Have you ever visited another country and noticed that no one acknowledges each other or smiles when passing on the sidewalk? Where you come from that's expected! But some behaviours, especially helping behaviours, differ across cultures. So how have psychologists observed and studied what they call cross-cultural altruism?
- What does altruism mean?
- What is altruism from a cross-cultural perspective?
- What are some cross-cultural differences in altruism?
- What is the contemporary study of Levine et al. (2001) on cross-cultural altruism?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of Levine et al. (2001)?
Altruism Meaning
Altruism is universally present in every culture but takes on a different shape. So what is the meaning of altruism?
Altruism: the act of helping others because you are concerned about them and genuinely want to help them. This concern is unselfish and does not require reciprocation in any form.
This is altruism's true meaning: helping others and expecting nothing in return. But we all know this is not the only reason people help others, simply out of the goodness of their hearts. There are other forms of altruism depending on why a person is willing to help.
Reciprocal Altruism is when a person helps another with the expectation they'll help in the future. In nature, this can serve a survival purpose. A monkey may decide it's worth sharing his bananas with another monkey just in case one day he runs out, and that monkey can return the favour.
Can you think of an example of when you displayed reciprocal Altruism in your life? Have you ever helped a friend with this week's homework hoping that in the future, they'll help you with yours?
Responsibility Prosocial Value Orientation: This kind of helping behaviour occurs due to society's expectations of what and how we should help. A person helps an elderly stranger cross the street because, in their society, it's expected to respect and take care of one's elders.
Social Exchange Theory: This occurs when people help because they want to get something from the person they've helped. That could be money, power, or even just praise.
You take the time to help everyone on your basketball team learn all the new plays, hoping the coach will see and make you team captain.
Fig. 1 - Altruistic behaviours like providing food for the hungry
Altruism from a Cross-Cultural Perspective
So how do psychologists look at Altruism from a cross-cultural perspective? Mainly, they want to know what cultural differences affect a person's willingness to help others, especially strangers. Many studies have compared helping rates in different communities in a single country. These studies primarily investigated population size as a factor in helping behaviour. The hypothesis is that the larger a city's population, the larger the decrease in helping behaviour.
However, Levine et al. (2001) wanted to cross-culturally investigate other factors that may influence helping behaviour in a city. We'll go into more detail regarding this study later in this article but essentially, in this study, researchers tested three measures of helping in a large city in 23 countries. All had populations of more than 230,000. Researchers studied Altruism from a cross-cultural perspective by considering the following goals:
Altruism in Cross-Cultural Differences
So exactly what are the cross-cultural differences that affect altruism? Psychologists often consider the differences in the pace of life, cultural values, and economic standing.
Pace of Life
We've already mentioned that population size may play a role in Altruism across cultures. Researchers have also hypothesised that people who live in Urban areas (i.e. New York or London) are less likely to help than those who live in rural areas. According to cognitive processing theories, a fast pace of life leads to a decrease in the likelihood of having time for social responsibilities, especially when it comes to helping strangers.
Cultural Values
Researchers looked at two cultural values; individualism vs collectivism and the concept of simpatia (in Spanish) or simpatico (in Portuguese).
Individualism vs Collectivism
Individualist cultures consider personal goals more than group goals, while collectivist cultures consider group goals more than individual goals. Psychologists often suspect that collectivist cultures are more likely to display Altruism than individualist cultures because they may be considering others more than themselves.
Simpatico (or simpatico)
Simpatia or simpatico characterise Spanish and Latin American cultures. It refers to having a proactive concern for the social well-being of others. In this culture, it is a given to be friendly and helpful to strangers. They expected ‘simpatia’ cultures to be more altruistic than ‘non-simpatia’ cultures.
Economic explanations
Countries with poorer economies leading to stressful living conditions may decrease helping behaviour. On the other hand, citizens in wealthier countries may need to be more individualistic and ignore traditional societal values, such as helping others.
Contemporary Study Levine et al., 2001 on Cross-Cultural Altruism
Levine et al. (2001) conducted a contemporary study investigating helping behaviour or altruism across different countries and cultures. This study is considered a field study as it involved observing reactions in real-world settings rather than in a laboratory. In this study, researchers focused on four community variables:
- Population size
- Economic well-being
- Simpatico
- Walking speed
Method
Let's take a look at the method researchers used in Levine et al. (2001) to measure cross-cultural altruism.
Experimenters
To control for other possible variables in their study, Levine et al. (2001) had to ensure that the experimenters involved in the study were similar. All experimenters were male and of university age. One experimenter collected all the data for each city. To control for experimenter effects, apart from all male experimenters, they received a detailed information sheet and training in acting out the roles. They all practised their roles together. No verbal communication was required of the experimenters.
The Three Helping Measures
- Dropped pen: Experimenters walked toward a single pedestrian coming in the opposite direction. When the experimenter reached into his pocket about 3 - 4.5 metres from the pedestrian and dropped a pen, seemingly unnoticed, he continued walking. Participants were considered helping if they shouted back to the experimenter that they had dropped the pen and/or picked up the pen and brought it to the experimenter. There were 214 males and 210 women who were approached.
- Hurt leg: Experimenters walked with a limp and a leg brace. When they approached within 20 feet of a pedestrian, they appeared to drop a stack of magazines accidentally and unsuccessfully reached to pick them up. Helping was scored when participants offered to help and/or began to help without offering. A total of 253 men and 240 women were approached.
- Helping a blind person cross the street: Experimenters were dressed in black and carried a white cane for the blind. They played a blind person who needed help to cross the street. They stepped up to the street corner just before the light turned green, held up their cane, and waited for someone to offer help. An experiment ended after 60 seconds or when the light turned red, whichever came first. The experimenter then walked away from the corner. Researchers scored help if participants told the experimenter that the light was green.
Fig. 2 - Altruism around the world
Results
Rather than listing all findings for all 23 countries, below, we just list the top 5 most helpful countries and the top 5 least helpful countries.
| Top 5 Most Helpful | Top 5 Least Helpful |
|---|
| Rio de Janeiro | Kuala Lampur, Malaysia |
| San Jose, Costa Rica | New York, United States |
| Lilongwe, Malawi | Singapore, Singapore |
| Calcutta, India | Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Vienna, Austria | Sofia, Bulgaria |
Conclusions
The researchers found that economic productivity was the only variable associated with helping behaviour. People tended to help more in countries that had poorer economies. Also, ‘simpatia’ countries were more helpful than non-simpatia countries.
Helping behaviour varies cross-culturally. Countries that have poorer economies may also have a more traditional value system that includes guidelines such as helping strangers. Latin American countries and Spain were more helpful due to the culture of simpatia. Individualism or collectivism made no difference in helping behaviour.
Levine et al. Strengths and Weaknesses
There were both strengths and weaknesses to the Levine et al. study.
Strengths
Weaknesses
Due to many experimenters, it is hard to be sure if all procedures were standardised or if there were any experimenter effects.
This was a correlational study, so although researchers found a link between poorer economies/simpatia culture, they could not establish cause and effect.
As they collected no qualitative data, we cannot find out why people help.
Cross-Cultural Altruism - Key takeaways
- Altruism is the act of helping others because you are concerned about them and genuinely want to help them. This concern is unselfish and does not require reciprocation in any form.
- Psychologists mainly want to know what cultural differences affect a person's willingness to help others, especially strangers.
- Psychologists often consider the differences in the pace of life, cultural values, and economic standing.
- Levine et al. (2001) conducted a contemporary study investigating helping behaviour or altruism across different countries and cultures. In this study, researchers focused on four community variables:
- Population size
- Economic well-being
- Simpatico
- Walking speed
- The results of this study are generalisable due to a large number of countries and participants tested. However, this was a correlational study, so although researchers found a link between poorer economies/simpatia culture, they could not establish cause and effect.
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