copyright
©2015 Salomi Aladia and Helen C. Harton
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Aladia, Salmoi and Harton, Helen C., "Gender Differences in Helping and Receiving Help across the United States and India" (2015). INSPIRE Student Research and Engagement Conference. 4.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/csbsresearchconf/2015/all/4
Gender Differences in Helping and Receiving Help across the United States and India
In short-term encounters with strangers, North American men tend to help more than women, and women to receive more help than men (Eagly & Crowley, 1986). With friends, however, American women may be more likely to offer help (Belansky & Boggiano, 1994). There is little research on how gender and relationship affect helping in nonwestern cultures. Indians regard a failure to help in various situations morally, whereas Americans tend to regard helping as a matter of personal choice (Miller & Luthar, 1989), which may suggest differences in who and when they would help. In this study, 172 U.S. and 140 Indian college students completed measures of personality and indicated how likely it was that a person in each of eight scenarios would help someone else. Scenarios varied by gender of the potential helper, gender of the helpee, and relationship of the two persons (stranger vs. friend). Across both cultures, participants were less likely to expect the actor to help the male stranger. In the United States, helping expectations for men and women were fairly similar, but in India, men were seen as more likely to help than women in all situations except with the male stranger.
Comments
Location: Great Reading Room, Seerley Hall