Invitational Theory is rooted in three theoretical foundations, the perceptual tradition, self-concept theory, and a democratic ethos (Purkey, Novak, and Fretz, 2020). This essay focuses in on the first of these foundations, which the author intentionally describes as "perceptual theory." Perceptual theory provides a theoretical…

Use of prosocial language enhances human cooperation and harmony. Previous research has shown that talking about helping, sharing and giving to others creates positive impression on others, by which individuals and governments gain public approval. So far, the value judgement of approval and disapproval in terms of prosocial or antisocial has not…

Prosocial behavior in early childhood is a precursor to later adaptive social functioning. This investigation leveraged mother-reported, physiological, and observational data to examine children's prosocial development from age 2 to age 4 (N = 125). Maternal emotion socialization (ES) strategies and children's parasympathetic regulation have each…

This research investigates the relative strength of two correlates of helping behavior: dispositional empathic concern and a moral principle to care about others. The empathy-helping and care-helping relationships are investigated using data from the General Social Survey, a nationally representative random sample of the U.S. adult population. Ten…

The current study investigated the influence of rewards on very young children's helping behavior. After 20-month-old infants received a material reward during a treatment phase, they subsequently were less likely to engage in further helping during a test phase as compared with infants who had previously received social praise or no reward at…

Objective: Children with ADHD experience peer problems that may place them at risk for adverse outcomes. Using a short-term longitudinal design, this study links specific behaviors to peer functioning in groups of previously unfamiliar children with ADHD. Method: The participants were 268 children with ADHD who took part in an intensive summer…

Procedures used in empathy-helping studies suggest results may be due to demand characteristics. Two studies were run to investigate especially the mood induction process. One reproduced the Aderman-Berkowitz main mood effects. Another showed that after seeing a help-non-help incident, mood effects were demonstrated only when Ss knew the research…

Theories about helping behavior have branched into two basic areas: egoistic and altruistic. Egoistic theories describe helping as being induced by sadness or distress; the Empathy-Altruism hypothesis contends that people help when they feel empathy for another in need. Fultz, Schaller, and Cialdini (1988) looked at the possibility that three…

Male and female experimenters requested adult shoppers (N=178) to fill out a questionnaire. Refusal data showed shoppers helping other-sex more than same-sex experimenters. Other results showed a significant three-way interaction among helper and helpee sex and sex-typing and situation sex-typing and that helper sex-typing did not have significant…

A study of urban frail elderly revealed an association between higher rates of social interaction and more reliance on informal aid but less reliance on formal agencies. It may well be that informal social ties block proper access to useful services rather than lead to more humane and cheaper alternatives. (Author)

This study explored empirically the influence of acculturation (Hispanics' acquisition of behavioral patterns of the North American culture) on help seeking (coping) when a stressful event is experienced. It has been proposed that mental health services in the United States are highly reflective of Anglo American cultural values and thus…

Examines the effect of different amounts of client-therapist interaction data on empathy ratings. Audiotaped therapist-client interactions including client statement, therapist response, and subsequent client response were rated for therapist empathy by high-functioning, experienced raters. Raters made different judgments about levels of therapist…

Smokers (N = 90) were assigned to 10 treatment conditions; another 20 smokers were included in a no-apply control group. The treatment effects of aversive conditioning were negligible, and in some instances they were surpassed by the effects of controls for nonspecific treatment factors and placebo effects. (Author)

Investigated helping as a function of empathic anxiety (anxiety in response to modeled distress) and individual differences in sociopathic tendencies. Results indicated modeled distress produces increases in anxiety which are positively associated with helping and sociopathic individuals are less likely to help than are nonsociopathic individuals.…