Cost and Dependency as Determinants of Helping and Exploitation

Abstract

An experiment in a naturalistic setting investigated the effects of the cost of helping and the dependency and need of a recipient on whether she was helped or exploited. There were 2 levels each (high and low) of cost, dependency, and need. Forty-eight male subjects, 24 at each level of cost, interacted with each of four female experimental confederates who represented different combinations of levels of dependency and need. Subjects role-played a job applicant, and each dyad bargained over an hourly wage agreement. The extent to which the subject helped or exploited the confederate was defined as correlated with the wage at which he agreed to be hired: the higher his wage, the less the help or the greater the exploitation. The primary result, as in Schaps' (1972) study, was a cost by dependency interaction. However, while Schaps' interaction was primarily due to greater help given to the highly dependent other under low cost, the present interaction was primarily due to greater exploitation of the highly dependent other under high cost. Possible reasons for this divergence are discussed.