Helping behavior in urban and rural environments: Field studies based on a taxonomic organization of helping episodes.

TLDR: In this article, six studies were carried out in a randomly selected sample of 55 cities and towns stratified on the basis of population size and geographical isolation, and the results indicated that population size was negatively associated with helping with four of the measures.

Abstract: Previous studies of urban-rural differences in helping behavior are contradictory. A number of methodological problems in previous research are noted, including the facts that previous studies selected communities on a nonrandom basis and gave little attention to the sampling of helping behaviors. The present research consisted of six studies carried out in a randomly selected sample of 55 cities and towns stratified on the basis of population size and geographical isolation. The six helping measures were systematically selected on the basis of a taxonomy of helping episodes. Results indicated that population size was negatively associated with helping with four of the measures. A planned, formal measure of helping involving nonresponse. rates to the Australian census revealed a positive association between city size and helping. The sixth measure was not associated with city size. No other individual-level or community-level variables emerged as substantial or consistent predictors of helping. The pattern of results is discussed in relation to the helping taxonomy employed, and implications for a number of theoretical perspectives are briefly drawn.