The Existential Underpinnings of Intergroup Helping: When Normative and Defensive Motivations Collide

Five studies examined defensive intergroup helping—when responsibility for an out-group victim’s injury decreases helping,whereas lack of responsibility increases helping when death is salient. in study 1 (n = 350),implicit death primes increased petition signings to allow a palestinian child to receive medical treatment in israel,when the child was a victim of palestinian fire. when the child was a victim of israeli fire,however,death primes decreased petition signings. study 2 (n = 200) partially replicated these effects on commitment to donate blood to an injured palestinian child. study 3 (n = 162) found that moral affirmation primes moderate defensive helping effects. study 4 (n = 372) replicated defensive helping,but failed to replicate the moral affirmation effect found in study 3. study 5 (n = 243) partially replicated defensive helping and found that different framings of existential threat moderate the effect. overall,results indicate that self-protective concerns underlie prosocial responses to out-group members in need. © 2017,© 2017 by the society for personality and social psychology,inc.