THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PRIVATE SELF AND HELPING VICTIMS OF AIDS

Social psychological theory is not often extended into real-world soci al contexts. In contrast, the current work applies the concept of incr easing the accessibility of the private self (Trafimow. Triandis, & Go to, 1991) to a real-world situation; namely, helping people with AIDS. The current results show that priming the private self increases actu al helping behaviors directed toward victims of AIDS as compared to a no-prime condition. Furthermore, path analyses show that empathy media tes the prime-helping relationship. No significant gender differences were observed in self-reports of empathy toward victims of AIDS, but w omen generally volunteered to help more than men.