A beggar, self-awareness and willingness to help

Abstract

The present field experiment examines the relationship between self-awareness, violation of personal space and helping behavior. A beggar asking for alms on the streets. To induce the first experimental condition, the state of objective self-awareness, the beggar had a mirror at chest height, suspended from a string round his neck. In the control condition, in place of the mirror, the beggar held a similarly dimensioned piece of cardboard in the same position. Both mirror and cardboard bore the message "A FEW PENNIES THANKS." As concerned the second experimental condition, the beggar either stood still waiting for people to come up to him, or walked toward the people as they approached, thereby entering their personal space. The results show that anxiety caused by the violation of personal space interacts with the self-awareness in determining the helping behavior.