Induced Cognitions of Love and Helpfulness to Lost Persons

Abstract

In a field experiment, a total of 161 male and 175 female passersby were asked to remember a love episode or, in the control condition, the memory of a piece of music. They then encountered another confederate who asked for directions. Results showed that participants previously induced with the idea of love spent more time giving directions than did participants in the control group, and that men who retrieved the memory of a love episode were more helpful to female than to male confederates. Results are discussed in light of the gender-role theory of helping (Eagly & Crowley, 1986).