What is in a name? An effect of similarity in computer-mediated communication

An experiment manipulating similarity was carried out in a computer-mediated context where 634 males and females taken at random from various email lists were solicited to visit a website for the benefit of a humanitarian organization. In half of the cases, the given-name of the solicitor, which appeared in his/her electronic address, was the same as that of the receiver. Results show that compliance to the request was significantly higher in the case of first name congruence. The data confirm that similarity between someone who needs help and a participant leads to enhanced helping behavior.