Investigation of the effect of social identity on helping behavior according to empathy and subjective well-being

It is well-known evidence that social identity can effect helping behavior and an individual tends to help someone in the in-group rather than one in the out-group. In addition to this effect, subjective well-being and empathy can also play a regulatory role fort he relationship between social identity and helping behavior. In the literature the person who feels empathy and subjective well-being are more like to help someone than one who does not feel empathy and subjective well-being. In the first study, the participants were divided into two conditions as Turkish and Syrian, and the effect of social identity on the helping behavior, the effect of subjective well-being, empathy and being a victim were also examined. The scores of the participants, in terms of helping, subjective well-being, and being a victim were significantly different between the social identity conditions, and that social identity influenced the helping behavior and empathy had a moderator role between social identity and helping behavior. In the second study the same research design was carried out except for behavioral measures. The participants were assigned to two conditions, namely Turkish and Syrian. At the end of the research, they were asked whether they wanted to participate in an aid campaign organized by the researcher and behavioral help behaviors were examined with this method. Findings show that helping behavior, subjective well-being and empathy scores were significantly different depending on the social identity, the social identity. Besides, social identity influenced the helping behavior, the subjective well-being and empathy. Moreover, empathy and subjective well-being had regulatory roles between social identity and helping behavior.Taken together, these findings will shed important new lights on the literature.