A methodological proposal to better understand an underexplored psycho- social phenomenon

Journal title RICERCHE DI PSICOLOGIA
Author/s
Publishing Year 2014 Issue 2013/3
Language Italian Pages 16 P. 519-534 File size 226 KB
DOI 10.3280/RIP2013-003008
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

The article advances a methodological proposal aimed at studying the benevolent over-helping, a relevant but under-studied socio-psychological phenomenon. The first part briefly reviews studies on helping relations. Only at the end of the Seventies researchers shifted their attention from the analysis of helping behaviours to receivers’ psychology. Those innovative studies showed how help may become a threatening and sometimes detrimental event for receivers, both from a social and a psychological point of view. Starting from this theoretical shift, a new field of study on implicit ambivalences of helping relations developed. According to this new theoretical framework, the second part of the article proposes a detailed new methodology, aimed at observing the understudied phenomenon of benevolent over-helping. During a simulation game, an interactive situation is set, where a relevant adult (e.g. their teachers or parents) sides the child when solving three different problems, growing more and more complex. Researchers may therefore observe both the helping strategies acted by the adult and the child’s reactions. This methodology allows us to catch emotional, social and communicative signals expressed by the adult as well by the child. Furthermore, it makes it possible to organize a video-feedback phase addressed to adults. Before the debriefing, adults may consider with researchers the unexpected and sometimes negative effects of their actions, originally meant for benevolent intentions. In order to evaluate the utility of this procedure, some examples of results are finally discussed.

Keywords: Benevolent over-helping, simulation game, video-feedback, altruism, emotions.

  1. Addis, M.E., & Mahalik, J.R. (2003). Men, masculinity, and the contexts of helpseeking. American Psychologist, 58, 5-14. DOI: 10.1037/0003-066X.58.1.S
  2. Bartlett, F.C. (1932). Remembering: An experimental and social study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  3. Batson, C.D. (2011). Altruism in humans. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  4. D’Errico, F., & Leone, G. (2006). Giocare ad aiutare. L’uso di un gioco di simulazione come possibilità di osservazione e di auto-valutazione del sovra-aiuto materno, in presenza di una malattia cronica infantile. Psicologia della Salute, 1, 91-106.
  5. D’Errico, F., & Leone, G. (2007). The role of maternal emotions in over helping a chronically ill child. A comparison of direct observations and mother s’ selfevaluation. Giornata di studio sulle emozioni in onore di N. Frjida. 19 November. Padua: Italy.
  6. D’Errico, F., Leone, G., & Mastrovito, T. (2011). The paradox of over-help. When teacher’s intervention makes an immigrant child more dependent. In W. Berg (Ed.), Cultural diversity and Multicultural classes (pp. 129-144). Wiesbaden: Verlag GmbH.
  7. Dovidio, J.F., Piliavin, J.A., Schroeder, D.A., & Penner, L.A. (2006). The social psychology of prosocial behavior. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
  8. Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 1, 117-140. DOI: 10.1177/00182675400700202
  9. Galdas, P.M., Cheater, F., & Marshall, P. (2005). Men and health seeking behavior: Literature review. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 49(6), 616-631. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2004.03331.x
  10. Greenglass, E.R. (1993). Social support and coping of employed women. In B.C. Long & S.E. Kahn (Eds.), Women, work, and coping: A multidisciplinary approach to workplace stress (pp. 154-169). Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia Academic Women’s Association.
  11. Hobfoll, S.E., Dunahoo, C.L., Ben-Porath, Y., & Monnier, J. (1994). Gender and coping: The dual-axis model of coping. American Journal of Community Psychology, 22, 49-82.
  12. Leone, G. (Ed.) (2009). Le ambivalenze dell’aiuto. Teorie e pratiche del dare e del ricevere. Milano: Unicopli.
  13. Leone, G. (2012). Observing social signals in scaffolding interactions: how to detect when a helping intention risks falling short. Cognitive Processing, 13, 477-485. DOI: 10.1007/s10339-011-0422-z
  14. Mastrovito, T. (2009). Giochi di simulazione e video-feedback: una proposta metodologica. In G. Leone (Ed.), Le ambivalenze dell’aiuto. Teorie e pratiche del dare e del ricevere (pp.69-112). Milano: Unicopli.
  15. Moghaddam, F.M. (1998). Social psychology: Exploring universals across cultures. New York: Freeman. (ed. it. Psicologia sociale. Bologna: Zanichelli, 2002).
  16. Nadler, A. (1987). Determinants of help seeking behaviour: The effects of helper’s similarity, task centrality and recipient’s self esteem. European Journal of Social Psychology, 17, 57-67. DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.2420170106
  17. Nadler, A., & Fisher, J.D. (1976). When helping hurts: Effects of donor- recipient similarity and recipient self-esteem on reactions to aid. Journal of Personality, 44, 392-409. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1976.tb00129.x
  18. Nadler, A. (2002). Inter-Group Helping Relations as Power Relations: Maintaining or Challenging Social Dominance between Groups through Helping. Journal of Social Issues, 58(3), 487-502. DOI: 10.1111/1540-4560.00272
  19. Nadler, A. (2012). From help-giving to helping relations: Belongingness and independence in social interaction. In K. Deaux & M. Snyder (Eds.). The Oxford handbook of personality and social psychology (pp. 394-419). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  20. Nadler, A., & Chernyak-Hai, L. (in press). Helping Them Stay Where They Are: Status Effects on Dependency/Autonomy-Oriented Helping.
  21. Tomasello, M. (2009). Altruisti nati. Perché cooperiamo fin da piccoli. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.
  22. Veroff, J.B. (1981). The dynamics of help-seeking in men and women: A national survey study. Psychiatry: Journal for the Study of Interpersonal Processes, 44, 189-200.
  23. Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society. The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

, Studiare il sovraiuto benevolo. Una proposta metodologica per la comprensione di un fenomeno psico-sociale poco esplorato how to study the benevolent over-helping. in "RICERCHE DI PSICOLOGIA " 3/2013, pp 519-534, DOI: 10.3280/RIP2013-003008