principle of care and giving to help people in need

Principle of Careand

Giving to Help People in Need

René BekkersPhilanthropic Studies, VU University

AmsterdamMark Ottoni-Wilhelm

Economics/Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, IUPUI

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Moral Development

• A universal moral principle that one should help those in need is the highest stage in theories of moral development.

• It builds on empathic concern –responsiveness to others’ emotions.

• Empathy works best with friends/family.

• The principle of care proscribes helping regardless of one’s social relationship with those in need.

October 10, 2014 PGPE Conference, Warsaw University

This evokes empathy


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This evokes the principle


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The Measure – Sample Items

1. People should be willing to help others who are less fortunate.

2. Everybody in this world has a responsibility to help others when they need assistance.

3 (*). These days people need to look after themselves and not overly worry about others.

4. When people are less fortunate, it is important to help them even if they are very different from us.


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Two hypotheses

1. The Principle of Care – Giving HypothesisStronger endorsement of the principle of care increases giving to help people in need.

2. The Empathic Concern – Mediation HypothesisThe principle of care is why empathic concern is related to help people in need.


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Previous findings

• The principle of care predicts a wide variety of helping behaviors in a national sample of US citizens (GSS2002-2004).

• 75% to 100% of the relationship between empathic concern and helping behaviors is mediated by the principle of care.

• These findings are strongest for helping people in need known in the abstract.

Source: Ottoni-Wilhelm, M. & Bekkers, R. (2010). Helping Behavior, Dispositional Empathic Concern, and the Principle of Care. Social Psychology Quarterly. 73(1): 11-32.


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Our Questions

• Does the principle of care also relate to giving in other countries?

• Does the principle of care also relate to amounts donated?

• Does the relationship persist over time?

• Even in experiments, in which giving is observed rather than self-reported?


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Innovations

• Data from large, representative sample surveys from the US and the Netherlands.

• More items = more reliable measure.• Longitudinal data spanning two years.• Observational evidence from experiments.• Focus on giving to help people in need.


Full principle of care scalea. People should be willing to help others who are less fortunate.b. Everybody in this world has a responsibility to help others when

they need assistance. c. These days people need to look after themselves and not overly

worry about others. d. When people are less fortunate, it is important to help them even

if they are very different from us.e. It is important to help one another so that the community in

general is a better place. f. Personally assisting people in trouble is very important to me.g. When thinking about helping people in trouble, it is important to

consider whether the people are like us or not.h. We should not care too much about the needs of people in other

parts of the world.


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IRI subscale sample items

• Empathic concern: “I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me”

• Perspective taking: “I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective”

• Personal distress: “Being in a tense emotional situation scares me”


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Study 1: Self-reported giving to basic needs, combined funds, and

international aid (ANES)

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$ p

er

year

N=2,264Base: $ 401


Study 2: Self-reported giving to national and international aid

organizations (FSDP)

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% g

ivin

g

N=2,605Base: 54%



organizations (GINPS10)

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€ p

er

year

N=1,765Base: € 37



organizations (GINPS08)

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€ p

er

year

N=1,280Base: € 37


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Study 4: Altruism Experiment

• 85 undergrads received $5 show up fee and made anonymous decisions on $40

• Donations go to Red Cross to buy books for children whose family home had been destroyed by a fire.

• How do people respond to experimenters increasing their donations?

• Scales are completed after 6 decisions were made. Source: Ottoni-Wilhelm, M., Vesterlund, L. and Xie, H. (2014). “Why Do

People Give? Testing Pure and Impure Altruism." NBER Working Paper 20497.


Study 4: Observed giving to the Red Cross in experiment (VOX)

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$

N=85Base: $ 21


Study 5: Observed giving of reward to (inter) national health charities in

experiment (GINPS)

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€

N=1,280Base: €0.64


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Strong support for hypotheses

1. The Principle of Care – Giving HypothesisStronger endorsement of the principle of care increases giving to help people in need.

2. The Empathic Concern – Mediation HypothesisThe principle of care is why empathic concern is related to help people in need.


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Conclusions

• The scale is valid, reliable, and stable.• The Principle of Care is an important

motive for giving to help people in need.

• Not merely for concurrent measures, but also for giving measured in the future.

• Not just for self-reported, but also for observed measures of generosity.


What’s next?

• Observe giving in an experiment.• First measure empathic concern and

the principle of care. • Then: induce empathy by instructions

to imagine what victims feel like.• Or: induction of the principle of care

by instructions to state the morally right decision.

21October 10, 2014 PGPE Conference, Warsaw University

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Authors

• René Bekkers, Center for Philanthropic Studies, VU University Amsterdam, [email protected]

• Mark Ottoni-Wilhelm, Center on Philanthropy, IUPUI, [email protected]


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

principle of care and giving to help people in need

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