Generosity, Reputation, and Costly Signaling: A Preliminary Study of Altruism toward Unfamiliar People

Abstract

Generosity seems to be a cross-culturally ubiquitous feature of life. Helping others is considered as a costly act through which the altruists gain popularity and reputation in their refer- ence group and this elevated reputation will pay off for them in future social relationships. This costly signaling theory has been widely tested in pre-industrial societies. Our purpose was to ex- amine if the assumptions of CST are verifiable in modern, industrial societies. Using a complex experimental procedure with four subsequent phases we could examine reputation-gaining in real- istic conditions. We found that more people are willing to offer help to a charity organization when their group mates are aware of their altruistic intention than those whose offer was con- cealed from the rest of the group. In return, the offered charity service increased the altruist's reputation in the group; in the light of sociometric surveys they gained more popularity than the others. Finally, it turned out that whereas men are more likely to offer potential help in the pres- ence of others, women provide more actual help.