Social affiliation cues prime help-seeking intentions

Over and Carpenter (2009) recently found that 18-month-old infants who had been primed with a social affiliation cue were more likely to offer to help another person. The present research investigated whether similar affiliation cues affect intentions to seek help rather than offer help. Undergraduate psychology students (N = 122) were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions in which they viewed a photograph of 2 people who were either holding hands (affiliation condition) or not holding hands (nonaffiliation condition). Participants then indicated their intention to ask other people for help when they worked on a university coursework assignment. Participants in the affiliation condition had significantly stronger intentions to seek help than participants in the nonaffiliation condition. These results are consistent with the idea that social affiliation cues activate a broad prosocial orientation that applies not only to others (i.e., help giving) but also to the self (i.e., help seeking). Future research should investigate the potential influence of attachment style on the relationship among affiliation cues, help giving, and help seeking.