Single exposure to the word “Loving” and implicit helping behavior

Abstract Recent studies have reported that exposure to appeals for help containing the word “Love” increased donations. In this study, the effect of exposure to the single word “Loving” was examined on spontaneous helping behavior. Participants in the parking lots of several hypermarkets saw a male or a female confederate who was having difficulty loading a large heavy carton into a car. The confederate wore a T-shirt with a single word printed on the back: “Loving,” “Helping,” or no word. It was reported that more participants spontaneously offered to help the confederate when exposed to the word “Loving.” The importance of this word and further concepts are used to explain these results.