Situations Are Powerful
When deciding to help another person the situation can be very powerful. The situation can vary, from seeing someone else engage in prosocial behavior, to whether or not you like the person, or to whether you believe they deserve help.
Helping People You Like
Most people find it really easy to help those that they know. It's probably not a big surprise that we would be willing to help those who we are close to, like friends and family. Even in emergency situations most would be willing to help someone they are close to because of the fact that they care for them. It's different than helping a stranger because you know this person and would not want to see them get hurt.
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The same thing applies to people's appearance. If the person is the same race as you or around the same age you would be more likely to help than if they did not belong to a similar group.
Physical appearance has an impact on helping as well. An attractive person is more likely to receive help than an unattractive person due to attractive people being favored, even if we don't realize it. Likewise, men are more inclined to help a woman who is in need.
(Baron, Byrne, & Branscombe, 2007)
Physical appearance has an impact on helping as well. An attractive person is more likely to receive help than an unattractive person due to attractive people being favored, even if we don't realize it. Likewise, men are more inclined to help a woman who is in need.
(Baron, Byrne, & Branscombe, 2007)
The answer is surprisingly yes. Mimicry is the automatic and unconscious tendency for people to imitate the behavior of others and has a positive affect on those being mimicked. It increases liking, empathy and plays a key role in social interactions. This does not apply to actual conscious mimicking. If you try to copy another person's every move they will most likely not only not help you but also think you are weird and get far away.
A study was administered to test this theory where the participants either interacted with experimenters who deliberately mimicked them or ones who did not and then accidentally dropped multiple pens on the floor. All of the participants who were mimicked helped them pick up the pens and only one-third of the ones who were not mimicked picked up the pens (Baron, Byrne, & Branscombe, 2007). This finding proves that mimicking affects attraction and doesn't directly influence helping, it just proves that people tend to help those that they like.
A study was administered to test this theory where the participants either interacted with experimenters who deliberately mimicked them or ones who did not and then accidentally dropped multiple pens on the floor. All of the participants who were mimicked helped them pick up the pens and only one-third of the ones who were not mimicked picked up the pens (Baron, Byrne, & Branscombe, 2007). This finding proves that mimicking affects attraction and doesn't directly influence helping, it just proves that people tend to help those that they like.