Personal responsibility and altruism in children.

Applied P. G. Zimbardo's (1970) deindividuation model to the study of prosocial behavior by asking 177 4–13 yr old Halloween trick-or-treaters in groups of 2–5 Ss to donate candy to hospitalized children under 3 conditions. The designation of personal responsibility for the amount donated was manipulated as follows: no child identified as responsible; one child identified as responsible; and each child identified as responsible. As predicted, personal responsibility increased the likelihood of contributing as well as the number of candies donated. Assigning individual responsibility increased the number of candies donated by each S only if they were in small groups. The absence of a similar outcome among Ss in large groups suggests that the greater social support and/or the greater potential for the diffusion of responsibility in these groups effectively countered the effect of the manipulation of responsibility. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)