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…

Investigates concerns among both disabled and able-bodied individuals concerning helping behavior in three settings: a sheltered workshop, a social activity group, and a university. Finds that helping did not appear to be a serious problem, and proposes 17 tentative "rules" for helping the handicapped. (KEH)

Research on individual's response to emergency situations in the presence of others has produced conflicting results. The bystander effect is the label applied to inaction or the unlikelihood of assistance with others present. The social facilitation effect occurs when the presence of others energizes response; strong habit responses are…

Only recently has the question of why being in a good mood facilitates prosocial behavior been pursued. Two experiments investigated the role of pleasurable mood in: (1) choice bets as a measure of riskiness, a variable possibly implicated in helping behaviors, and (2) allocation of funds among categories intended to vary along a prosocial…

Proactive counselor intervention requires recognition of the pattern of client requests for service. Five midwestern university counseling centers supplied usage data on client contacts. Counselors accurately reported the pattern but based it on perception of total contacts rather than initial contacts. (Author)

Retention of verbal helping skills by human service worker trainees who had completed the Danish and Hauer (1973) training program earlier was explored. Trainees (N = 26) engaged in three helping interviews--before training, immediately following training, and seven months later. High skill levels at posttraining were generally not maintained at…

Examined correlates and structure of prosocial behaviors in late adolescents using a newly constructed multidimensional measure. Findings from study 1, which involved 249 college students, were supported by findings from a second study in which 40 college students completed the measure. Results from both studies yielded adequate evidence of…

Research has suggested that people not sharing a common fate lack a sense of group identity, thus decreasing the tendency for helping behavior. To study the effects of stress and commonality of fate on helping behavior, 60 female college students participated in a replication of an earlier study which used male subjects. Participants were assigned…

This research showed high assertive and low assertive resident assistants could be differentiated on the basis of their effectiveness as judged by dormitory residents. Results show high assertive assistants are significantly more open and honest, communicate better, handle discipline better, and are generally more effective than their low…

The reward-cost model of helping behavior in emergency situations suggests that the probability that an observer will help a victim depends, in part, on the relative strength of the rewards and costs of providing help. Factors that influence willingness to help in non-emergency situations were examined using descriptions of situations in which a…

This analogue study examined effects of inconsistencies between a counselor's verbal and nonverbal behaviors on client proxemic behavior and ratings of counselor genuineness. Based on role plays of 80 undergraduates with a confederate male counselor, results indicated that inconsistent messages led to greater interpersonal distances and lower…

Empathy and prosocial moral values are often identified as antecedents of helping behavior, but interest in their relationship and joint operation has only recently emerged. To investigate the relative contribution of empathy and values to helping responses, 87 college students were confronted with a request for help delivered either in person or…

Reassessment for reentry has become a popular concept on college campuses as more nontraditional students return to college. A reassessment series, offered at the University of California-Davis from 1973-1977, was evaluated in a one-year follow-up study of the life changes for 234 female and 12 male participants. Data indicated that life change…

Skills training, personal-emotional development, and cognitive development are areas of importance in counselor training and education. Emotion, defined as the counselor's experiencing a strong feeling accompanied by physiological activity and the interruption, however momentary, of the counselor's ongoing cognition, is a critical factor in…

A discussion of the role of academic advisors in counseling college students with emotional problems outlines warning signals in student behavior, presents a systematic approach to dealing with the situation, reviews referral procedures, and examines briefly the issue of confidentiality. (MSE)