Abstract:
The purpose of this research was to study gender differences in helping behavior through six types of request classified by gender helping skill (behaviors which males tend to have higher skill: jam bottle opening and answer an interview about home water supply instrument; behaviors which males males and females do not differ in terms of skill: answering request for time and answering inquiry about bus line; and behaviors which females tend to have higher skill: answering interview about detergent efficiency and gift wrapping paper selection). Participants in each experiment were 60 male and 60 female passerby on the streets in Bangkok randomly selected in Ramkamhaeng road, Ladphrao road, Sapankwai, Sapanmai, Bangkae, and Taprachan. All experiments had 2 male and 2 female confederates. The results show that: 1. Bahaviors which males have more helping skill: In the answering interview about home water supply instrument experiment, males are significantly more likely to help than females (p<.01), but in the jam bottle opening experiment, males and females helping behaviors do not differ. In both experiments, females receive help significantly more than males (p<.001). In answering the interview about home water supply instrument, males help females significantly more than help males (p<.01), but in the jam bottle opening experiment, males do not differ in terms of helping females and helping males. In both experiments, females help females significantly more than help males (p<.01). 2. Behaviors whch males and females do not differ in terms of skill: In both experiments, helping behaviors do not differ. In the inquiry for bus line experiment, females are significantly more likely to receive help than males (p<.01), but in the request for time experiment, males and females do not differ in term of receiving help. In both experiments, males do not differ in the terms of helping females and helping males, and females do not differ in terms of helping females and helping males. 3. Behaviors which females have more helping skill: In the answering interview about detergent efficiency experiment, females help significantly more than males (p<.001). In the gift wrapping paper selection experiment, females help significantly more than males (p<.01). In both experiments, males and females do not differ in terms of receiving help. In both experiments, males do not differ in terms of helping males and helping females, and females do not differ in terms of helping males and helping females.