A field study was conducted in which the helping behavior of 440 adults was measured under hot, comfortable, or cold temperatures. A subject was given an opportunity to help an experimenter by (1) answering a questionnaire, (2) picking up dropped groceries, (3) looking for a lost contact lens, or (4) picking up a dropped book while the experimenter walked on crutches. No support was found for the hypothesis that hot and cold temperature inhibit the display of helping behavior.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BARON, R. A. and P. A. BELL (1976) "Aggression and heat: the influence of ambient temperature, negative affect, and a cooling drink on physical aggression."J. of Personality and Social Psychology33: 245-255.
2.
BARON, R. A. and P. A. BELL (1975) "Aggression and heat: mediating effects of prior provocation and exposure to an aggressive model."J. of Personality and Social Psychology31: 825-832.
3.
Canadian Meteorological Branch (1967) Wind Chill Tables. Toronto: Canadian Department of Transport.
4.
GRIFFITT, W. (1970) "Environmental effects on interpersonal affective behavior: ambient effective temperature and attraction."J. of Personality and Social Psychology15: 240-244.
5.
GRIFFITT, W. and R. VEITCH (1971) "Hot and crowded: influence of population density and temperature on interpersonal affective behavior."J. of Personality and Social Psychology17: 92-98.
6.
MACCOBY, E. E. and C. N. JACKLIN (1974) The Psychology of Sex Differences. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
7.
MOORE, B. S. , B. UNDERWOOD, and D. L. ROSENHAN (1973) "Affect and altruism."Developmental Psychology8: 99-104.
8.
ROSS, A. S. (1970) "The effect of observing a helpful model on helping behavior."J. of Social Psychology81: 131-132.
9.
SCHNEIDER, F. W. (1973) "When will a stranger lend a helping hand?"J. of Social Psychology90: 335-336.
10.
SCHNEIDER, F. W. and Z. MOCKUS (1974) "Failure to find a rural-urban difference in incidence of altruistic behavior."Psych. Reports35: 294.
11.
TERJUNG, W. H. (1966) "Physiologic climates of the conterminous United States: a bioclimatic classification based on man."Annals of the Assn. of Amer. Geographers56: 144-179.
12.
U.S. Riot Commission (1968) Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. New York: Bantam Books.
13.
WAGNER, C. and L. WHEELER (1969) "Model, need, and cost effects in helping behavior."J. of Personality and Social Psychology12: 111-116.
14.
ZIMBARDO, P. G. (1969) "The human choice: individuation, reason, and order versus deindividuation, impulse, and chaos." In W. J. Arnold and D. Levine (eds.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1969.
