Terrorism and Interdependence: A Study of Altruism

Humans help each other in times of need even when their acts are likely to go unreciprocated. This study examines altruism resulting from feelings of interdependence, and predicts that greater feelings of interdependence will result in greater willingness to help. Participants were split into four hypothetical situations (terrorism, drunk car crash, sober car crash, control) in which they were able to help. After assessing the subject-target interdependence and the neediness and blameworthiness of the targets in these various situations, participants rated their willingness to help. While results generally followed predictions, the effects were not large enough to be statistically significant. Participants willingness to give specific forms of help only differed significantly between the terrorism and sober car crash condition, however interdependence was a significant predictor of both general and specific forms of help across all conditions.