Replication Report: Negative Third-Party Impressions of Excessive Helpers: An Examination Using an Adult Sample

Recent research suggests that excessive helping can lead to negative third-party impressions; however, most studies have focused on younger populations. This study replicated the approach of Shizawa et al. (2023) to examine whether this effect generalizes to a broader adult sample, including middle-aged individuals. A scenario-based experiment using a crowdsourced sample manipulated helping costs in terms of money, risk, and effort. Results showed that, unlike in the standard helping scenario, excessive helping negatively affected impressions in risk and effort scenarios, although no such effect was observed in the money scenario. The study discusses consistencies and inconsistencies with prior research.