Principle of Care
and
Giving to Help People in Need
René Bekkers
Philanthropic Studies, VU University Amsterdam
Mark Ottoni-Wilhelm
Economics/Lilly Family School of Philanthropy,
IUPUI
Moral Development
• A universal moral principle that one
should help those in need is the highest
stage in theories of moral development.
• It builds on empathic concern –
responsiveness to others’ emotions.
• Empathy works best with friends/family.
• The principle of care proscribes helping
regardless of one’s social relationship with
those in need.
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This evokes empathy
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This evokes the principle
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The Measure – Sample Items
1. People should be willing to help others
who are less fortunate.
2. Everybody in this world has a
responsibility to help others when they
need assistance.
3 (*). These days people need to look after
themselves and not overly worry about
others.
4. When people are less fortunate, it is
important to help them even if they are
very different from us.
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Two hypotheses
1. The Principle of Care – Giving Hypothesis
Stronger endorsement of the principle of
care increases giving to help people in
need.
2. The Empathic Concern – Mediation
Hypothesis
The principle of care is why empathic
concern is related to help people in need.
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Previous findings
• The principle of care predicts a wide
variety of helping behaviors in a national
sample of US citizens (GSS2002-2004).
• 75% to 100% of the relationship between
empathic concern and helping behaviors
is mediated by the principle of care.
• These findings are strongest for helping
people in need known in the abstract.
Source: Ottoni-Wilhelm, M. & Bekkers, R. (2010). Helping Behavior, Dispositional
Empathic Concern, and the Principle of Care. Social Psychology Quarterly. 73(1): 11-32.
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Our Questions
• Does the principle of care also relate to
giving in other countries?
• Does the principle of care also relate to
amounts donated?
• Does the relationship persist over time?
• Even in experiments, in which giving is
observed rather than self-reported?
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Innovations
• Data from large, representative sample
surveys from the US and the Netherlands.
• More items = more reliable measure.
• Longitudinal data spanning two years.
• Observational evidence from experiments.
• Focus on giving to help people in need.
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Full principle of care scale
a. People should be willing to help others who are less fortunate.
b. Everybody in this world has a responsibility to help others when they need
assistance.
c. These days people need to look after themselves and not overly worry
about others.
d. When people are less fortunate, it is important to help them even if they are
very different from us.
e. It is important to help one another so that the community in general is a
better place.
f. Personally assisting people in trouble is very important to me.
g. When thinking about helping people in trouble, it is important to consider
whether the people are like us or not.
h. We should not care too much about the needs of people in other parts of the
world.
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IRI subscale sample items
• Empathic concern: “I often have tender,
concerned feelings for people less fortunate than
me”
• Perspective taking: “I sometimes try to
understand my friends better by imagining how
things look from their perspective”
• Personal distress: “Being in a tense emotional
situation scares me”
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$ per year
Study 1: Self-reported giving to basic needs,
combined funds, and international aid (ANES)
N=2,264
Base: $ 401
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% giving
Study 2: Self-reported giving to national and
international aid organizations (FSDP)
N=2,605
Base: 54%
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€ per year
Study 3: Self-reported giving to national and
international aid organizations (GINPS10)
N=1,765
Base: € 37
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€ per year
Study 3: Self-reported giving to national and
international aid organizations (GINPS08)
N=1,280
Base: € 37
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Study 4: Altruism Experiment
• 85 undergrads received $5 show up fee
and made anonymous decisions on $40
• Donations go to Red Cross to buy books
for children whose family home had been
destroyed by a fire.
• How do people respond to experimenters
increasing their donations?
• Scales are completed after 6 decisions
were made.
Source: Ottoni-Wilhelm, M., Vesterlund, L. and Xie, H. (2014). “Why Do People Give?
Testing Pure and Impure Altruism." NBER Working Paper 20497.
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$
Study 4: Observed giving to the Red
Cross in experiment (VOX)
N=85
Base: $ 21
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€
Study 5: Observed giving of reward to (inter)
national health charities in experiment (GINPS)
N=1,280
Base: €0.64
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Strong support for hypotheses
1. The Principle of Care – Giving Hypothesis
Stronger endorsement of the principle of
care increases giving to help people in
need.
2. The Empathic Concern – Mediation
Hypothesis
The principle of care is why empathic
concern is related to help people in need.
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Conclusions
• The scale is valid, reliable, and stable.
• The Principle of Care is an important
motive for giving to help people in need.
• Not merely for concurrent measures, but
also for giving measured in the future.
• Not just for self-reported, but also for
observed measures of generosity.
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What’s next?
• Observe giving in an experiment.
• First measure empathic concern and the
principle of care.
• Then: induce empathy by instructions to
imagine what victims feel like.
• Or: induction of the principle of care by
instructions to state the morally right
decision.
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Authors
• René Bekkers, Center for Philanthropic
Studies, VU University Amsterdam,
r.bekkers@vu.nl
• Mark Ottoni-Wilhelm, Center on
Philanthropy, IUPUI, mowilhel@iupui.edu
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