Giving in the Kibbutz

Abstract

Attitudes of social responsibility and pro-social behavior of Israeli city and kibbutz children were assessed. Additionally, the effects of "altruistic" and "egotistic" social pressures were studies. Children were asked to donate some or all of a valued reward they had earned earlier in favor of poor children. As hypothesized, it was found that kibbutz children had higher scores on the social responsibility scale and were more generous than city children. Also, females had higher social responsibility scores, and gave more than males. City boys appeared to be least helpful relative to all other groups. Regarding social pressure, only the egotistic pressure manipulation affected pro-social behavior. The findings and their implications are discussed.