VU Research Portal The psychological impact of receiving aid Alvarez Durnov, Katherina Tatiana 2021 document version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication in VU Research Portal citation for published version (APA) Alvarez Durnov, K. T. (2021). The psychological impact of receiving aid. sn. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. E-mail address: [email protected] Download date: 11. Oct. 2021 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT OF RECEIVING AID Katherina Alvarez THE PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT OF RECEIVING AID Katherina Alvarez Layout & Photos by: Katherina Alvarez Layout by: Anya Shapira Copyright © 2021 by Katherina Alvarez All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission from the author. The research in this dissertation was supported by a grant from the Mozaïek (Mosaic) from The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) (Grant No. 017.008.067) and the SENACYT Institute (Grant No. FID 09-020). VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT THE PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT OF RECEIVING AID ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad Doctor of Philosophy aan de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, op gezag van de rector magnificus prof.dr. V. Subramaniam, in het openbaar te verdedigen ten overstaan van de promotiecommissie van de Faculteit der Gedrags- en Bewegingswetenschappen op vrijdag 9 juli 2021 om 9.45 uur in de online bijeenkomst van de universiteit, De Boelelaan 1105 door Katherina Tatiana Alvarez Durnov geboren te Panama, Panama promotor: prof.dr. M. van Vugt copromotor: dr. E.A.C. van Leeuwen A mi querido padre Contents Chapter 1: General introduction 9 Consequences of receiving help 13 Intergroup helping 15 Helping forward and peer-to-peer helping networks 19 Poverty aid and feelings of empowerment 21 Research context 24 Overview of the chapters 28 Chapter 2: Autonomy- or dependency-oriented help: Effects of receiving help and helping others 33 Consequences of receiving help 35 Autonomy vs. dependency-oriented help 36 Helping forward 37 Overview of the study and hypotheses 39 Method 40 Participants and design Procedure Measures Results 43 Checks Help type Anticipation of future helping Effects of helping forward Helping forward to restore self-competence Discussion 48 Chapter 3: A field study of the social psychological consequences of receiving autonomy- or dependency-oriented aid in Panama 53 The context 55 The role of empowerment 58 The social psychology of helping 59 Overview of the field study and hypotheses 61 Method 63 Participants and design Procedure Measures Results 66 Preliminary analyses Effects of help type Effects of training Discussion 71 Discussion of main findings Practical implications Limitations and suggestions for future research Conclusion Supplementary materials 77 Chapter 4: A field study of the psychological consequences of receiving and giving autonomy-oriented help 85 The consequences of receiving help 88 Helping forward 90 Psychological empowerment 92 Overview of the study and hypotheses 93 Method 96 Participants and design Procedure Measures Results 103 Preliminary analyses Receiving autonomy-oriented help Helping forward Discussion 110 Discussion of main findings Theoretical and practical implications Limitations and suggestions for future research Concluding remarks Supplementary materials 120 Chapter 5: Rethinking aid: An approach to reducing social inequality 129 Overview of the main empirical findings 131 Consequences of receiving help Helping forward Type of help and empowerment Conclusions Broader implications 135 How culture influences recipients’ reactions to help Dependency-oriented help recipients Some structural barriers to receiving autonomy-oriented help Intergroup helping to challenge social inequality Strengths and limitations, and suggestions for future research 147 Complementary research methods Understanding societal issues worldwide Conceptualization of autonomy-oriented help Peer-to-peer helping networks Concluding remarks Summary 159 References 165 Acknowledgements 197 About the author 206 Kurt Lewin Institute dissertation series 209 Chapter 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 1. General Introduction Poverty relief programs are widely used around the world, and some of these show many benefits. Yet, aid does not always achieve the desired results: Recipients of aid sometimes fail to achieve independence from the programs (Coates, Renzagli, & Embree, 1983; Munk, 2013). Often, programs are created without a clear understanding of the needs and perspectives of the recipients (Narayan et al., 2000). In this dissertation, I argue that understanding recipients’ needs and psychological reactions to the received help are important conditions for aid effectiveness. I reason that to achieve independence from aid and improve their socioeconomic status and well-being, recipients should receive the help that empowers, and promotes autonomy. The important conditions for empowerment and autonomy are that the help is self-supporting, psychologically non- threatening, and address the needs of the recipients. Studies show that although help is often crucial for the recipient, it also can threaten recipients’ feelings of empowerment, autonomy, and self-esteem (Alvarez & van Leeuwen, 2011; Nadler & Halabi, 2006; Schneider, Major, Luhtanen, & Crocker, 1996). Therefore, understanding the psychological impact of help on recipients is imperative for aid programs to be effective and help recipients in the long run. The type of help received influences recipients’ reactions to the help (Alvarez & van Leeuwen, 2011; Halabi & Nadler, 2017; Nadler, 2002; Wakefield, Hopkins, & Greenwood, 2012). The helping literature distinguishes many kinds of help, including interpersonal helping such as coworkers support (Settoon & Mossholder, 2002; Venkataramani & Dalal, 2007), intergroup helping (Dovidio, Gaertner, & Abad-Merino, 2017; Halabi & Nadler, 2017; Kende & Shnabel, 2017; Saucier, Miller & Doucet, 2005; Wakefield, Hopkins, & Greenwood, 2012), benevolent or activist support (Thomas & McGarty, 2017), emotional or instrumental support (Morelli, Lee, Arnn & Zaki, 2015), empowering support or direct assistance (Jackson & Esses, 2000), assumptive help (Schneider, Major, Luhtanen, & Crocker, 1996), and social support (Deelstra, Peeters, Schaufeli, Stroebe, & Zijlstra van Doornen, 2003). This dissertation focuses on the consequences of receiving autonomy- or dependency-oriented help (Nadler, 2002; Intergroup Helping as Status Relations model). A classic proverb exemplifies the distinction between these two types of help (Nadler, 2002): “Give a man a fish, and you will feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you will feed him for a lifetime”. Dependency-oriented help provides a full solution to a problem. It tends to relieve someone’s immediate problems and has high short- 11 GENERAL INTRODUCTION term instrumentality. Autonomy-oriented help provides recipients with the tools, skills, resources, or means to solve the problem as they see fit. It does not solve the problem at hand immediately, but it would help recipients become independent of aid in the long run and allows them to be part of solving their problem. The consequences of these two types of help are illustrated in many real-life examples, such as Maribel’s case (Maribel, personal communication, 2013). Maribel lived with her husband and four children in extreme poverty in Panama. Her husband used to work in several informal jobs, such as harvesting. Maribel’s household received Conditional Transfer (CT) vouchers that can be used at local shops to acquire food or domestic products. During the first years of receiving vouchers, Maribel felt satisfied and glad to have food for her family, but she wanted more than the satisfaction of basic needs. Ten members from her community received training on coffee production. After finishing the training, they used a common land to grow the coffee beans. The trained members trained others from the community who then worked on the project. They also received the necessary equipment to process the coffee beans. Afterward, they sold coffee beans at a national level and, with the income, they improved the equipment and were ready to produce at a larger scale. They also improved their houses, living conditions, and the roads to transport their final product outside the community. They also requested help to find contacts to export their product. During our last conversation, Maribel told me that they were introduced to a buyer in Japan who bought the Geisha coffee beans. She still receives CT vouchers, but “if all works out, she will not need them anymore” (Maribel, personal