Altruism Research

The Open University of Israel Faculty of Social Sciences BA Psychology Program Ψ 2007–12–24 [email protected]

A Good Samaritan Indeed? The Quest for non-Beneficial Altruism in the Material World

Research Seminar on Group Identification Course (10575)

Student Name: Igor Greenblat

Student ID Number: 308896638

Directed By: Dr. Gal Gorodeisky-Harpaz

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Contents

ABSTRACT 3

INTRODUCTION 4

THE RATIONALE OF CURRENT STUDY 4 REVIEW OF PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR EXPLANATIONS – CLASSIC THEORIES 5 PREDICTIONS OF A COSTLY-SIGNALING THEORY 6 INDEPENDENT VARIABLES 7 DEPENDENT VARIABLE 8 HYPOTHESES 9 THE INTEGRATIVE MODEL 11

METHOD 13

PARTICIPANTS 13 MATERIALS 13 PROCEDURE 14

RESULTS 15

PREMISE 15 PEARSON LINEAR CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS 15 INTERACTION HYPOTHESIS AND INTEGRATIVE MODEL VALIDATION 16

DISCUSSION 18

RESULTS SUMMARY 18 EVALUATING THE RESULTS 18 ALTRUISM AS A COSTLY SIGNAL 19 THE RELIGIOSITY PARADOX 22 THE NATURE OF ALTRUISM: INTENTIONAL "GREEDINESS" OR EVOLUTIONARY SURVIVAL MECHANISM? 23 "EVOLUTION OF COOPERATION" – THE GAME THEORY 24 PSYCHOLOGICAL EGOISM 24 HERBERT SIMON AND THE BOUNDED RATIONALITY 25 IS IT GOOD TO BE GOOD? 25 DRAWBACKS AND "WEAK POINTS" OF THE CURRENT STUDY 25 THE EPILOGUE – SOME INSIGHTS ON ALTRUISM IN THE NEW MILLENNIA AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 26

REFERENCES 28

APPENDIXES 37

APPENDIX I: THE RELIGIOUS COMMITMENT INVENTORY (RCI-10) 10-ITEM SELF-IDENTIFICATION SCALE 37 APPENDIX II: MEHRABIAN'S 11-ITEM CONFORMITY SCALE 38 APPENDIX III: ROSENBERG'S SELF-ESTEEM 10-ITEM SCALE 39 APPENDIX IV: THE PROSOCIAL TENDENCIES MEASURED – REVISED (PTM-R) 23-ITEM SCALE 40

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 42

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Abstract The study examines the ability of three independent variables (personal self-esteem,

social conformity and religiosity level) to predict tendency towards prosocial behavior. Each

of one hundred and twenty participants drawn from heterogenic population completed a

questionnaire containing four sub-tests measuring the attributes. The Introduction chapter

presents a review of classic and modern theories on prosociality, hypotheses of the present

study derive from theories in a field of social psychology. Additionally an integrative

theoretical model underlying the relations between the variables is suggested; an interaction

hypothesis predicting the strongest effect is proposed as well. The population of the research,

data collecting method and materials are presented in the Method chapter. The summary of

empiric results of the research followed by statistical analyses is presented in the Results

chapter. In the final chapter the results and their implication are discussed; the Discussion

chapter includes the dispute on nature of human altruism as well, whether it is "impure"

(motivated by the expectation of material rewards of self-interest) or "pure", meaning people

help as a consequence of personal traits, which form the "altruistic personality" or out of a

sense of duty to uphold certain moral principles. It is important to clarify, that the ability of

the current research to counterpoise such a complicated philosophic subject is restricted; the

goal is not to solve the altruism/egoism controversy, but to speculate the validity of the

popular conceptions regarding the issue. Both the theoretic question concerning the nature of

human altruism that will be raised in this study and the presented empiric research designed

to evaluate the predictors of prosociality are two corresponding paths of an effort to

understand the mechanism of prosociality.

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"We should often blush at our noblest deeds

If the world were to see all their underlying motives"

- Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Introduction The Rationale of Current Study

It is suggested that religiosity, self-esteem and social conformity are reliable predictors of

prosocial tendencies. Following the premises of Costly-Signaling Theory (firstly proposed

by Amotz Zahavi, 1975) prosocial tendencies are examples of social signaling behavior

patterns; religious, conformal and insecure people need to perform social signaling in order to

satisfy their psychological and evolutionary needs. Bulbulia (2004) reviewed the role of

religion as a reciprocal altruistic signaling pattern from the cognitive point of view. The

complexity of the links between prosociality and self-esteem was presented and discussed

recently (Carlo, G., Laible, D.J., & Roesch, S.C., 2004; Feather N.T., 1991; Ben-Shlomo, S.,

Findler, L., & Taubman-Ben-Ari, O., 2005). Although majority of research concerning the

conformity-prosociality linkage has been performed in twentieth century (Boyd &

Richerson's Conformist Transmission Model, 1985; Asch, 1951), the presumption that human

co-operative behavior is based on conformal socialization and "culturization" processes is

supported by the researchers nowadays and recently was validates by corresponding

computer model (Coultas, J.C., 2004). Applied scientists, such as organizational behavior

researchers are interested in implications of conformity-cooperation route on leadership and

followership (Van Vugt, M., 2005).

The current study presents an explanation of the correlations between the variables basing on

Costly-Signaling Theory and suggests comprehending humans as "benefit seekers", however

not claiming for the weighed utilitarianism of the human psyche, but rather targeting to

evolutional roots of prosociality. Costly-Signaling theory can be applied broadly to human

and non-human alike, and as such fascinating researchers in a wide range of fields, including

biology, economics, sociology, anthropology, political science, communication studies,

linguistics, philosophy, and psychology. Since the posteriori results of this study were not

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coherent with assumptions made a-priori, a broad presentation of the theoretic base was

crucial in order to re-evaluate the relations between the social values involved in the research.

Review of Prosocial Behavior Explanations – Classic Theories

The theoretical study of the never-ending competition between altruism and egoism is a

fascinating one with endless possibilities. Altruism (derived from French autre "another")

describes people's tendency to put the welfare of others ahead of their own. Why people act

altruistically? What drives people like Mother Theresa? No unanimity regarding the entity of

the topic achieved so far; appears that vast variety of conflicting views derive from different

conceptions of human nature, either psychological, evolutionary-biological or philosophic.

The psychoanalytical approach to altruism ties pro-social behavior (as a part of morality

values cluster) to Ego and Super-Ego formation processes, leaning on self-identification

patterns and unconscious internalization of social laws, represented by morality.

Psychotherapists emphasize the importance of identification and childhood experiences for

acquiring adult prosocial behavioral patterns. Adolescent behavior according to

psychoanalysis is characterized by tendency for self-satisfaction, so-called Adolescent

Egocentrism (Holder, 1995) and therefore prosocial tendencies evolve only in later period but

not in early childhood.

The Social and Emotional Development theory (Ericsson, 1959) emphasizes the importance

of parental treatment as well; a child, according to Ericsson, evolves basic trust or basic

distrust towards his parents and so his tendency towards pro-social behavior in the adulthood

is reinforced.

Social Learning Theories (Sears, Maccoby & Levin, 1957; Skinner, 1971; Bandura, 1977;

Mayer, Caruso, & Salovey, 1999) arise from behaviorist's claim, that pro-social behavior is

learned in person's social environment via modeling, positive and negative reinforcements of

expedient and non-expedient social behaviors and developed as a part of a much wider

socialization processes in which parents' role is critical. Pro-social skills are internalized

gradually, as long as the environment is not demanding major behavioral changes.

Cognitive development theories (Piaget, 1977; Kohlberg, 1958; Kohlberg, 1973 & Eisenburg,

1995) claim that the child is involved in an interactive relationship with his environment

since his birth; the necessary attendants of the interaction are assimilation and

accommodation processes of the socio-cognitive data; infant’s behavior will differ from his

peers' because of social data processing varieties. The pre-operational stage of cognitive

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language


development is characterized by egoistic and concrete cognitive patterns; mental

symbolization ability allows the child to see the world out of his egocentric point of view,

"through the eyes of others", to think abstractly and to understand the principles of

reciprocity.

The Socio-biological attachment approach (John Bowlby, 1958) is the most deterministic and

yet most optimistic among all other theories; Bowlby claims, that pro-social behavior is

programmed genetically in our DNA, its substantiation evolves as much as the environment

allows it. Jean-Jacques Rousseau suggests that human development is a positive process,

unless "interrupted by the society". Parents should not interfere their children’s natural

development, and so most of the juniors will make efforts to fulfill their parents' wishes

(Ainsworth, Bell and Stayton, 1974).

How a behavior that reduces an individual's fitness (naturally requiring selfishness) survived

the selective forces of natural selection? None of the classic theories speculates about the

motivational nature of human prosociality as well. The recent and most relevant for current

study approach in the area that dares to discuss core issues of altruistic motivation from

evolutionary point of view is Costly-Signaling Theory (CST). Costly signaling theory explains

how individuals use costly behaviors to spread partially concealed (in order to avoid

suspicion of bragging) information about their positive qualities, such as intelligence

(Dewitte, C. & Millet, K., 2007, in press) or social dominance (Neiman, 1999). According to

CST researchers, altruistic behavior is no more than a self-advertising strategy, showing off

the colorful peacock tail, a "way of positioning oneself for access to resources during

unforeseen future times of need" (Boone, 1998).

Predictions of a Costly-Signaling Theory

A costly signal is a “social signal whose reliability is ensured because its cost is greater than

required by efficacy requirements; the signal may be costly to produce, or have costly

consequences" (Harper & Smith, 2003). Costly signaling for purposes of mating, alliance

formation, and warning of potential enemies, although originally deriving from the animal

world has been reported among humans as well (Zahavi, 1977; Maynard Smith, 1991;

Johnstone, 1995; Wright, 1999 & Grafen, 2006). According to CST, altruistic actions are

"social signals", indicating the society about sender’s personal qualities. Seems that many

great acts of generosity, altruism and helping are expressions of pursuit for self-enhancement,

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motivated by the pursuit of self-esteem, and therefore guided by an egoistic concern

(Crocker&Park, 2004; Pysczcynski, Greenberg & Goldenberg, 2002; Solomon et al., 1991).

Moreover, costly signaling, in form of providing benefits to others, is able to solve the

problem of maintaining cooperation in a group (Gintis et. al, 2001). Since humans are "social

animals", the cooperation between and within social groups, including "genetic strangers", is

crucial for social success. Why humans invest time and energy in signaling to others? CST

predicts, that pro-social behavior towards others will occur only, if those who observe the

signal will respond with high probability in ways favorable to the signaler, in other words the

probable future benefit or "the expectation of deceit" for the performer is the motive altruistic

activity (Gintis et al., 2001).

Independent Variables

Self-esteem appears to be a major part of both personal and social self-definition, most often

it refers to the positivity of the one's global evaluation of the self. There are several

definitions of the term, including "the average tone of self-feeling that each of us carries

about with him, and which is independent of the objective reasons we may have for

satisfaction or discontent" (James, 1890), "a self-reflexive attitude that results from

conceiving the self as an object of evaluation" (Rosenberg, 1965) and "a basic universal

human need to feel good about ourselves" (Dutton &.Brown, 1997). Self-esteem is valuable

only when the self has social meaning and based on comparison to others, according to

Festinger's Social Comparison Theory (Festinger, 1954). Recent studies support the

importance of early adaptation of positive self-esteem for general positive social functioning

in adulthood (Feinstein, 2000), successful marriage (Shackelford, 2001), social attractiveness

(Lerner & Taylor, 2003) and stress immunity (Bonanno et al, 2002). Low self-esteem was

associated with negative cognitive schemes causing psychopathological problems (Van Zyl et

al., 2006), eating disorders such as obesity (Young-Hyman et al., 2003), anorexia and bulimia

(Erkolahti et al., 2002). Urdan and Midgley (2002) suggested that fear of failure and ridicule,

typical to "low self-estimators" is a motivator of self-handicapping behaviors.

Apparently, high self-esteem is a valuable and important virtue; those who lack it might

consider its achievement "effort-worthy" and invest energy (social signaling) in order to

boost their self-esteem.

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Conformity level – conformity is a tendency to change perceptions, cognitions or behavior, in

order to fit social norms (Cialdini & Goldstein, 2004). People avoid violating social norms,

knowing that exceptional opinion is not popular. Conformity also underlines one's

willingness to identify with others and emulate them, to avoid negative interactions and

generally to be a follower, rather than a leader in terms of ideas, values and behaviors (Van

Vugt, 2005); therefore conformity can be polarized to traits like opportunism, leadership and

risk-taking tendency. Sometimes conformal predisposition causes people to act accordingly

to acceptable "majority schematics" even if people know that those are completely wrong

(Asch, 1951; Sheriff, 1961). Apart the negative aspects, conformity helps to sustain group

stability and highly encouraged in some of the Eastern societies that admire collectivistic

values (Logan & Qirko, 1998). In the Western culture, conformity is not a valuable trait, but

rather a personal need based on a fear of social exclusion and peer's rejection (Miller, W.,

1958) that might require a satisfaction and therefore capable to catalyze social signaling.

Religiosity level – According to the consensus document from the National Institute for

Healthcare Research (Hill et al., 1998), religiosity is defined as “the feelings, thoughts,

experiences, and behaviors that arise from a search for the sacred”. The research of religiosity

fascinates scientists; some of the investigated issues are the relationship between religiosity

and socio-economic values (Garza & Neuman, 2004), addictive behaviors of religious people

(Nollen et al., 2004) and correlation of religiosity level and IQ (Clark, 2004). Religious

commitment is comprised of two aspects - religious consciousness and religious participation.

Religious consciousness is the degree by which individuals pursue the importance of religion

in everyday affairs while religious participation is the involvement in all activities pertaining

to religion (Abdon, N., 1997). The questionnaire included in this study is testing both.

Dependent variable

Prosocial behavior tendency – a tendency to be concerned with and helpful to others; will be

measured using 23-item PTR-M (Prosocial Tendencies Measure – Revised) questionnaire (5

– point Likert response scale), developed by Carlo, Christiansen, Haussmann and Randall.

Gustavo Carlo (Carlo et al., 2003) defined six types of prosocial behaviors: Public prosocial

behavior intended to benefit others enacted in the presence of others; Anonymous prosocial

behavior is a tendency to help others without other people's knowledge; Dire prosocial

behavior refer to helping other under crisis conditions; Emotional prosocial behavior benefits

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others enacted under emotionally loaded conditions; Compliant prosocial behavior means to

help upon being asked to; Altruism refers to helping others when there is a little or no

perceived potential for a direct, explicit reward to the self.

Hypotheses

Negative correlation between the self-esteem and altruistic behavior tendency. A pursuit of

self-esteem provides a powerful source of motivation (Crocker & Park, 2004). The "desired

self" (a self-image that an individual would like to be) is usually very positive; people attempt

to approximate their "actual self" (self-image that an individual believes that he or she has

about himself) to the "desired self" (Higgins, 1987). However, when people recognize that

these types of self have discrepancies, they might experience negative affects. The gap

between the actual and desired perceptions of the self, in some cases, pushes the person to

seek for equilibrium between defined sorts of self-perceptions according to Self-Efficacy

Theory (Bandura 1978a). Additionally, the Mattering (a feeling that one counts or really

makes a difference, Rosenberg, 1985) is a strong predictor of mental well-being and Elliott,

Colangelo and Gilles (2005) found an association between mattering and levels of self-

esteem, in other words positive self-image is corresponding with high level of self-efficiency.

Positive correlation between the level of conformity and altruistic behavior tendency. Social

norms support altruism by promoting conformity (Lindbeck & Nyberg, 2006). The

hypothesis is supported by Milgram's (1970) cognitive overload theory. From "Lost Letter

Technique" studies we conclude, that the level of social response differs between the urban

and the rural population – while city dwellers are expected to become generally indifferent to,

and make fewer differentiations between "unimportant others" due to the cognitive overload,

village and small towns inhabitants tend to be more "socially responsible". Altruism is

especially likely to be observed toward in-group members (Triandis, 1994). Since social

norms in "smaller" places are strict and social responsibility level is higher, greater

intolerance for social deviance as gay relationships and children born out of the marital frame

is observed in small towns. Higher levels of social conformity encourage (or encouraged by)

collectivist values as caring, cooperation, sense of "togetherness", group entitativity,

"normative" political beliefs, etc. The meaning of helping group members increases, this type

of altruistic behavior have much in similar with sociobiological mechanisms, which suggest

contribution to other's wealth in order to be rewarded in need. The conclusion from all the

stated above: conformity demands helping others, therefore positive correlation between the

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conformity level and the tendency to altruistic tendency is expected. Another factor that

might contribute to the linkage suggested above is the prediction of Janis' group think model

(Janis, 1982). According to the model, group conformity and groupthink positively correlate

with low personal self-esteem, which supposedly contributes to pro-social behavior.

Religion contributes to prosociality perceptions among Jewish population – high self-

indicated religiosity level predicts higher prosocial tendency, comparatively to secular

participants. The widespread assumption is that religion contributes to prosociality. Religion,

as part of culture provides mechanisms that control the natural destructiveness of humans

caused by their "greedy" tendencies, such as narcissism and sexual impulses (Freud, 1927).

Christian saints and holy figures are models of charity and altruism; their behaviors are

pragmatically risky, but important for the human community. Religious people tend to be (or

at least perceive themselves) as prosocial and helpful, agreeable and ready to forgive, many

see religion as "social adhesive", promoting altruism and mutuality. In contrast, the dominant

conclusion of Psychology of Religion is that religious people only appear to be helpful and

prosocial; they are preoccupied with their positive self-perception rather then by the needs of

others. Pfeuffer (2006) suggests that that religious involvement may be taken as an example

in a ’signaling’ approach to the evolution of cooperation, therefore participation in religious

activities allows to create a cost-benefit tradeoff. The contrast between the ideals and self-

perceptions of religious people on one hand and results of studies using other research

strategies in the other hand is so striking, that researchers may be tempted to suspect moral

hypocrisy in religious people. Significant amount of research performed in this subject

(Orbell, 1992; Smith & Kim, 2004), although most of the studies base on Christian morale

and its contribution to prosocial behavior. Christianity is proclaiming altruism even more

than its theological predecessor. While Judaism claims to pay an equal reward to an aggressor

– "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth", Jesus Christ's suggests his followers: "If anyone

strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take

your outer garment, give your undergarment as well; and if one of the occupation troops

forces you to carry his pack one mile, go two." (The New Testament, Matthew 5:38-41).

The Buddhist and the Islamic modus operandi seems to be “overly-altruistic” too: “The man

who foolishly does me wrong, I will return him the protection of my most ungrudging love”

(Buddha), “By no means shall you attain righteousness unless you spend of that which you

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love” (Qur’an 3:92), "None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves

for himself" (Saheeh Al-Bukhari, a Muslim scholar and poet). However, history tells us that

words and deeds are not always corresponding - hundreds of thousands were burned alive “in

the name of Jesus” by the holy inquisition; the hatred between Shiite Muslims and Sunnites

harvests thousands of dead bodies; in the 14th century Buddhist fighters led the uprising that

evicted the Mongols from China, killing thousands; in Japan, Buddhist monks trained

Samurai warriors in meditation that made them better killers; in the twentieth century

Japanese Zen masters wrote in support of Japan’s wars of aggression… Majority of the

research linking religion and altruism is based on Christian morale; the present study is

testing the religiosity – prosociality linkage among the Jewish population of Israel. It is

proposed that allegedly higher altruistic tendency underlined by an urge "to present a divine

kindness" is typical for Jewish religious people as well.

The integrative model

The subject of this paper – predicting altruistic behavior, is widely covered by broad

spectrum of researchers in a variety of academic fields – psychology, biology, sociology,

political science, economy, etc. The presented integrative model is based on socio-

evolutionary approach of Costly-Signaling Theory.

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The model above is coherent with proposed research hypotheses; in addition, it suggests the

social conformity level as a mediator between both religiosity and self-esteem variables and

altruism. According to the presented model, religiosity contributes to altruism both directly,

via religious norms of cooperation and charity and indirectly, mediated by social conformity.

Religion often demands boundless and blind obedience rather then understanding from its

followers (Wagener, 1998); the conformity constructed by obedience requires sticking to the

norms of majority, above the religion. People whose Self-Esteem level is low usually lack

individualistic qualities such as leadership and independent thinking, according to Janis'

group think model (Janis, 1982) group conformity and groupthink correlate with low personal

self-esteem.

Interaction Hypothesis: It was predicted that interaction of low Self-Esteem level with high

Religiosity and Conformity levels would have the strongest effect on Altruistic Behavior

Tendency.

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Method Participants

The sample was comprised of one hundred and twenty adult male and female participants -

seventy-four males and forty six females; ages ranged from 24.5 to 59 with mean of 33.7

years. All the participants are Israeli citizens, while Hebrew is a mother tongue for seventy-

eight of them and the remaining forty-two speak Hebrew fluently. The sample was drawn

from a broad heterogenic population – friends, college students, colleagues, parents and their

friends; all of them Jewish, moderately religious, secular or agnostic; most of them holding

high education diplomas (BA or higher). Three participants did not complete the combined

questionnaire; their questionnaires were not included in the pool. The participation in an

anonymous research was voluntary.

Materials

All one hundred and twenty participants completed a questionnaire containing:

1. The Religious Commitment Inventory (RCI-10) Religiosity 10-item self-

identification scale (see Appendix I). The scale is a refinement of the RCI-17

(McCullough et. al, 1997) questionnaire, which demonstrated high internal

consistency (α=0.94). The RCI-17 is based on Worthington's theory of religious

values (Worthington et al., 1988).

2. Mehrabian's 11-item conformity scale (see Appendix II) designed to reduce

"acquiescence bias" – the tendency of some people to agree or to disagree with

any statement. The items are valuated via 9-point agreement-disagreement scale.

In terms of internal consistency, the mean absolute value of all 11-item total

correlations is 0.54.

3. Rosenberg's 10-item scale (RSE, see Appendix III) is used to assess global self-

esteem. Significant construct validity (p<0.05) between RSE and self-reports,

nurses' opinions, ratings of depression, psycho-physiological indicators of anxiety

and other relevant constructs was measured. Cronbach's alpha coefficient is 0.78.

4. The Prosocial Tendencies Measured – Revised (PTM-R) 25-item scale (see

Appendix IV) measures six prosocial sub-behaviors: Public, Anonymous, Dire,

Emotional, Compliant and Altruistic tendencies. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for

the PTM-R composite is 0.87.

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All the questionnaires were translated from English to Hebrew and combined into a single

sheet, including a short foreword section and four sub-tests.

SPSS 14.0 processing software (evaluation version) was utilized while performing all

statistical calculations.

Procedure

Each participant was asked to complete the combined questionnaire and return it filled,

manually or by e-mail. The participants were informed that the research investigates social

tendencies and behavioral patterns among Israelis. The foreword section contained

commitment of anonymousness and a request to read the instructions for each sub-test

carefully. The time gap between the reception of the questionnaire and its returning varied

between one and seventeen days, there was no time pressure or intentional researcher's bias

of any sort. None of the participants filled the questionnaire in the presence of the researcher

or returned the questionnaire in the day of reception.

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Results Premise

Prior to the major data collection, twenty-six participants were tested using the same

combined questionnaire in order to examine the apparent tendencies. The results of the pre-

test indicated no expected statistical correlation between independent variables and the

altruistic tendency, in contrary to a-priory hypothesis. All three hypothesized correlations,

although insignificant due to insufficient number of participants (twenty-six only) in the pre-

test, correlated with other type of prosocial tendency: while low self-esteem, high religiosity

and high conformity levels were predicted to correlate positively with Altruistic prosocial

tendency, the posteriori results show expected correlations but with Public prosocial tendency

and very weak correlations with Altruism. The pre-test results shifted the focus of the

research to broader investigation of prosocial norms. Since PTM-R allows the measurement

of Public, Anonymous, Dire, Compliant and Emotional forms of prosocial norms additionally

to Altruism, all six sub-forms were included in the research. A particular attention was

focused on Public prosocial tendency linkage with all three independent variables, since it

significantly correlated (r= -0.32, the "broad test" result and r=-0.37 in "pre-test", α=0.05)

with Altruistic tendency. Public Prosocial tendency is defined by Gustavo Carlo (Carlo, G., et

al., 2002) as a "tendency to benefit others enacted in the presence of others", namely helping

people when others are watching. Since no predicted correlation between independent

variables and Altruism were observed, altruistic values were not included in the regression

analysis.

Pearson Linear Correlation Coefficients

The following table presents Pearson's linear correlation coefficients between independent

variables:

Religious Beliefs Conformity Self-Esteem Religious Beliefs 0.07

Conformity -0.32 Self-Esteem 0.01

Among three possible correlations, only the correlation between Self-Esteem and Conformity

found significant (α=0.05).

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The following table presents Pearson's linear correlation coefficients (indicating main effects)

between all independent and dependent variables: Independent \

Dependent Public Anonymous Dire Emotional Compliant Altruism Religious

Beliefs 0.31 0.07 0.15 0.08 0.05 -0.16 Conformity 0.43 -0.20 0.001 0.11 0.09 -0.21 Self-Esteem -0.36 0.13 0.04 -0.04 -0.008 0.19

Among eighteen possible correlations, only the correlations between Public prosocial

tendencies with all three independent variables found significant (α=0.05).

Interaction Hypothesis and Integrative Model Validation

All statistical regression tests were performed for α=0.05. The interaction hypothesis

predicted low Self-Esteem level with high Religiosity and Conformity levels as the

combination with the strongest effect on Altruistic tendency. Since the dependent variable

was shifted to Public social tendency instead of Altruism, the ability of combination to

predict high Public social tendency was tested. Univariate analysis of variance (regression

analysis) was performed in order to check the effects.

Tests of Between-Subjects Effects Dependent Variable: pub

Source Type III Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Partial Eta Squared

Corrected Model 588.868(a)5117.7748.102 .000.262 Intercept 10762.228110762.228740.372 .000.867 relig_hl 182.5041182.50412.555 .001.099 comf_hl 116.6251116.6258.023 .005.066 esteem_hl 189.2041189.20413.016 .000.102 relig_hl * comf_hl 15.412115.4121.060 .305.009 comf_hl * esteem_hl .0531.053.004 .952.000 Error 1657.13211414.536 Total

14246.000120

Corrected Total 2246.000119 a R Squared = .262 (Adjusted R Squared = .230)

Main effects: Religiosity – F (1,114) =12.555; PV=0.001

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Conformity – F (1,114) =8.023; PV=0.05

Self-Esteem – F (1,114) =13.016; PV=0.000

Interaction effects:

Interaction of Religiosity * Conformity – F (1,114) =1.06; PV= 0.305

Interaction of Conformity * Self-Esteem – F (1,114) =.004; PV= 0.952

All the main effects are significant for the given alpha; no significant interaction effects

between the variables were observed.

The analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed no significant mediation of Conformity level

variable, when Conformity is held constant there were no significant effect of Religiosity-

Public Prosociality and Self-Esteem – Public Prosociality relations.

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Discussion Results Summary

1. All three independent variables (Religiosity, Social Conformity and Self-Esteem)

significantly predict Public Prosocial behavior tendency.

2. As expected, a significant linear correlation between self-esteem and conformity level

(P=-0.32) measured. This outcome is coherent with previous studies (Milgram, 1977;

De Charms & Rosenbaum, 1957)

3. The proposed integrative model is faulty, although the main and the interactive effects

exist, only the main effects found statistically significant.

4. None of the predictors contributes to Altruistic prosocial behavior tendency.

5. The predicted interaction between independent variables fails to contribute to Public

Behavior tendency or Altruism.

6. Higher religiosity predicts higher Public prosocial tendency and does not predict

higher altruism.

Evaluating the Results

Three independent variables of the current research significantly predict Public behavior

tendency. As the "fixed" first hypothesis (replacing the "Altruism" by "Public prosociality")

stated, low Self-Esteem levels negatively and significantly correlated to Public prosociality

(r=-0.36, significant for any alpha level). Coherently with the second and third "fixed"

hypotheses, high Conformity and Religiosity levels significantly correlated with high Public

prosociality (r=0.43 and r=0.31, significant for any alpha level). However, the integrative

model failed to prove the predicted links. The revised model, containing valid relations

between the variables is presented:

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The negative correlation between the Self-Esteem and Conformity levels is significant (r=-

0.32), although the mediation of the conformity variable was not proved, while conformity is

held constant no significant cumulative effect of the remaining independent variables found

significant. It was suggested here, that conformity mediates part of a correlation between the

religiosity and prosocial tendency. However, ANOVA results revealed no correlation of a

kind; only the main effect of religiosity and Public Prosociality was significant.

The hypothesis linking high conformity and religiosity levels was based on personal

observation of the suggestive power of religious leaders and their effect on believers. One

who radically believes in religious leader's opinion not because he has reasons for thinking he

is more likely to be right, but simply because faith requires him to do so, is able to perform

extremely radical acts which cannot be explained by other reason than religious conformity.

Mass suicides occur in religious or occult settings, such as the legendary collectively

committed suicide of 960 members of the Sicarii Jewish community at Masada (rather than

be conquered and enslaved by the Romans, each man killed his wife and children, then the

men drew lots and killed each other until the last man killed himself) or the Jonestown

suicides in Guyana, where 913 people died in 1978 under the direction of Jim Jones, an

evangelist preacher and head of the Peoples Temple (of the 914 dead, 276 were children and

over 100 of the adults were murdered). The absence of hypothesized correlation between the

religiosity and the conformity can be explained by relatively narrow "religiosity margin" of

the participants, none of them belonged to Jewish orthodox community. It appears that

religious conformity is likely to occur among extremely religious populations, which were

not included in the current research.

The interaction hypothesis is invalid as well. Religious, conformal people with low self-

esteem are neither particularly "high" in Public Prosociality nor in Altruism.

Altruism as a Costly Signal

One of the goals of the current paper was to investigate the meaning of term "altruism" by

evaluating its correlation with three personal characteristics – Personal Self-Esteem, Social

Conformity and Religiosity. As it was described in the previous chapter, the preliminary (as

well as the final) results didn't indicate any support to the hypotheses and therefore the focus

of the research was shifted to another - Public - type of prosocial tendency. Gustavo Carlo

(Carlo, G., et al., 2003) hypothesizes that "specific prosocial behaviors would be related

differently to specific sociocognitive and socioemotive skills" and links it to approval-

19

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicarii

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masada

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guyana

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peoples_Temple


oriented prosocial reasoning. Both Altruistic and Public prosocial tendencies are sub-chapters

of the broad set of personal qualities called "Prosocial behaviors" and both describe helping

patterns and assume a certain personality structure performing those behaviors or even

declaring to behave in coherency with presented behavioral patterns. However, there is a

major difference between those two values (supported statistically by the negative correlation

mentioned above, r=-0.32 in current research and -0.22 in Gustavo Carlo's), it re-evaluates

the rationale of this work and therefore will now be discussed broadly.

The essence of human nature has been a philosophical dispute during the past centuries.

Philosophers throughout the ages have debated whether humans actually intend to perform

actions beneficial to others and costly to themselves without any clear resolution. In recent

years, psychologists have addressed the enduring debate with data on the mental experiences

leading to helping behaviors, however these studies produce conflicting results according the

nature of helping mechanism, whether it is egoistic (Bloom & Clark, 1976), empathetic

(Christopher, 2006) or a combination of self-oriented and altruistic motivations that serve as

equal and essential partners in human evolution and development, both necessary for

evolutionary advancement and for psychological health (Shapiro & Gabard, 1994). Alice

Schlegel (1980) highlights two types of altruism: pure altruism allows no expectation of any

benefits whatsoever to the giver and generalized (impure, egoistic, beneficial) altruism

describes situations, when the giver expects (even if not consciously) to receive some

benefit. She suggests that generalized altruism is more likely to be found in individualistic

societies. Lee (2005) suggests that altruistic behavior is related to the Daoistic model of

"wateristic" personality and highly regarded by Asian cultures while aggressive and

competitive behavior is valued by people of European descent. Fehr, Fishbacher and Gacher

(2001) suggest that humans have a tendency to cooperate voluntarily if treated fairly and the

reciprocity (generalized altruism) is a powerful device of social control. The Social

Psychology literature shows that increased visibility of behavior increases co-operation in a

range of social dilemmas (Benzioni et al., 1996). Several of these hypotheses concerning

altruism are supported empirically, but the general impression after reviewing reasonable

amount of altruism research is, that if the "generalized" (kin, impure) altruism is considered

as a biological reality, "pure" or "nonbeneficial" altruism exists only "in the eye of the

beholder”. In a sarcastic way of speech, altruism frequently is purely "impure", even if

considered nonbeneficial by humans. Every altruistic act could be interpreted as a "greedy"

behavior, just if the interpreter dares to be cynical enough. Human relief donations might be a

20


way to escape feelings of guilt caused by sins of the past or a wish to "eternize" the memory

of a diseased; donating money and helping poor might disguise an electoral campaign

intentions, as many Israelis claim about the former Soviet oligarch Arcady Gaidamak;

reputation can also play an important role in reciprocal altruism, when individuals benefit

from learning if their future social partners previously defected or cooperated with others,

therefore "spreading the knowledge" about one's charity deeds or another variation of

altruistic behavior might increase his chances to gain social status (Fehr, 2004). If going to

extreme, even Mother Theresa's deeds closely tied to the Catholic perception of heaven and

its "enrolling methods". Religious beliefs, including promised rewards in the afterlife

facilitate the cooperation by altering the perceived payoffs of costly actions, including

suicidal terrorism. The Costly-Signaling Theory (Smith and Bird, 2000; Miller, 2000; Grafen,

1990; Spence, 1973; Zahavi 1975) supports those "insights" by empirical research and solid

theoretical acknowledgements; it suggests the following: "Extreme forms of philanthropy and

altruism are conspicuous displays of resources that serve to reinforce one's status." CST

supporters see hidden beneficial motives beyond altruistic behaviors – "Apparently, having

everyone owe you for past unselfishness can be a good hedge against future calamities".

Seems, as if the difference between some altruistic “charities” and Marxian capitalists’

compulsion of humans to “increase their relative surplus value” is not as significant... The

vampire bat after extracting blood from its prey may return to its cave to regurgitate some

food for a friend who has had less luck that night. By sharing the leftovers of his feast, the

altruistic bat increases the chances that the friend it helped will help him out later on in its

own time of need. The same goes for humans.

How does a person know that his efforts and good deeds will be retaliated? The most

confident way is to behave prosocialy when somebody else is watching. Performing Prosocial

behavior in the presence of spectators, according to Costly-Signaling Theory (Zahavi, 1975),

benefits both the "signaler" by increasing his social value and the observer, because the

signals provide him with useful social information. According to Grafen (Grafen, 1990),

altruism as a costly signal might be an evolutionary stable strategy. Costly-signaling (also

called "The Competitive Altruism") Theory supporters (Parks & Vu, 1994; McAndrew, 2002;

Zahavi & Zahavi, 1997) claim that there are several conditions that must be met in order for

competitive altruism to emerge: the behavior must be costly for the author to display in the

short run, it must be easily observable to others, the signal must be a reliable indicator of

some underlying trait or characteristic of the signaler and finally, the behavior must be in the

21


long run benefit the actor who displays it. Religious people are signaling the world about

their altruism because they want God to like them, conformal people are signaling because

"that's the way descent people behave" and public approval is significantly important for non-

confident people, who are signaling in order to improve their rigid self-esteem. The signaling

is indeed costly in the short run, but the benefit in the end is not bad as well, whether it is the

eternal life for Catholic, public approval for conformist or self-esteem boosting applause

from the society for a person who seeks for it.

People compete each with other in "being generous", because the "halo" of an altruist might

produce long-term benefits. Moreover, Gintis et al. (2001) suggest, that "well-known

altruists" have an advantage over "common" people when violating social norms as well,

since the society feels that certain level of equilibrium has to be gained in order to sustain

collective well-being, it might be more forgiving when penalizing an altruist. It is a well-

known fact, that generous deeds in the past might macerate the level of punishment in the law

court and soften a verdict. Signaling prosocial quality and reciprocity is a socially worthy

phenomenon of evolutionary development.

The Religiosity Paradox

Religious altruists are motivated to altruism from a belief in supernatural powers capable of

rewarding altruism and punishing defection (Bulbulia, 2004). Supernatural rewards may be in

kind: do good and good will be done to you. One of the most valuable traits of a religious

person is a charity giving. Maimonides (Rambam), a Jewish Rabbi, Physician and

Philosopher, one of the most important, acknowledged and respected personalities of the

Jewish world and the medieval Spain as well, enumerated the forms of charity, from the

greatest to the most weak:

1. Giving charity anonymously to the unknown recipient

2. Giving charity anonymously to the known recipient

3. Giving charity publicly to the unknown recipient

4. Giving charity publicly to the known recipient…

Obviously, the idea is that the anonymousness and the sincerity of the contribution is the

highest trait. "Bis Dat Qui Cito Dat" –"The one who gives quickly, gives twice", states the

old Latin proverb. One of the basic ideas of Jewish prosociality is the custom of "anonymous

charity" or "מתן בסתר" in Hebrew. The great philosopher recognized the beneficial aspect of

giving and tried to educate the people to contribute those who need it without thinking of

22


personal interest. If Jewish tradition and heritage specifically underlines the importance of

anonymous charity, why religious Jewish participants tend to be more "public" than the

secular participants? Why already well-known (religious) Jewish millionaire stipulates his

20-million dollar contribution to the national library by naming it after him? Secular values of

self-advertisement and the "celebrity halo" have not skipped the religious community. The

"material world" that Madonna sings about demands not to "waste" our resources, but to

invest them; not to give but to barter; not to donate but to sell. Sadly, the famous singer that

enthusiastically draws the traditional ancient knowledge of Cabbala forgets the simple but

very important nuance of Judaism, while adopting African orphans "online" and declaring

about her multi-million contribution to Africa via TV talk shows in prime time. However,

wouldn't it be hypocritical if we ask her to stick to Jewish morale when more and more

people among us consider a donation to be a part of advertisement budget?

Apparently, simply being “religious” in itself does not correlate well with helping behaviour

or compassion for those in need. The real paradox is not the extraordinary high levels of

religious "public altruists", but the common belief in purity of religious people's intentions.

The Nature of Altruism: Intentional "Greediness" or Evolutionary Survival Mechanism?

The "impure" altruistic human behavior might be perceived as intentionally targeted towards

future profit. However, such an assumption requires a rational perception of human nature.

Therefore, the discussion about humans' awareness of the goals of their own prosocial

behavior rooted in a philosophic dispute about the rationality of a human mind.

John Locke, an important British philosopher, defines a man as "industrious and rational

individual" who is able to "self-rule". The rationality, according to Locke, is the essence of

humanity and ratio is the "appendix" that distinct between humans and animals. Major

monotheistic religions underline the difference between divine law, whether it is Moses',

Jesus' or Mohammed's, and the laws of nature, polarizing mind and instinct, the human and

the bestial, the cerebral and the instinctive behavior.

Thomas Hobbes, another great British philosopher, presents much more ambivalent

relationship between rationality and emotionality – he claims, that emotional mechanisms

effecting human tasks. Emotional behaviors are different from the rational ones but they are

not in complete conflict. The famous "Homo Homini Lupus" (Man is a Wolf to Man),

adopted by Hobbes from Roman philosopher Platus, symbolizes Hobbes' perception of

23


human nature – egoistic and selfish, serving only its own interest, however not intentionally

beneficial but rather "natural".

When trying to apply Locke's rational and Hobbes' emotional-egoistic model of human nature

to the perception of altruism, the subjectivity of the answer to the initial question of this

chapter clarifies. If man is rational, he understands the reciprocal aspect of altruism, performs

logical calculations of "investments", benefits of his prosociality and acts altruistically when

it's "worth" it. If man is egoistic and selfish but less rational, prosocial behavior is just a

genetic evolutionary mechanism of survival, coping with life and gaining well-being. The

answer apparently is "in the eye of the beholder".

"Evolution of Cooperation" – The Game Theory

The classical Game Theory studies decisions made by humans under conditions of situational

uncertainty. Games like "Prisoner's Dilemma" present an apparent conflict between morality

and self-interest; the surprising fact is that certain level of cooperation between the players is

essential for winning and contributes to self-interest. Purely egoistic approach is doomed to

failure; flexibility is the preferred tactics for winning. The idea that certain levels of altruism

are necessary for survival and success is proved mathematically by several scientists almost

eighty years ago (Von Neumann, J. & Morgenstern, O., 1928). Allegedly conflictive with

pure Darwinian framework that supposes competition for resources as a zero - sum game

(one's benefit is necessarily somebody else's loss), CST and its logical predecessor, the Game

Theory, present an approach that is coherent with the evolutionary mechanisms.

Psychological Egoism

The philosophical view that humans are always motivated by rational self-interest, even in

what seems to be purely altruistic behavior is called "Psychological Egoism" (example of

somebody holding such a view would be Aristotle or Thomas Hobbes). It claims that when

sane people choose to help others, it is because of the personal benefits they obtain, or expect

to obtain, directly or indirectly, from doing so. When being asked what the benefit of a

soldier is when he is jumping on a grenade in order to save his comrades' lives, the supporter

of the Psychological Egoism theory would respond, that it is soldier's way to avoid the pain

caused by seeing other soldiers dying. Avoiding pain might be a reason to perform an

altruistic act. In a broader way, avoiding negative reinforcements (such as public

denunciation) is a possible cause for giving a seat to the elder woman in a bus.

24


Herbert Simon and the Bounded Rationality

Many economics models assume that people are "hyperrational" and would never do

anything against their interests. Simon (1957) states, that people rather heuristic and not

purely rational, they are behaving emotionally when the rational optimization is too

complicated to calculate. Simon's hypothesis supported by both Daniel Kahneman (2003) and

Ariel Rubinstein (1998), Israeli world-known economists, who claim that the pure rationality

could not be considered as a human trait, it is rather "bounded" by the emotions.

Is it Good to be good?

"Many illnesses can be cured by one medicine of love and compassion", says Dalai Lama.

The question whether it is good to be an altruist is occupying researchers from various fields

lately. The following studies present unambiguous results:

- In the recent research that examined the effects of giving and receiving (Brooks, A.J.,

Reece, K., Schwartz, G.E., Nangle, G.), receivers experienced a significantly greater decrease

in emotional state than givers as a result of life difficulties.

- Volunteering correlates positively to good well-being and self-reported health

(Piliavin J.A, 2005).

- About 95% of altruistic volunteers who helped 9/11 tragedy victims reported better

health status compared to others of the same age (Luks, A., 2002). Helping proved effective

decreasing diseases such as obesity, sleeplessness, acid stomach, headaches and backaches,

depression, colds and flu, arthritis, asthma and even cancer and coronary artery decease.

Seems, that acts of generosity, whether they performed with pure or impure intentions,

improve our well-being. The circular logic of altruism (if a person willingly performs an act,

he probably derives personal enjoyment from it, therefore people only perform acts that give

them personal enjoyment) will probably continue occupying philosophers. However,

regardless of its underlying motives, seems that an altruistic act improves the well-being of

both the giver and the receiver.

Drawbacks and "weak points" of the current study

1. Since no manipulation of public and private conditions was performed in the current

study, the data according the behavioral patterns of the participants are based on self-

reports, which might introduce self-presentational biases

25


2. The "Religiosity" variable has a relatively low variance among the participants. Only

two participants were highly religious (gained scores of 41 and 38 in Religiosity test );

according to RCI-10 religiosity questionnaire authors, scores of 38 and above allow

such a classification. Since my "social circle" includes mostly secular and moderately

religious people only, it decreases the internal heterogeneity of the sample. Higher

religiosity level variance in future researches would improve the validity of the

research by decreasing the possibility of random variance between the participants.

Including ultra-orthodox Jews in future research might strengthen the mediation of

conformity variable between religiosity and prosociality as a result of religious

conformity.

3. Various "intervening" variables could have been mediating the correlations.

Conformity levels depend on one's geographic origin – while some Eastern societies

consider individualism as a serious flaw, in contrary, conformity is associated with

weak character, inability to lead and perform in the Western society.

The Epilogue – Insights on Altruism in the new millennia and Suggestions for Future

Research The research data was collected via self-report questionnaires and therefore the

presupposition of congruence between declared opinions and actual tendencies was necessary

in order to conclude from the results. However, the logical suggestion would be that at least

some of the participants claimed to be more altruistic than they actually are, since it is a

valuable social trait, respected and cherished by humankind…Is it indeed? Since the

participants (mostly young people) demonstrated a very low tendency towards "pure"

altruism while answering a questionnaire, their probable predisposition towards altruistic

behavior might be even lower than they stated. What we observe might be a devaluation of

"old" social norms that the modern Israeli society is experiencing nowadays: the weakening

of family values followed by high divorce rate, the decrease of youngsters' motivation to

volunteer to army service, the increasing gap between numbers of people in need and welfare

expenditures of the national budget… Future research concerning the "modernity" and the

"sex-appeal" of altruistic values is necessary in order to understand the results of the current

study properly. If altruism is considered as archaic, obsolete and unnecessary trait, the results

might present an authentic picture of young people's views and Costly-Signaling Theory's

view of prosociality might be revaluated.

26


Another unresolved question is the validity of the evolutionary view of humans. Whether the

data provided by the participants was an actual capture of their personal traits and opinions or

just a bunch of "wannabe" qualities, the evolutionary approach supported by CST sees the

humans as "impure" altruists. The question is, whether the evolutionary-biological point of

view is still applicable for inhabitants of the western society. The strength of interpersonal

connections is weakening in some of the western countries, more and more people no longer

define themselves as group participants, the symbiotic existence, so necessary in the past, is

not a necessity anymore. Online learning, shopping, gaming and even dating allows humans

to sustain more or less "normal" existence without leaving their homes. The modern man

sees, hears and runs much worse than his ancient predecessor because he does not need to

survive in a jungle anymore; his peer's importance in his life is practically meaningless.

Probably, the cooperation between Australian aborigines, whether it is reciprocal or pure-

hearted, differs drastically from the cooperation between North-American software

engineers…We loose our connection with the nature with every step of modernization. Can

we still call ourselves "social animals"? The dimensions of the "unsocialization" define the

necessity or the "unnecesstiy" of interaction in general and prosocial behavior in particular.

Investigating the correlation between the modernization and prosociality might present a

gloomy picture of the future.

27


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Appendixes

Appendix I: The Religious Commitment Inventory (RCI-10) 10-item self-identification

scale

עמדתכן בצורה המדויקת ביותר כלפי כל \שמתארת את עמדתכם, אנא בחרו באפשרות אחת בלבד מן המוצעות

: במשבצת המתאימהVסמנו . טענה

נכון במידה

רבה

נכון במידה

בינונית

נכון במידה

מועטה

נכון לחלוטין כלל לא נכון

מהוות בסיס לגישתי הדתיותיאמונותי

לחיים

ת להקדיש זמן לשיפור הבנת \אני משתדל

אמונתי הדתית

חשוב לי להקדיש זמן למחשבות והרהורים

בנושאי הדת

משפיעות על כל מעשי אמונותיי הדתיות

חיי

הדת חשובה לי כי היא נותנת תשובות

לשאלות על משמעות החיים

רוא ספרים וירחונים בנושאי אני מרבה לק

הדת

נהנית להשתתף בפעילות \אני נהנה

חברתית של ארגון דתי

נהנית מבילוי עם אלה שחולקים \אני נהנה

את אמונתי הדתית

מתעניינת בקבוצה הדתית \אני מתעניין

משתתפת בהחלטותיה\שלי ומשתתף

י תורמת כסף לארגון הדתי בו אנ\אני תורם

תומך

.

37


Appendix II: Mehrabian's 11-item conformity scale

. הסכמתכם עם הטענות המוצעות-אנא השתמשו באחת מהאפשרויות הבאות כדי להעריך את מידת הסכמתכם או אי

, יתנסו להתייחס לכל טענה בצורה כלל. במשבצת הריקה משמאל לטענה-4לבין + 4רשמו את אחד המספרים בין

כלומר להביא את עמדתכם בנושא הרחב ולא איך שהייתם מתנהגים במצב מסוים או איך שהייתם מקווים

:שתתנהגו

מסכימה במידה מוחלטת\מסכים +4

מסכימה במידה רבה \מסכים +3

מסכימה במידה מסוימת\מסכים + 2

מסכימה במידה מועטה\מסכים +1

אין לי דעה בנושא 0

ידה מועטהמסכימה במ\לא מסכים -1

מסכימה במידה מסוימת\לא מסכים -2

מסכימה במידה רבה\לא מסכים -3

מסכימה במידה מוחלטת\לא מסכים -4

נוהגת על פיהם\מסתמכת על עצות הזולת ונוהג\אני בדרך כלל מסתמך

האחרונה שישנה את עמדתי בנושא שנוי במחלוקת לאחר ויכוח\אני אהיה האחרון

ולא להיאבק על דרכי , "לשמור על השלום"להמשיך הלאה ו,וותר ברוב המקרים אעדיף ל

נצמדת אל מסורת משפחתית בנושא תמיכה במפלגה פוליטית \אני נצמד

חברי הם לרוב אלה שמחליטים מה אנחנו נעשה יחד

ייכול בקלות להשפיע עלי ולשנות את עמדותייטות רהבנואם אדם כריזמטי ה

מתאימה את עצמי להתנהגות הזולת\ בדרכיי התנהגותי מאשר מתאיםעצמאית\אני יותר עצמאי

בעקבותיה\אני נוטה לשנות את דעתי בעקבותיו, ת/נשמעת מאוד משכנע\מישהי נשמע\אם מישהו

מוותרת בקלות\אני לא מוותר

אני נוטה להסתמך על אחרים בקבלת החלטות חשובות

ולא להתאים את עצמי לדרכה של קבוצה, בחייםמעדיפה למצוא את דרכי האישית \אני מעדיף

38


Appendix III: Rosenberg's self-esteem 10-item scale

עמדתכן בצורה המדויקת ביותר כלפי כל \שמתארת את עמדתכם, אנא בחרו באפשרות אחת בלבד מן המוצעות

: במשבצת המתאימהVסמנו . טענהלא

מסכימה\מסכים

מסכימה \מסכים מסכימה\מסכים אין לי עמדה

בהחלט

לא

מסכימה \מסכים

בהחלט

לדעתי אני אדם ראוי

ובעל ערך לפחות כמו

האחרים

לדעתי יש לי מספר

תכונות חיוביות

אני לבסך הכו

מרגישה שאני \מרגיש

כשלון

מסוגלת לבצע \אני מסוגל

טוב כמו אנשים משימות

אחרים

שאין מרגישה \אני מרגיש

לי כל כך במה להתגאות

נוקטת בגישה \אני נוקט

חיובית כלפי עצמי

אני מרוצה , בסך הכול

מעצמי

מרגישה \אני מרגיש

חסרת ערך לעיתים\חסר

הלוואי והיה לי יותר

הערכה לעצמי

חשה \לעתים אני חש

טובה כלל \שאיני טוב

וכלל

39


Appendix IV: The Prosocial Tendencies Measured – Revised (PTM-R) 23-item scale

. בצורה המדייקת ביותרםשמתארת אותכ, אנא בחרו באפשרות אחת בלבד מבין המוצעות

: במשבצת המתאימהVסמנו

מתאר

אותי

במקצת

מתאר

אותי

במידה

מסוימת

מתאר

אותי טוב

מתאר

אותי

מצוין

לא מתאר

אותי כלל

כללו

עוזרת לאחרים כאשר אנשים מסתכלים עלי\אני עוזר

ארגיש טוב אם אוכל לנחם אדם עצוב מאוד

קל לי יותר לעזור למי שזקוק, כאשר ישנם אנשים מסביבי

זה שזה מציג אחד הדברים הטובים בלעזור לאחרים , לדעתי

אותי באור חיובי

כאשר זה נעשה , מעזרה לאחריםמפיקה הכי הרבה \אני מפיק

לעיני אנשים

אני נוטה לעזור לאנשים שנמצאים בצרה או במשבר רציני

מתלבטת \אינני מתלבט, כאשר אנשים מבקשים ממני עזרה

לעולם

מעדיפה לתרום כסף בסתר\אני מעדיף

אני נוטה לעזור לאנשים שנפגעו בצורה קשה

שצריך לתרום כסף או רכוש כאשר יש לי , מאמינה\אני מאמין

תגמול לאחר המעשה

שלא ידעו מי עזר להם, אני נוטה לעזור לאנשים בצרה כך

במיוחד במצב רגשי הנמצאיםאני נוטה לעזור לאנשים

אני , עוזרת והאחרים מסתכלים\כאשר אני עוזר

מצליחה בצורה הכי טובה\מצליח

לעזור לאנשים שנמצאים במצב רע קל לי

היא \עוזרת לאנשים שלא יודעים שאני הוא\רוב הזמן אני עוזר

עוזרת להם\זו שעוזר\זה

מגיע לי יותר על השקעת זמן ואנרגיה בעזרה לאחרים, לדעתי

40


כאשר , מגיבה לבקשת עזרה בצורה המיטבית\אני מגיב

הסיטואציה טעונה רגשית

לעזור כאשר מבקשים מתמהמה להגיש עזרהי אף פעם לא אנ

ממני

עזרה בסתר הוא המצב הטוב ביותר, לדעתי

שזה נראה , אחד הדברים הטובים בעבודה התנדבותית הוא

טוב בקורות החיים שלי

גורמים לי לרצות לעזור לאדם בצרהםמצבים אמוציונאליי

אחרים יודעים כי זה עושה לי טובתורמת מבלי ש\אני תורם

הוא חייב לעזור לי , שאם עזרתי למישהו, חושבת\אני חושב

בעתיד

41


42

Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to:

Dr, Gal Gorodeisky-Harpaz, the tutor of the current research

Gustavo Carlo, Professor of Psychology at University of Nebraska-Lincoln for

allowing me to use the Prosocial Tendencies Measured – Revised (PTM-R) scale and

a great attitude towards my research

Everett L. Worthington Jr., Professor of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth

University for allowing me to use the Religious Commitment Inventory -10

questionnaire

Albert Mehrabian, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at University of California in

Los Angeles for allowing me to use the Conformity scale

Dr. Florence Rosenberg, Professor Morris Rosenberg's wife, for giving me the

permission to use the Self-Esteem scale. Doctor Morris Rosenberg was professor of

Sociology at the University of Maryland from 1975 until 1992.

"Sociobiologists have broadened their range of selective stories by invoking concepts of

inclusive fitness and kin selection to solve the vexatious problem of altruism –

previously the greatest stumbling block to a Darwinian theory of social behavior.

Sociobiology represents an extension of basic Darwinism to a realm where it should

apply"

- Stephen Jay Gould,

Evolutionary Biologist

Altruism Research

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