Altruism in College Women

Abstract

Sociometric ratings by sorority women were used reliably to nominate women who were altruistic and nonaltruistic. Evidence for convergent validity was found through high correlations between sociometric altruism and sociometric friendliness and trust while evidence for discriminate validity was inferred when sociometric altruism was unrelated to sociometric independence and physical attractiveness. The top and bottom 20% of the 207 sorority women were individually interviewed. The women responded to five altruism situations and to questions in 12 areas relevant to altruism. Sociometric altruism was strongly correlated with interview altruism measures. However, the responses of the altruistic women in the interview did not correspond completely to the ideal-type definition of altruism used in the nominating procedure. Rather than being motivated to help another through intrinsic satisfaction experienced when aiding another, the altruistic women appear to be motivated by conceptions of reciprocity and mutuality in friendly interpersonal relations. Less altruistic women are more concerned with a contractual reciprocity.