Psychology Commons^™

Urban-Rural Differences In Social Interest And Altruistic Behavior, P. N. Dixon, Richard A. Stevick

Psychology Educator Scholarship

Research on altruism has often focused on the effects of altruistic vs.selfish modeling on 5 altruism.' Hansson, Slade, and Slade found that urban Ss were more likely than were rural Ss to respond selfishly in the presence of a selfish model, and to act altruistically when presented with an altruistic model. The authors explain their results in terms of Milgram's urban-overload theory. In complex urban societies individuals behave on the basis of economy rather than more complicated considerations such as social interest. The present research is a partial replication of the Hansson et al.study with both behavioral and attitudinal measures …