The purpose of the present study was to compare nonactivist students, of both left and right political ideologies, on a behavioral measure that would assess, in part, their humanitarian concerns and their valuation of social . expectancies. To date, the literature concerning both student activism and ideology has been almost entirely confined to the use of questionnaires, checklists, and other paper-and-pencil techniques. Results from these studies have indicated that student left activists were often found to have a more positive personality profile than nonactivist student cross sectional samples. Later investigations pointed out, however, that due to serious methodological and procedural confounding, many of the personality characteristics previously ascribed solely to student left activists may either apply to all left oriented students or to all activist students, regardless of ideology.