Helping the child or the adult? Systematically testing the identifiable victim effect for child and adult victims

Abstract

Is the identifiable victim effect (IVE; helping a single identified victim more than a statistical victim) stronger for child victims than adult victims? In this paper, we test the effect of identifying a victim and whether that victim is a child or adult on helping motivation and donation behaviors. In three studies (N = 1508) with different samples from different countries, we find no main effect of identifiability on any of our measures, and no support that the IVE mainly occurs for children. However, we find an age effect; child victims receive more help (studies 1a-1b) or evoke a greater motivation to help (study 2) than adult victims.

Keywords

• identifiable victim effect
• identified victim
• child and adult
• age effect
• charitable donation