Abstract
Three variables related to attributed altruism were investigated. American college students read a scenario depicting a single observation of a person who helped someone in financial need. In a 2 × 2 × 3 design, the actor was described either as responding to a request for aid or as volunteering without knowledge of the request; as potentially gaining or not gaining as a result of providing help; and as receiving positive consequences, negative consequences, or no consequences. Any information that could suggest selfish motivation—whether the prosocial actor was aware of the information or not—was found to detract from attributions of altruism, charitableness, benevolence, and friendliness. When no information for selfish motivation was present, positive attributions occurred.