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Gender and Intergroup Helping: Forms of Prosocial Behavior as Differential Social Control Mechanisms for Women and Men

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 October 2016

Silvia Abad-Merino ,
John F. Dovidio ,
Carmen Tabernero  and
Ignacio González
Silvia Abad-Merino*
Affiliation:
Yale University (USA)
John F. Dovidio
Affiliation:
Yale University (USA)
Carmen Tabernero
Affiliation:
Universidad de Cordoba (Spain)
Ignacio González
Affiliation:
Universidad de Cordoba (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Silvia Abad-Merino. Yale University – Psychology. New Haven. Connecticut (USA). 06520. E-mail: silvia.abadmerino@yale.edu
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Abstract

The present research, drawing on the Intergroup Helping as Power Relations Model (Nadler, 2002), investigated the ways in which different forms of helping behavior can strategically affect responses to women and men who display socially valued or devalued characteristics. Participants read scenarios about concrete problems faced by a woman or man in need, who displayed positive (i.e., prosocial) or negative (i.e., antisocial) characteristics, and indicated the extent to which they would be willing to support small tax increases if that money were used to help address the target’s issues. The predicted Target Gender × Target History × Type of Support interaction, controlling for political orientation, was obtained, F(1, 149) = 6.49, p = .012, ηp2 = .04. Participants tended to give less autonomy-oriented (i.e., empowering) help to a man displaying antisocial (vs. prosocial) characteristics, F(1, 36) = 3.39, p = .074, ηp2 = .09.; they also tended to off more dependency-oriented (i.e., disempowering) help to a woman women exhibiting prosocial (vs. antisocial) qualities, F(1, 38) = 3.42, p = .072, ηp2 = .08. The role of seemingly positive forms of social behavior as a mechanism for social control and the relation of helping to processes of group-hierarchy and system-justifying processes are considered.

Keywords

gender rolesintergroup helpingpower relationsprosocial behavior
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 19 , 2016 , E70
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2016 

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