Morality, sociability and reality: third party judgements of outgroup helping

Outgroup helping serves various strategic motives, for example to communicate ingroup warmth and competence. However, unsolicited help is not always beneficial for the recipient, as it could cause feelings of inferiority and incompetence. Furthermore, it is not always judged positively by third party observers. This study investigated how third party observers judge outgroup helping with a motive to appear either moral or social. Based on literature on moral hypocrisy and tainted altruism, it was expected that help providers with a strategic motive to appear moral would be judged more negatively compared to help providers with a strategic motive to appear social. A scenario experiment was conducted, in which participants (N = 209) read a scenario in which the motive to offer help (e.g. to appear moral or social) and whether this was in line with whom they really are (reality congruence) was manipulated. The results confirmed that participants judged the help providers more...Show moreOutgroup helping serves various strategic motives, for example to communicate ingroup warmth and competence. However, unsolicited help is not always beneficial for the recipient, as it could cause feelings of inferiority and incompetence. Furthermore, it is not always judged positively by third party observers. This study investigated how third party observers judge outgroup helping with a motive to appear either moral or social. Based on literature on moral hypocrisy and tainted altruism, it was expected that help providers with a strategic motive to appear moral would be judged more negatively compared to help providers with a strategic motive to appear social. A scenario experiment was conducted, in which participants (N = 209) read a scenario in which the motive to offer help (e.g. to appear moral or social) and whether this was in line with whom they really are (reality congruence) was manipulated. The results confirmed that participants judged the help providers more negatively when the motive to provide help was incongruent with how they really are. However, unexpectedly, help providers who helped an outgroup in order to present themselves as being moral, were not judged more negatively compared to help providers who helped outgroup members in order to appear social. These results are at odds with literature on moral hypocrisy, which describes that it would be perceived as hypocrite when one would lie about being moral, because morality comprises traits such as honesty and integrity. The results suggest that morality and sociability are not as independent as previously thought.Show less

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Morality, sociability and reality: third party judgements of outgroup helping