Racial discrimination in helping situations depends on the cost of help: A large field experiment in the streets of Paris.

Abstract

Decades of field experiments show that White Americans are more likely to discriminate against Black Americans when the situation provides a nonracist rationalization for withholding help from a Black target - for instance, when the cost of helping looks unreasonable. However, work on racial discrimination in helping is scarcer outside of the US context. The present experiment extends this line of research to Europe and studies differences in helping asiatique (Asian), blanc (White) and noir (Black) men and women in France. In addition, it assesses to what extent racial discrimination in the probability to provide assistance is moderated by the perceived cost of help. The study rests on a sample of over 4500 independent observations collected through a factorial design that combines 12 testers (equally apportioned in race and gender groups), two social class conditions and four observation sites. Testers asked for directions to pedestrians in front of the traffic lights of a busy road, and pedestrians could provide different forms of help that varied in perceived cost. The analysis indicates that overall asiatique and noir testers receive help less often than their blanc counterparts. It also shows that racial discrimination is stronger when the perceived cost of helping is higher.