Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Copyright 1983 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 1983, Vol. 44, No. 2, 3)0-321 0022-3514/83/4402-0310$00.75 With a Little Help From My Friend: Effect of Single or Multiple Act Aid as a Function of Donor and Task Characteristics Arie Nadler Jeffrey D. Fisher Tel Aviv University University of Connecticut Tel Aviv, Israel Shulamit Ben Itzhak Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv, Israel The present study investigated reactions to receiving single or multiple act aid from a friend or a stranger, as a function of the ego relevance of the task on which help was given. Male subjects were asked to bring a good same-sex friend with them to the experiment. Half the subjects were told that their teammate, with whom they were to interact at a later stage of the experiment, was their friend. The other half were told that they had been teamed up with someone whom they did not know. Subjects were instructed to solve a detective story, the performance of which was presented to half as related to ego-relevant dimensions (e.g., intel- ligence, creativity) and to the other half as related to non-ego-relevant dimensions (e.g., luck, momentary mood). The assignment was insolvable, and subjects were helped by their supposed teammate to obtain the "correct" solution. Half received help on one detective story and the other half received help on two stories. Results show that subjects who had been helped twice on an ego-relevant task by a good friend had the least favorable affect and self-evaluations. Individuals who had been helped twice by a good friend on a non-ego-relevant dimension tended to have the most favorable affect and self-evaluations. Similar patterns were observed for measures of external perception (i.e., liking for helper, evaluations of helper and relations with him). The implications of these findings for research on re- cipient reactions to aid, social comparison processes, and close interpersonal re- lations are discussed. Research on prosocial behavior has been the help (e.g., Fisher & Nadler, 1976;Gergen, concerned with the study of variables that Ellsworth, Maslach, & Seipel, 1975), the predict and explain help giving (cf. Rushton helper (e.g., DePaulo, 1978; Fisher & Nadler, & Sorrentino, 1981). Only recently has sys- 1974), and the recipient (e.g., DePaulo, tematic attention been given to the other side Brown, Ishii, & Fisher, 1981; Nadler, Fisher, of the helping paradigm, the recipient's re- &Streufert, 1976; Nadler, Sheinberg, & Jaffe, actions to being helped (cf. Fisher, Nadler, 1981) affect the favorability of the recipient's & Whitcher-Alagna, 1982). .That body of re- reactions to aid. The latter include self-per- search indicates that receiving help is a corn- ceptions (e.g., Nadler, Altman, & Fisher, plex psychological phenomenon. At times it 1979), evaluation of the helper and the help is a positive experience for the recipient and (e.g., Gergen & Gergen, 1971; Nadler, Fisher, is associated with favorable responses. Under & Streufert, 1974), and behavioral responses other conditions it is a negative, threatening such as reciprocity (Clark & Mills, 1979) and experience associated with unfavorable re- self-help (Fisher & Nadler, 1976). sponses. Further, past research has shown Within research on effects of helper char- that conceptually relevant characteristics of acteristics, studies have investigated how do- • nor-recipient similarity affects the responses This research was funded by Grant 2290 from the o f tne beneficiary. Consistent with it's theo- U -SuSrSntS^r?o n Arie Nad.er, «*- underpinnings in the threat-to-self-es- Department of Psychology, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat- teem model Ot reactions to help ( Fisher et Aviv 69978, Tel Aviv, Israel. al., 1982), the research focuses on how sim- 310