3 experiments with adult Ss investigated the effects of the experience of success or failure on subsequent generosity, helpfulness, and attention to the social environment. On the basis of an intuitive formulation, designated the "warm glow of success" hypothesis, it was expected that Ss who had succeeded on a task would subsequently behave more generously and more helpfully toward a stranger than would Ss who had not succeeded. It was predicted that Ss who had failed would be less attentive to the social environment than those who had succeeded. In the success and failure groups, Ss performed a series of tasks and were then informed that they had scored either well above the norm or well below it. Control Ss in 1 study were exposed to these tasks for about the same period of time, but had no opportunity to actually work on them, and thus received no feedback. In all conditions, after the independent variable manipulation was completed, the E left the room, and a confederate, who did not know the experimental condition of the S, entered. In Study I, the dependent measure was amount of money contributed to a charity collection can which the confederate placed on the table. In both Studies II and III, the dependent variables were helpfulness and attentiveness to the confederate. Results support the predictions. Internal analysis in Study III indicates that the findings regarding helping and those regarding attention were independent of each other. Several possible interpretations of the results are offered. The role of the S's feelings of competence and his expectancy for future incoming resources is suggested as a mediator 178 192 192 192 192 208 286 328 (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)