The Effects Of Appearance On Respondıng To An Urgent Request
Most people need help in their daily lives occasionally. When we ask someone for help, we usually expect them to respond depending on a number of factors. The response may be positive or negative.
According to Wilson and Dovidio (2001), people help women who look feminine rather than those who look feminist. They claimed that most people are affected by social views, political attitudes, race or their own values about life. In line with this research, Baron (1971, cited in Wilson & Dovidio, 2001) suggested that people with similar attitudes help each other more frequently than those with dissimilar attitudes or values, if the request for help is costly. However, these behaviors sometimes can change. For example, in Guéguen and de Gail’s (2003) study, people responded more positively to a man or a woman that smiled at them than to one who did not smile. In this research, smiling by a confederate represented a positive mood in which confederates existed, and not smiling represented a neutral mood. In another study (Vurgt & Vet, 2009), men confederates received more help than women confederates when they asked for help. It is obvious from this finding that gender is also an important factor for receiving help from others (Vurgt & Vet, 2009). Moreover, Eagly and Crowly’s (1986) review of literature indicated that, while males’ helping behaviors are the result of a conception of heroic and chivalrous behavior, females’ approaches to helping responses are prescribed as nurturing and caring.
In addition to these factors, Juhnke et al. (2001) found that people’s appearances affected others’ helping decisions. For example, confederates who were nicely dressed were more likely to receive help than those who were dressed in dirty clothes. That is, people help those who look attractive and good-looking more frequently than unattractive and disheveled ones. One of the explanations for this finding was assumed to be the fact that the stereotypes of potential helpers would affect their decisions in such a way that they associate attractiveness with intelligence and other positive qualities (Juhnke et al., 2001).
Based on the studies explained above, it can be said that there is an effect of appearances on responding to an urgent request (or compliance). The purpose of this research will be to find whether appearance and gender will affect others’ helpful behaviors.
METHOD
Participants
In this study, 20 participants from randomly chosen store workers in Girne will be used. Participants will consist of 10 male and 10 female. They will appear to be between 25-30 years of age and all of them are Cypriot.
Procedure
There will be 2 university students taking place as confederates. They are from a theater club in METU NCC. Each of them will approach 5 male and 5 female subjects who are working in different apparel stores in Girne. Confederates will approach these apparel stores when they are not in rush hours. Their appearance will be manipulated by changing the manners in which they are dressed. In the attractive condition, the confederates will wear clean and elegant clothes and their hair will be clean and combed. In the unattractive condition, the confederate with simulation of tattoos will wear casual clothes.
The confederates will request a simple help from the shop workers which involves calling a friend of his or hers, and telling the workers that he or she will not be able to come due to an emergency situation. After requesting this simple help, the confederate will leave the store and go immediately.
2x2 factorial design will be used to indicate the interaction between participants’ responding behavior and the appearance of the individual that requests the help.
RESULTS
The expectation of the experiment is that good appearance will lead more tendencies to helping behavior. So, it is anticipated that good-looking assistants will get statistically significant scores on getting response to their requests. That is, these assistants’ scores will be higher compared to those of bad-looking assistants based on the assumption that people are more likely to direct their attention on good-looking individuals. Furthermore, another expectation is that the opposite-sex person will get positive responses to their urgent requests. However, it may be possible that men may tend to respond to women for urgent request no matter they are good or bad-looking whereas women are presumed to discriminate appearance for both sexes.
REFERENCES
Eagly, A. H. & Crowly, M. (1986). Gender and helping behavior: A meta-analytic review
of the social psychological literature. Psychological Bulletin, 100 (3), 283-308.
Junkhe, R., Barman, B., Cunningham, M., Smith, E., Vickery, K., Hohl, J. & Quinones, J.,
(2001). Effects of attractiveness and nature of request on helping behavior. Journal of
Social Psychology, 127(4), 317-322.
Vrugt, A.& Vet, C. (2009). Effects of a smile on mood and helping behavior. Social Behavior
And Personality, 37(9), 1251-1258.
Wilson, M. & Dovidio, J., F. (2001). Effects of perceived attractiveness and feminist
orientation on helping behavior. Journal of Social Psychology, 125(4), 415-420.
Mehtap Işkın
Burçin Koyuncu
Nihan Kaymaz
According to Wilson and Dovidio (2001), people help women who look feminine rather than those who look feminist. They claimed that most people are affected by social views, political attitudes, race or their own values about life. In line with this research, Baron (1971, cited in Wilson & Dovidio, 2001) suggested that people with similar attitudes help each other more frequently than those with dissimilar attitudes or values, if the request for help is costly. However, these behaviors sometimes can change. For example, in Guéguen and de Gail’s (2003) study, people responded more positively to a man or a woman that smiled at them than to one who did not smile. In this research, smiling by a confederate represented a positive mood in which confederates existed, and not smiling represented a neutral mood. In another study (Vurgt & Vet, 2009), men confederates received more help than women confederates when they asked for help. It is obvious from this finding that gender is also an important factor for receiving help from others (Vurgt & Vet, 2009). Moreover, Eagly and Crowly’s (1986) review of literature indicated that, while males’ helping behaviors are the result of a conception of heroic and chivalrous behavior, females’ approaches to helping responses are prescribed as nurturing and caring.
In addition to these factors, Juhnke et al. (2001) found that people’s appearances affected others’ helping decisions. For example, confederates who were nicely dressed were more likely to receive help than those who were dressed in dirty clothes. That is, people help those who look attractive and good-looking more frequently than unattractive and disheveled ones. One of the explanations for this finding was assumed to be the fact that the stereotypes of potential helpers would affect their decisions in such a way that they associate attractiveness with intelligence and other positive qualities (Juhnke et al., 2001).
Based on the studies explained above, it can be said that there is an effect of appearances on responding to an urgent request (or compliance). The purpose of this research will be to find whether appearance and gender will affect others’ helpful behaviors.
METHOD
Participants
In this study, 20 participants from randomly chosen store workers in Girne will be used. Participants will consist of 10 male and 10 female. They will appear to be between 25-30 years of age and all of them are Cypriot.
Procedure
There will be 2 university students taking place as confederates. They are from a theater club in METU NCC. Each of them will approach 5 male and 5 female subjects who are working in different apparel stores in Girne. Confederates will approach these apparel stores when they are not in rush hours. Their appearance will be manipulated by changing the manners in which they are dressed. In the attractive condition, the confederates will wear clean and elegant clothes and their hair will be clean and combed. In the unattractive condition, the confederate with simulation of tattoos will wear casual clothes.
The confederates will request a simple help from the shop workers which involves calling a friend of his or hers, and telling the workers that he or she will not be able to come due to an emergency situation. After requesting this simple help, the confederate will leave the store and go immediately.
2x2 factorial design will be used to indicate the interaction between participants’ responding behavior and the appearance of the individual that requests the help.
RESULTS
The expectation of the experiment is that good appearance will lead more tendencies to helping behavior. So, it is anticipated that good-looking assistants will get statistically significant scores on getting response to their requests. That is, these assistants’ scores will be higher compared to those of bad-looking assistants based on the assumption that people are more likely to direct their attention on good-looking individuals. Furthermore, another expectation is that the opposite-sex person will get positive responses to their urgent requests. However, it may be possible that men may tend to respond to women for urgent request no matter they are good or bad-looking whereas women are presumed to discriminate appearance for both sexes.
REFERENCES
Eagly, A. H. & Crowly, M. (1986). Gender and helping behavior: A meta-analytic review
of the social psychological literature. Psychological Bulletin, 100 (3), 283-308.
Junkhe, R., Barman, B., Cunningham, M., Smith, E., Vickery, K., Hohl, J. & Quinones, J.,
(2001). Effects of attractiveness and nature of request on helping behavior. Journal of
Social Psychology, 127(4), 317-322.
Vrugt, A.& Vet, C. (2009). Effects of a smile on mood and helping behavior. Social Behavior
And Personality, 37(9), 1251-1258.
Wilson, M. & Dovidio, J., F. (2001). Effects of perceived attractiveness and feminist
orientation on helping behavior. Journal of Social Psychology, 125(4), 415-420.
Mehtap Işkın
Burçin Koyuncu
Nihan Kaymaz
|
Yazan
|
Bu makaleden alıntı yapmak
için alıntı yapılan yazıya aşağıdaki ibare eklenmelidir: "The Effects Of Appearance On Respondıng To An Urgent Request" başlıklı makalenin tüm hakları yazarı Psk.Burçin KOYUNCU'e aittir ve makale, yazarı tarafından TavsiyeEdiyorum.com (http://www.tavsiyeediyorum.com) kütüphanesinde yayınlanmıştır. Bu ibare eklenmek şartıyla, makaleden Fikir ve Sanat Eserleri Kanununa uygun kısa alıntılar yapılabilir, ancak Psk.Burçin KOYUNCU'nun izni olmaksızın makalenin tamamı başka bir mecraya kopyalanamaz veya başka yerde yayınlanamaz. |
Beğenin 
Yazan Uzman
|
| Makale Kütüphanemizden | ||||
|
Sitemizde yer alan döküman ve yazılar uzman üyelerimiz tarafından hazırlanmış ve pek çoğu bilimsel düzeyde yapılmış çalışmalar olduğundan güvenilir mahiyette eserlerdir. Bununla birlikte TavsiyeEdiyorum.com sitesi ve çalışma sahipleri, yazıların içerdiği bilgilerin güvenilirliği veya güncelliği konusunda hukuki bir güvence vermezler. Sitemizde yayınlanan yazılar bilgi amaçlı kaleme alınmış ve profesyonellere yönelik olarak
hazırlanmıştır. Site ziyaretçilerimizin o meslekle ilgili bir uzmanla görüşmeden, yazı içindeki bilgileri kendi başlarına kullanmamaları gerekmektedir. Yazıların telif hakkı tamamen yazarlarına aittir, eserler sahiplerinin muvaffakatı olmadan hiçbir suretle çoğaltılamaz, başka bir
yerde kullanılamaz, kopyala yapıştır yöntemiyle başka mecralara aktarılamaz. Sitemizde yer alan herhangi bir yazı başkasına ait telif haklarını ihlal ediyor, intihal içeriyor veya yazarın mensubu bulunduğu mesleğin meslek için etik kurallarına aykırılıklar taşıyorsa, yazının kaldırılabilmesi için site yönetimimize bilgi verilmelidir.
