Solidarity with everyone? Intergroup helping and COVID-19

This study investigates peoples' prosocial attitudes and real-life prosocial behaviour towards different ethnic groups during the COVID-19 pandemic, taking Germany as an empirical example. In a preregistered multi-study design, we examined: (a) who receives help, (b) who helps and (c) what explains prosocial behaviour. In study 1, we conducted a large-scale, nation-wide field experiment (1,980 help requests across 11 cities, resulting in 769 help offers in response). In study 2, we conducted an online survey with a general population sample (N = 1,033, M-age = 40 years, 43% females). Tests of proportions revealed high levels of prosocial attitudes as well as behaviour, favouring the ethnic ingroup (study 1), while regression analysis highlights the importance of empathy, compared to other theoretical predictors, for explaining prosocial behaviour (study 2). Findings underscore the relevance of ethnic boundaries during the pandemic crisis: Ethnic minority members benefit less from solidarity than ethnic majority members. However, we observe an attitude-behaviour gap between field experimental and survey data, indicating the importance of observational studies when studying prosocial behaviour during the pandemic. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.