Psychology 3720F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Sad Movie, Personal Distress

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 3720F/G
• Professor: katz

Document Summary

Personal influences on helping: role of emotional factors. Primary measure was the percentage of those who volunteer: hypothesis was that the people who received free cookies would be more likely to volunteer. 70% of those who were offered free cookies volunteered compared to only 50% of those (cid:449)ho did(cid:374)"t get free (cid:272)ookies (cid:862)the good (cid:373)ood effe(cid:272)t(cid:863) Few findings are more consistent: happy people are helpful people. What if participants were asked to play the role of a pest rather than a helper. 60% of those who got no free cookies volunteered and only 30% of those who were offered cookies volunteered. Those who were offered free cookies were not only more likely to help people, but less likely to pester people. People are more likely to donate to charity after watching a happy movie than a sad movie: why do people help when in a good mood.