Jove
Visualize
Contact Us

Related Experiment Videos

Differences in lost letter responses from a seaside city.

F S Bridges1, C B Williamson, D R Jarvis

  • 1Division of Health, Leisure and Exercise Science, The University of West Florida, Pensacola 32514-5750, USA. fbridges@uwf.edu

Psychological Reports
|October 13, 2001
PubMed
Summary

Altruism in the Florida Panhandle showed 44% of lost letters were returned by finders. Addressee affiliations influenced return rates, with non-emotive organizations receiving more returns than emotive ones.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Y2K affiliation, immediate pedestrian density, and helping responses to lost letters.

Psychological reports·2001
Same author

Gay marriage affiliation and location in return of lost letters: reply to Waugh, Plake, and Rienzi (2000).

Psychological reports·2001
Same author

Affiliation, community size, and person-positivity effect in return of lost letters.

Psychological reports·2001
Same author

Lost letter returns on five topics from urban waterfront, and smaller rural communities.

Psychological reports·2000
Same author

Abortion affiliation, urban size, and geographic bias of responses to lost letters.

Psychological reports·1999
Same author

Nitrogen levels in long bones from coffin burials interred for periods of 26-90 years.

Forensic science international·1997
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Sociology

Background:

  • Understanding altruistic behavior is key to social science research.
  • Factors influencing prosocial behavior, such as the return of lost items, require investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the rate of altruistic responses in returning lost mail.
  • To examine the influence of addressee affiliations on the likelihood of mail return.

Main Methods:

  • A field experiment involving 75 "lost" letters mailed in the Florida Panhandle.
  • Analysis of return rates based on addressee affiliations, categorizing them as emotive or non-emotive.
  • Application of Gillett's (1996) power analysis technique to assess statistical power.

Main Results:

Related Experiment Videos

  • A return rate of 44% (33 out of 75 letters) was observed.
  • Addressee affiliations significantly impacted return rates.
  • Letters addressed to emotive organizations (Intercontinental Gay and Lesbian Outdoors Organization) had lower return rates compared to non-emotive ones.
  • Statistical power was calculated at .83 with a medium effect size of .34.

    • Conclusions:

    • Altruistic behavior, as demonstrated by returning lost mail, is influenced by contextual factors.
    • The nature of the addressee's affiliation plays a role in the public's willingness to engage in prosocial actions.
    • The study design and sample size provided adequate statistical power to detect medium effect sizes.