Premium
Effects of Soliciting Opinions on Contributions to a Public Good 1
Author(s) -
Allison Scott T.,
Messick David M.,
Samuelson Charles D.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1985.tb00896.x
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , social identity theory , identity (music) , perception , post hoc , field (mathematics) , ingroups and outgroups , social group , medicine , physics , mathematics , dentistry , neuroscience , acoustics , pure mathematics
In a field study, subjects were mailed a request for a monetary contribution toward the maintenance of a public good. One half the subjects received only this request, while the other half received the request along with a short questionnaire that asked for subjects' opinions regarding how their contributions might be best put to use. It was predicted that subjects to whom questionnaires were sent, through enhanced perceptions of efficacy and ingroup identity, would contribute more money than subjects not given the opportunity to communicate their opinions The results, however, indicated that the manipulation had the reverse effect: subjects in the questionnaire condition contributed less money than subjects in the nequestionnaire condition. A post hoc explanation for the data based on the notion of “symbolic” helping actions is provided, and implications for solicitation programs and for research on social dilemmas are discussed.