Open AccessHappy to help—if it’s not too sad: The effect of mood on helping identifiable and unidentifiable victims
Author(s) -
Hagit Sabato,
Tehila Kogut
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0252278
Subject(s) - identifiability , mood , donation , psychology , preference , social psychology , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , machine learning , computer science , economics , microeconomics , economic growth
People’s preference to help single victims about whom they have some information is known as the identifiable victim effect . Previous research suggests that this effect stems from an intensive emotional reaction toward specific victims. The findings of two studies consistently show that the identifiability effect is attenuated when the subject is in a positive mood. Study 1 (along with a pilot study) demonstrate causal relationships between mood and identifiability, while using different manipulations to induce moods. In both studies, donations to identified victims exceeded donations to unidentified people—in the Negative Mood manipulations—while participants in the Positive Mood conditions showed no such preference. In Study 2, individual differences in people’s moods interacted with the recipient’s identifiability in predicting donations, demonstrating that the identifiability effect is attenuated by a positive mood. In addition, emotional reactions toward the victims replicate the donation pattern, suggesting emotions as a possible explanation for the observed donation pattern.