Impact of Personality and Belief Systems on Helping

Abstract

We investigate the effects of sattva guna (a dimension of Indian personality theory) and beliefs in the law of karma (an essential aspect of Indian philosophy) on helping behaviors in teams. We studied a group of 292 students over a period of 45 days and using structural equations modeling, we found that students who were high on sattva and who believed in the law of karma were more likely to experience a sense of oneness (relatedness) with others. In addition, these students were perceived by their team members to be more helpful.