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Learning From Service: The Effect of Helping on Helpers' Social Dominance Orientation
Author(s) -
BROWN MARGARET A.
Publication year - 2011
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.1559-1816.2011.00738.x
Subject(s) - psychology , dominance (genetics) , empathy , service learning , social psychology , social dominance orientation , affect (linguistics) , service (business) , pedagogy , communication , politics , biochemistry , chemistry , authoritarianism , political science , law , democracy , gene , economy , economics
Helping behavior can affect the power dynamics between social groups (Nadler, 2002). The present research investigated whether helping also affects one's views of those power dynamics, as indexed by social dominance orientation (SDO) scores (Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, & Malle, 1994). College students in an introductory psychology course were randomly assigned to a helping (service learning) group or a control group. Students in the helping group participated in 18 hr of community service over 9 weeks, and showed a significant decrease in SDO, compared to the control group. Empathy mediated the relationship between helping and SDO. The pedagogical implications of service learning are also discussed, as are the potential moderating roles of helping type and contact.