Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Predicting Factors Of Generosity, Carlo Barth

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors (e.g. religiosity, sex, race, income, marital status, and education level) that best predict generosity. The level of a participant’s religiosity was measured with a questionnaire examining different self-reported factors, such as attendance of religious events, personal devotion, prayer and community life and scored on a self-devised scale. Generosity was operationally and separately defined as the actions of financial giving and volunteering. Also recorded were participants’ reactions to various scenarios, to better understand how helpful they are, as an additional measure of generosity. The scenarios exposed them to situations such as encountering …