Abstract:A study was conducted to reconcile two conflicting models on the relationship of shame to helping. According to the negative-mood relief model, ashamed people try to help others to relieve a negative mood induced by a shameful experience. The self-esteem maintenance model suggests, however, that people whose self-esteem is threatened utilize helping behavior instrumentally to restore self-esteem. In the present study, 84 male subjects took an alleged intelligence test and received fictitious poor results, and in the next experimental stage, set up by a male experimenter who was not an observer of the subject's failure in the former stage, they were requested to help a person also unaware of subject's failure. On the basis of this paradigm for the shame-helping relation, the "ability" of the target person compared to the subject (superior vs. inferior) and the content of helping (meaningful vs. not meaningful) were manipulated. One level of each experimental variable was supposed to serve as an obstacle to maintaining self-esteem. Besides this 2 x 2 factorial design, subjects were classified as high or low in self-esteem; a control condition (with 16 subjects) was also included. The results provided unequivocal support for the self-esteem maintenance model: ashamed subjects were helpful only in the inferior-target/meaningful-help condition. This result did not interact with the relative levels of self-esteem; the lack of this interaction is explained in terms of self-esteem being trait.Key words: helping, shame, self-esteem enhancement, negative-mood relief, self-esteem.Human nature is fundamentally and universally egoistical; that is, the ultimate goal of helping another person is to increase one's own welfare. This view has long been dominant and widespread, especially in Western cultures. Probably none of us can completely deny such a cynical view, however uncomfortable it may be. Indeed, we know well that many forms of our own welfare can be derived from helping others, such as getting material rewards or public praise or even self-praise. In the field of psychology, several experimental researches that demonstrate the existence of egoistic motives lurking behind helping behavior have been conducted and have become familiar to us. Various types of negative emotions increase helpfulness, such as shame/embarrassment, guilt, or depression/sorrow. ashamed subjects complied with a request for help more than unashamed subjects did (e.g.. Apsler, 1975: Brown & Smart, 1991.Generally this shame-helping relation has been interpreted to mean that ashamed subjects helped someone to escape distress caused by a shameful experience. But if we are contented with having roughly brought universal human egoism to light and terminate the search for human nature, an important question will be left unanswered: what is the psychological process underlying the shame-helping relation? At least two models can explain that psychological process: the self-esteem maintenance model, and the negative-mood relief model. The differe...

Masculinity versus Femininity: An experimental demonstration to identify the basis of women's self-esteem YASUKI YAGI (University of Tokyo) Ninety-six female subjects in Experiment I, after exposed to the essay of a woman showing successfully either femininity or masculinity, read the criticism which was seemingly well-grounded or crudely negative against the way of life expressed in each essay, i.e., femininity or masculinity, and evaluated that woman along a variety of trait adjectives. At that evaluation, about half of Ss were told that they might take the criticism into consideration for their information and the form with the criticism was attached to the answer sheet, i.e., evaluations of Ss appeared to be grounded upon the criticism., but The rest of Ss read the criticism in the situation ostensibly unrelated to their evaluations and the answer sheet was independent of the criticism. Individual difference was assessed by a self-esteem inventory. From the viewpoint of self-evaluation maintenance or social-comparison jealousy, a woman who has desirable traits that Ss do not have is ego-threatening and Ss harbor the motive to derogate that woman but wish to conceal it. But in the situation where their evaluations appeared to be grounded upon the criticism, compared to Ss who read the crudely negative criticism, Ss who read the seemingly well-grounded one are, so to speak, provided with socially acceptable rationalization for derogation, so they can let out that motive. The results were as follows. Low self-esteem Ss had that motive toward a woman showing femininity and high self-esteem Ss had that motive toward a woman showing masculinity. These mean that women heighten self-esteem by acquiring femininity: Against popular view of fear of success, femininity is the most important as the basis of self-esteem. This reasoning was confirmed in Experiment II.

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