Lecture 13 Flashcards
Study by Darley and Batson (1973) on the costs of helping (From Jerusalem to Jericho): seminary students participated in a study on religious education. The study started in one building, but had to end in another. Students were told their were either ahead of schedule, on schedule, or behind schedule. They had either had a lecture on the story of the Good Samaritan or a story about job efficiency before. On their way to the other building, they would encounter a student who dropped all of his books.
Results: Students in a low hurry showed the most helping behaviour, and those with the high hurry the least. Across all conditions, the students that had witnessed the Samaritan lecture were even more inclined to help.
Study by Van Bommel et al. (2016) on alcohol consumption and helping behaviour. Alcohol consumption was measured with abreathalyzer in different bars in Amsterdam. The experimenter would then “accidentally” knock over a canister filled with 20 mouthpieces, either with or without bystanders.
Results: Participants with high alcohol consumption had a lower response time for helping than those with lower alcohol consumption in both conditions (as they were less inhibited).
Study by Batson et al (1981) on empathy-altruism explanation: there would be one observer (participant) and one worker (confederate). Every round, the worker would receive electric shocks. There were conditions in which the worker was similar to the observer (empathy) and in which they were more dissimilar (decreased empathy). There would also be a difficult and an easy escape to reduce stress of watching the shockss
Results: with a similar victim, there was even more helping when there would be an easy escape - this led Batson to the conclusion that true altruism, helping out of empathy for the other person, truly exists.
