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The effects of group memberships of victims and perpetrators in humanly caused disasters on charitable donations to victims
Author(s) -
James Trevor Keith,
Zagefka Hanna
Publication year - 2017
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/jasp.12452
Subject(s) - psychology , ingroups and outgroups , social psychology , empathy , group (periodic table) , salient , in group favoritism , social group , social identity theory , political science , law , chemistry , organic chemistry
Abstract The effects of group memberships of disaster victims and perpetrators on charitable donations were measured. In Study 1 ( N = 92), victim group membership was experimentally varied to demonstrate an ingroup bias. In Study 2 ( N = 84), a similar bias was demonstrated by varying perpetrator group membership. In Study 3 ( N = 182), both victim and perpetrator group memberships were assessed. Perpetrator group membership interacted with victim group membership. Moreover, donations were highest when both victims and perpetrators shared a group membership. These effects were mediated by empathy with the victims, and perceived responsibility of the donor to intervene and aid the victim. Findings show that a salient perpetrator group can be harnessed to encourage helping of disaster victims.