The Effect of the Physical Attractiveness and Role of the Helper on Help Seeking

• Published in: Journal of applied social psychology 1974-09, Vol.4 (3), p.286-294
• Main Authors: Stokes, Susan J., Bickman, Leonard
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0021-9029; 1559-1816
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1974.tb02647.x

The effects of a helper's physical attractiveness and role on help‐seeking behavior were investigated here. Eighty randomly selected Smith College students were the subjects; the helpers were two confederates selected on the basis of a separately conducted photograph evaluation. The confederate was designated either as an experimenter (Role condition) or as a fellow subject (Nonrole condition). Subjects were reluctant to ask the attractive confederate for help when she was in the Nonrole condition; rather, most in this condition asked for information instead of assistance. When the confederate was unattractive, more subjects asked for help when she was in role than when she was not. Although there was a significant main effect, most of this effect appears to be accounted for by the low rate of seeking help in the Attractive, nonrole condition. Subjects took longer to communicate with the attractive confederate than with the unattractive one; further, they reported feeling more uncomfortable in the presence of the attractive helper regardless of role.