Beyond the façade of generosity—Regional stereotypes influence prosocial behaviors

What is it about?

The article published in PLoS ONE examines the role of regional belongings in explaining different facets of pro-social behavior in naturalistic settings in a post-communist society.

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Photo by Clark Tibbs on Unsplash

Photo by Clark Tibbs on Unsplash

Why is it important?

In our article we analyze prosocial behaviors in a field experiment design conducted in an urban context (Timisoara, Banat region, Romania), starting from a classical Cross-Cultural Psychology research organized in UK and Iran by Collet & O'Shea. We compare helping strangers strategies within the same national culture in relation to the regional stereotypes of the 'help-seeking' subjects. A behavioral scenario was created by asking the naïve participants to offer support and give directions to a place even if they did not know its whereabouts. It was tested whether "regional belonging" of the help-seeker (Banat, Transylvania, Oltenia, Wallachia, and Moldova) and its associated stereotypes predict the availability of help-givers for offering help, their availability for giving wrong directions, as well as their emotional expressiveness. Results show that the more negative help-seekers are stereotyped, the less generous help-givers are, both in terms of their decision to help and to give wrong directions, as well as their expressed emotions. Given the relevance of the topic and the scope of PLoS ONE (Psychology/Social Psychology area), we believe that PLoS ONE would be a very good place to publish our findings for a larger audience.

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