Priming emotion concepts and helping behavior: How unlived emotions can influence action

In a field setting, participants (N = 227) were primed with 1 of 3 concepts: love (positive valence), distress (negative valence), or solidarity (positive valence). Participants were then asked to give money to help hospitalized children. Results indicated that the inducing of love triggered more helpfulness than the inducing of solidarity or of distress. This finding is explained in light of the emotion schemas theory (Izard, 2007), the gender role theory of helping (Eagly & Crowley, 2006), and affective influences on information-processing strategies (Berkowitz, 2000).