In an attempt to view more clearly the literature on altruism as differentiated by sex, the paper suggests consideration of more basic characteristics of male and female behavior in terms of past learning and present expectations, rather than solely in terms of society's general set of normative beliefs about the behaviors which are appropriate for men and women. Although sex-related regularities may be used as guidelines for initial predictions of behavior, the author emphasizes further examination of situational characteristics which may or may not elicit the expected normative behavior. Two categories of literature on helping behavior are reviewed: direct intervention studies and response to a direct request studies. The results of the author's own study of differentiated male-female behavior are also presented. These indicate that simplification of research on helping behavior differentiated by sex in order to gain predictability could be followed by more complex studies in which a variety of situational variables can be explored. (Author/SES)