Abstract
This experiment studied the effects of sex, tone of voice, and time of day on the length of time to which an annoying phone call was listened. A man and a woman made 90 phone calls each in an angry or an apologetic tone of voice during the morning, afternoon, or night hours. It was predicted that the female caller making calls, in the afternoon with an apologetic tone of voice, would be listened to the longest. The predictions about sex and tone of voice were confirmed; however, phone calls made in the morning were listened for the shortest time. The findings are similar to those found for altruistic behavior. It is hypothesized that there is a continuum of helping behavior ranging from the passive helping received in this experiment to the active helping studied in the research on altruism. The theorized continuum of altruism should be further elaborated and researched.