Work

People Are Unwilling to Help Others Pursue a Luxury Life: Egocentric or Other-Centric Motivations?

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: People are generally willing to help others maintain a basic life, but their willingness to help others pursue a luxury life-and the motivations underlying such decisions-remain unclear. Study 1 examined willingness to help and emotion expectancy in response to demand for necessary versus luxury items, taking helpers' agreeableness and the controllability of the causes of others' adversity into account. Study 2 further tested whether helpers' cost of helping or the utilitarian goals of what others wanted would explain willingness to help and emotion expectancy. A total of 308 university students, acting as potential helpers, were randomly assigned to different helping scenarios. Study 1 found that demand for luxury items reduced both willingness to help and expected happiness, regardless of personality or situational factors. Study 2 showed that among participants low in agreeableness, low utilitarian goals consistently reduced willingness to help, suggesting an other-centric motivation. Among participants high in agreeableness, low utilitarian goals reduced willingness to help only when helping costs were high, indicating a trade-off between other-centric and egocentric motivations. These findings reveal that although people tend to be unwilling to help others pursue a luxury life, the motivations guiding this reluctance depend on individuals' levels of agreeableness.

Source: Behavioral Sciences

DOI: 10.3390/bs16020306

Authors: Jian Hao, Shiqing Li, Weiran Li

Institution: Capital Normal University

Language: English

Topic: Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,654

Funder: Capital Normal University