Levine

Question 1

Area

Answer 1

Social

Question 2

Background

Answer 2

Differences noted around the world in level of help offered through very little scientific evidence. Often testing popular hypothesis that the tendency to help strangers declines as the size of city increases.
Question over whether strangers are more likely to receive help in some cities more than others.
To investigate common characteristics.

Question 3

Aims

Answer 3

To see if the tendency of people within a city to offer non-emergency help to strangers was stable across different situations in which people needed help.
To see if helping strangers varies across cultures.
To identify the characteristics of those communities to which strangers are more (or less) likely to be helped.

Question 4

Research method

Answer 4

Correlation study between level of helping and characteristics of countries.

Can also be a quasi experiment-
IV- country
DV- helping behaviour

Question 5

Features of the confederate

Answer 5

All confederates were male and of college age. They were all trained for their roles (practiced together to ensure consistency) and had detailed instructions on how to act and how to score participants.

Question 6

The choice of countries and where and when was help measure administered?

Answer 6

Widest possible sample of regions and cultures, largest city in country. Populations of more than 230,000.

Each helping measure administered in 2+ locations. In main city centre districts during main business hours.

Question 7

Dropped pen

Answer 7

Walking at carefully practiced, moderate pace (15 paces/10 secs), experimenter walked towards lone pedestrian in opposite direction. When 10-15 feet from subject, experimenter drops his pen without appearing to notice and continues walking. 214 men and 210 women were approached.
If they called to the experimenter or brought them their pen, they were scored as having helped.

Question 8

Hurt leg

Answer 8

Walking with heavy limp and large visible leg brace, experimenters dropped and unsuccessfully struggled to reach down for a pile of magazines as they came within 20 feet of a passing pedestrian. 253 men and 240 women were approached.
Helping= offering to help or beginning to help without offering.

Question 9

Helping a blind person across the street.

Answer 9

Experimenters: dark glasses, carrying canes (white).
Experimenters attempted to locate downtown corners with crosswalks, traffic signals and moderate, steady pedestrian flow. Stepped up to the corner just before light turned green, held out cane and waited until someone offered to help. Trial terminated after 60 seconds when light turns red.
281 trials conducted.
Helping= participants (at minimum) informed experimenter that light was green.

Question 10

Discarded task.

Answer 10

Asking for change:
Calcutta has a general shortage of small value coins and notes.

Seeing how many apparently mislaid letters would be picked up and posted on:
Residents of Tel Aviv afraid to touch letters incase they had explosives. Absence of post boxes.

Question 11

The three most helpful cities

Answer 11

Lilongwe, Malawi (86%)
SanJose, Costa Rica (91%)
Rio De Janeiro (93%)

Question 12

The three least helpful cities

Answer 12

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (40%)
New York, USA (45%)
Singapore (48%)

Question 13

Purchasing Power Parity
How data was gathered?
Was a relationship found between this and helping behaviour?

Answer 13

An indicator of economic well-being measured by how much the average income earned in that country was capable of purchasing.

A statistically significant relationship between measure of PPP and levels of helping a blind person.
Lower levels of PPP= more helpful.

Question 14

Population size
How was data gathered?
Was a relationship found between this and helping behaviour?

Answer 14

Population size for each metropolitan area was taken from the most current edition of the United Nations Demographic Yearbook.
No statistically significant relationship.

Question 15

Collectivist- individualist
How data was gathered?
Was a relationship found between this and helping behaviour?

Answer 15

Country could be placed on a scale from 1-10 (1- the most collectivist I.e the highest priority given to the welfare of one or more collectivist entities e.g. tribes) (10- the most individualist I.e. an orientation to the individual and their nuclear family).

No statistically significant relationship.

Question 16

Pace of life
How was data gathered?
Was a relationship found between this and helping behaviour?

Answer 16

Assessed by the confederates timing the speed at which 35 men and 35 women (pedestrians walking alone) cover a distance of 60 feet in the same city centre locations where helping measures were taken.

Higher walking speed = less likely to help.

Question 17

Strengths and weaknesses of correlational studies

Answer 17

Strengths:
Can tell us something new.
Shows strength and direction of any relationship.
Act as a good starting point for further research.

Weakness:
Can’t infer cause and effect.

Question 18

Two other variables analysed

Answer 18

Gender difference:
No significance difference found between gender and helping behaviour.

Comparison of ‘simpatia’:
‘Simpatia’ cities (Mexico, Costa Rica) were analysed in comparison to other countries in terms of average levels of helping behaviour. They were all above the mean in overall helping.

Question 19

Conclusion

Answer 19

Overall levels of helping across cultures are inversely related to a countries economic productivity.

Countries with a cultural tradition of ‘simpatia’ are more helpful.

Question 20

Ethics

Upheld and broken

Answer 20

Upheld:
Confidentiality- didn’t publish details.
Protection from harm- restrictions were placed on the sort of people they could approach (e.g. not someone carrying heavy bags).

Broken:
Consent
Deceived: thought the person actually needed help.
Right to withdraw: didn’t know they were in a study
Weren’t debriefed
Protection from harm- feel bad because they didn’t help.

Question 21

Internal and external reliability

Answer 21

Internal:
Standardised- experimenters were trained for acting roles and given detailed instructions.
Replicable- repeated in every country.

Able to see extent to which helping behaviour was consistent across a series of different measures.

External:
424- dropped pen 
493- hurt leg 
281- crossing street 
Establishes a consistent effect.

Question 22

Internal, external (population), external (ecological)

Answer 22

Internal:
Higher levels of help in poorer countries can be because of traditional value systems rather than low economic well-being.
The public might have seen experimenters repeatedly dropping pens and this could raise suspicion.

Population:
-23 cities so a range of people.
However, only urban settings.

Ecological:
Field experiment in natural environment.
Used white canes to train experimenters for blind scenarios.

Question 23

Ethnocentrism

Answer 23

There were 23 cities with a wide range of cultural backgrounds.

Only one city in Africa and one in the Middle East.
No data from Arabic countries in Middle East, North Africa, of former soviet socialist republics.
Mostly in Americas, Europe and Asia.

Question 24

Individual/ situational

Answer 24

Individual. Culture of the person influences the help received.

Situational. Highest levels of help when helping the blind man cross the street.

Question 25

Psychology as a science

Answer 25

Replicable (repeated in every city), trained data collectors who all do the same thing.
Controls (15 paces/10 seconds walking speed in dropped pen)

Question 26

Usefulness

Answer 26

Holiday planning

Question 27

Socially sensitive research

Answer 27

May decrease tourism to less helpful countries.

Racism against people from less helpful countries.