Willingness to Help Strangers as a Function of Liberal, Conservative or Catholic Church Membership: A Field Study with the Lost-Letter Technique

The lost-letter technique was used to determine differences among members of church groups (10 liberal, 10 conservative, 10 Catholic) in their willingness to help strangers. The results suggest that members of conservative churches are as willing to help strangers as are members of liberal or Catholic churches, but they are far less willing to make trivial financial sacrifices to do so.