The Role of Social Interest and Empathy on Helping Behaviors during Floods

This study examined the role of social interest and empathy in helping and not helping adults during floods. Participants were split into two groups with helping behaviors (N=90) and without helping behaviors (N = 90) during floods from six cities, Khuzestan province, Iran. A demo-graphic questionnaire, the Social Interest Scale (SIS), and the Question-naire Measure of Empathic Tendency (QMET)) were used in this study. Analysis showed that people in the helping group had higher social interest than those in the control group. Also, individuals with helping behaviors had greater performance in susceptibility to emotional contagion, extreme emotional responsiveness, tendency to be moved by others' positive emo-tional experiences, tendency to be moved by others' negative emotional experiences, sympathetic tendency, willingness to be in contact with others who have problems, and the total score of empathy than persons in the control group. These findings can be combined with the emergency aid programs in natural disasters.