The Psychological Predicament of The Recipients and Its Solution from A Dual Perspective

Lou Yu; Xie Xiaofei

doi:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240229

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Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2024, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (2) : 502-511. DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240229

Theories & History of Psychology

The Psychological Predicament of The Recipients and Its Solution from A Dual Perspective

Lou Yu^1,2, Xie Xiaofei^1,2

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Abstract

Helpers engage in altruistic behavior to increase recipients’ benefits. The extent to which these altruistic behaviors are effective depends on the benefits received by the recipients. However, it is important to note that not all instances of altruistic behavior yield favorable outcomes. While the helpers’ primary objective is to help the recipients overcome practical difficulties, offering help may unintentionally impose negative psychological effects, and thus burdening them with a dilemma comprising practical problems and psychological distress. This predicament contradicts the original intent behind helping. To tackle the above issue and promote the recipients’ benefits, it is imperative to understand the causes of the recipients’ predicament incorporating both the perspectives of the helpers and the recipients.
Helpers offer varying forms of help to recipients based on their perceptions and judgments of the recipients. Unfortunately, some of these helping behaviors may yield negative outcomes for the recipients. Firstly, helpers tend to offer help when they perceive recipients to be incompetent, consequently causing the recipients to feel a lack of ability. Secondly, helpers provide help even in the absence of evidence indicating a genuine need for help. This presumptive help often imposes emotional burdens on recipients who, in fact, do not desire such help. Thirdly, when helpers feel threatened, they sometimes strategically help recipients to maintain their own superior status. Lastly, helpers prefer to provide dependency-oriented help, while recipients would actually benefit more from autonomy-oriented help.
From the perspective of recipients, being inferior to helpers can result in negative outcomes. This perception of inferiority stems from three contributing factors. Firstly, engaging in social comparisons with helpers leads them to see themselves as less competent. Secondly, receiving help without the opportunity to reciprocity fosters a sense of indebtedness towards the helpers. Lastly, recipients cannot decide which forms of help to receive, thereby lacking a sense of autonomy. In addition to perceiving themselves as inferior, holding negative beliefs about accepting help further contributes to negative psychological outcomes. One origin of such negative beliefs is attributing the helpers’ motivations to be self-oriented. This attribution leads to negative psychological experiences after receiving help.
To resolve the dilemma of recipients, we propose two paths: one for helpers and one for recipients. The path for helpers entails two fundamental aspects. Firstly, helpers should better not assume recipients to be incompetent or overly dependent without sufficient evidence, thereby avoiding threats to the recipients' sense of autonomy and capability. Secondly, helpers should cultivate a perspective that regards recipients as ingroup members, enabling the provision of autonomy-oriented help. On the recipient path, proactive engagement is necessary to mitigate the adverse impacts of receiving help. One possible way is to create advantageous circumstances for themselves such as alleviating psychological threats by paying the received help forward to a third party. Additionally, recipients can correct negative beliefs about accepting help by facilitating trust in the helpers. We encourage recipients to mitigate negative psychological outcomes by adopting a more autonomous approach. Future research should further investigate the effectiveness of these two paths and explore strategies to promote positive psychological changes among recipients.
Considering an increasing number of studies have begun to incorporate both the perspectives of helpers and recipients in the realm of helping behavior, future research should first clarify the relationship between distinct types of help to comprehensively integrate previous findings. Secondly, it is essential to consider individual and group differences when examining the divergent outcomes of receiving help. Thirdly, researchers should delve into the interpersonal consequences and long-term effects following the receipt of help. Lastly, the adoption of a dual-path perspective should be encouraged within public welfare and charitable practices to better serve the benefits of the beneficiaries.

Key words

altruistic behavior / recipients / helpers / differences in perspective

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Lou Yu, Xie Xiaofei. The Psychological Predicament of The Recipients and Its Solution from A Dual Perspective[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2024, 47(2): 502-511 https://doi.org/10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240229

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