Two experiments sought to demonstrate that self-concern lowers the willingness to be helpful. In the first study, high self-concern was established in half of the male subjects by giving them a test of "social intelligence." Then, ostensibly in an unrelated manner, all of the participants were asked to help the experimenter, but half thought this aid was important for the supplicant personally.
... [Show full abstract] The subjects worked hardest for the supplicant when the help was important-but only if the men were not preoccupied with themselves at the time. The second experiment, employing female subjects, manipulated self-concern in a similar fashion and also asked the participants to do a supposedly extraneous task for the experimenter. Half of the women were led to think they were doing one favor, while the others believed they were given two requests for help. The self-preoccupied subjects exhibited the greatest decline in work rate for the experimenter after the second favor was asked. Several explanations for the help-dampening effects of self-concern are considered. In the second study the self-preoccupied women may have been most susceptible to the reactance presumably generated by the second request.
