Gender difference in Pro-Social behaviour

Observational study on how men and women differ when

it comes to offer help

Men and women posses, on the eye of the society, different behavioural and dispositional
patterns over a wide range of categories.
The aim of this experiment was to investigate whether gender differences has an effect on the
likeliness of an individual engaging in pro-social behaviour.
Previous researches by Eagly and Crowely (1986) showed a higher level of engagement in pro-
social behaviour by men compared to women.
In this paper the term pro-social behaviour refers to the act helping a stranger to recollect a
lost pair of keys.
The results accepted the both hypothesis which stated that a) men are more likely to help and
b) females are more likely to being helped than men

INTRODUCTION

To predict any gender difference of behaviour in helping it is important to give a short

overview of the difference between men and women in both social-imposed and internal-
dispositional sphere.
Researches, such as observational studies questionnaires and scientific tests highlighted that
women are often catheterised by empathic, sympathetic and altruistic traits alongside with
having a high consideration for other especially family members (Hoffman , 1977), however
according to numerous social scientist women are in some ways expected to place their loved
one’s needs in front of their own (Eagly and Crowley , 1986).
It is therefore hard to distinguish whether these traits are innate or are a mere social construct
and in which context they are more likely to manifest.
Man social role has also an altruistic side. The male role is much more heroic than women’s,
the former’s altruistic behaviours are anciently based on chivalrous characteristics which
would lead to assume that they would be more prone to help a stranger compared women and
their more suttle figure. (Eagly and Crowley , 1986).
An interesting study was conducted by J. Einolf (2011) who investigated gender difference
correlated with volunteering and charitable giving. Einolf found that no difference was found
between gender in charitable giving to strangers or communities however women were more
likely to help if the interested person was a family member or a friend. More so, women
demonstrated pro-social characteristics on a wide range of categories such as motivation,
helping and altruistic values.
A study conducted by Shanabel et al. (1867) concerned the relation between pro-social
behaviour and benevolent sexism. Benevolent sexism is a chivalrous attitude toward women
that put them in a favorable position but is sexist in it’s nature (Oxford English Dictionary ,
1971.).
The study observe how a) when it comes to help men tend to provide women with direct
assitance rather than tools for self sufficence and b) women have the tendency to seek
dependency-orientated help
This dependency tendency arise in cross gender interaction but not in same gender interaction.
This study may suggests just how much gender role stereotypes take part in our behaviour.
In 1986 Eagly and Crowely carried a meta analytic review on sex difference in helping
behaviour on 172 studies. The review refers to help in chivalrous and heroic situation and
situations involving sex victims. The main founding covered in the review were that , a)men are
more likely to give help than women. b) women are more likely to receive help compare to
men. c)men are more likely to help women compared to men. d)social situations increase the
level of pro-social behaviours in men .
The present experiment took account of the above mentioned studies and findings and was
aimed to investigate how gender differences play part in helping strangers. It was also aimed to
observe if any interaction between the likelihood of helping and the gender of both participant
and confederate appeared.
To observe these factors the confederate, observed by the experimenter, dropped a set of keys
in open view in front of a sample of students (male and/or female) pro-social behaviour was
then recorded. No further investigation of the type of pro-social behaviour beside helped and
not helped was taken into consideration.
On the base of the above mentioned studies and assumptions the following prediction were
made; H1 Male participants are more likely to help than female participants and H2 male
participants are more likely to help female confederates.

METHODS

Participants
The study was took place within the City university buildings and participants were an
opportunity sample of the university population. The sample counted 100 participants, 50
males and 50 females.
Four confederates were used, two males and two females.

Stimulus and material

The stimulus in this study was the pair of keys dropped by the confederate to record the
participant’s responses on a tally chart.

Design
This observational-field experiment was conducted using a 2(gender of the confederate) x 2
(gender of participant) x 2 (pro-social behaviour , yes vs. no).
The results were analysed using SPSS (Loglinear).

Procedure
A confederate (2 Males and 2 Females) dropped a pair of keys in open view in front of the
sample of participants while an observer recorded participants responses. The experiment
took place in the main hall, social part of the library, and hallways of the City University
building.
The participant responses were classified as pro-social behaviour and anti-social behaviour in
which pro-social behaviours refer to helping the confederate to have the keys returned
(directly or indirectly) and anti-social behaviours actively ignoring the need of help.
Before the beginning of the experiment, 20 trials will be done in order to perform an IOR
assessment (reliability of 95%). Both observers had copies of the tally chart.
Subsequently to the IOR trials, 100 trials were performed for the actual experiment.

RESULTS

The gender difference of participants and confederates in helping was investigated conducting
a field observational experiment. The results were analysed by using a log-linear analysis on
SPSS. Three categorical variables were taken into consideration, each with two levels; 2(gender
of the confederate) x 2 (gender of participant) x 2 (pro-social behaviour , yes vs. no).
The assumption of the log linear analysis met a strong effect on gender and pro-social
behaviour X2 (1) =18.46, p = .001
No three way interaction was observed X2 (1) = 1.97, p = .161
The analysis of K-way effect demonstrated significant two-way interaction between gender of
participant and pro-social behaviour.
A strong effect of gender difference, the 69.1% of males responded to the onset of the dropped
keys and only 30.9% of female helped another person in need.
DISCUSSION

The results were in line with the research carried by Eagly and Crowely (1986) and accepted
the hypothesis of this study. Results showed that more than double of male participants helped
the confederate compared to female participants (H1). And of this help, a greater number was
observed to be given to female confederates (H2).
Interestingly, the majority of females engaged in anti-social behaviour, i.e non helping,
regardless of the gender of the confederate.
This results showed similar results with the Eagly and Crowely reviewed studies and were in
concordance with the chivalrous view of men however they were in contrast with the findings
supporting the idea that females have a higher altruistic and empathetic nature (Hoffman
1977) and demonstrated more pro-social attitudes on various different categories than males
(Eniolf , 2011).
One possible explanation of this discrepancy lies in the differentiation between innate
dispositions and social constructs. Taking into account that women do possess pro-social
attitudes the latter might be simply suppressed by the social attribution that women are in
some ways weaker and dependent beings. At the same time males had been seen for centuries
as the stronger sex and the theory of benevolent sexism could explain the higher help given
from men and received by women (Shanabel et al.). Therefore is possible to assume that the
difference in pro-social behaviour is in the social construct and expectation of giving help felt
by men. An example is the chivalrous code, or in more modern words the “gentlemen”
approach in which the gesture of help by men to a women is driven by the social superiority of
the former and dependence of the latter.
Another possible explanation for gender difference in this particular situation of pro-social
behaviour can be extracted from an evolutionary point of view; males engage in pro-social
behaviours to affirm their innate strength and drive to provide for the community, which can
be observed in many species. Females have this innate drive as well but it is focussed on their
offspring.
Nevertheless this study focuses on a simple, one-dimensional example of pro-social behaviour.
Although observational studies have a high ecological validity one big limitation for this study
was that was carried within the university buildings, area that is usually populated by
individuals between 18 and 28 years of age from usually middle class families. A high number
of individual differences might also had played a part in the result sections such as personal
level of politeness which may enhance pro-social behaviour and shyness in social situation that
might repress pro-social behaviour. Individual differences can be avoided by using the same
participant in a different experimental design.
In addition because of the particular setting and the nature of the experiment the participant
could view the confederate as part of their group or are likely to have seen the confederate in
the building before, such factors may have affected the results in the way that, for example,
people that feel a sense of belonging or familiarity are more likely to help.
A few have investigated gender difference in this specific type of pro-social behaviour therefore
further studies will be of great help to understand this phenomena. Further studies should be
carried in a different type-location using participants of different ages to investigate how
gender difference varies with the environment and between age groups.

References
Eagly, A. H., & Crowley, M. (1986). Gender and helping behavior: A meta-analytic review of the
social psychological literature. Psychological bulletin,100(3), 283.

Einolf, C. J. (2011). Gender differences in the correlates of volunteering and charitable

giving. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 40(6), 1092-1112.

Hoffman, M. L. (1977). Sex differences in empathy and related behaviors.Psychological

bulletin, 84(4), 712.
Appendix