Helping Following Natural Disasters: A Social-Motivational Analysis

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2009.00540.x Byline: Zdravko Marjanovic (2), Esther R. Greenglass, (*), C. Ward Struthers (*), Cathy Faye (*) Abstract: The present investigation explores how judgments of responsibility influence affective and helping reactions toward natural-disaster victims. Guided by Weiner's (1995, 2006) theory of social motivation, we hypothesized that judging victims responsible for a disaster would indirectly lead to low rates of helping. Two studies tested this hypothesis. In Study 1, a bogus earthquake was used to test experimentally the effects of responsibility judgments (low, high). In Study 2, we surveyed attitudes about the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Our results showed that Weiner's model was supported across studies. Responsibility judgments led to anger and sympathy, and sympathy led to helping intentions, which in turn led to helping behavior. Comparisons across studies and the relationship between helping intentions and behavior are discussed. Author Affiliation: (*)York University Article note: (2) Zdravko Marjanovic, Department of Psychology, York University, Behavioural Sciences Building, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3. E-mail: zvic@yorku.ca