The challenge of making this world a better place: Analyzing the chivalrous quality of the quixoteism motive

Abstract

Quixoteism is a motive that leads people to undertake challenging actions as an instrumental goal toward an ultimate goal of improving the welfare of the world. The present research tests whether the activation of a Quixoteism motive increases a person’s willingness to perform extraordinary helping behaviors. In Study 1 (N = 66), the centrality of values linked to Quixoteism (i.e., the Transcendent-Change Constellation, TCC) predicted actual commitment to help, but only when this behavior was challenging. In Study 2 (N = 175), the centrality of TCC measured one month earlier was associated with a preference for challenging helping behaviors, but only when the ultimate goal of Quixoteism was previously primed (i.e., awareness of worldwide problems). This is the first work to focus on analyzing the association between Quixoteism and behaviors that involve a challenging helping (chivalrous) action.