Levine Flashcards
Area
Social
Background
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.
Aims
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.
Research method
Correlation study between level of helping and characteristics of countries.
Can also be a quasi experiment-
IV- country
DV- helping behaviour
Features of the confederate
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.
The choice of countries and where and when was help measure administered?
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.
Dropped pen
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.
Hurt leg
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.
Helping a blind person across the street.
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.
Discarded task.
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.
The three most helpful cities
Lilongwe, Malawi (86%)
SanJose, Costa Rica (91%)
Rio De Janeiro (93%)
The three least helpful cities
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (40%)
New York, USA (45%)
Singapore (48%)
Purchasing Power Parity
How data was gathered?
Was a relationship found between this and helping behaviour?
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.
Population size
How was data gathered?
Was a relationship found between this and helping behaviour?
Population size for each metropolitan area was taken from the most current edition of the United Nations Demographic Yearbook.
No statistically significant relationship.
Collectivist- individualist
How data was gathered?
Was a relationship found between this and helping behaviour?
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.
Pace of life
How was data gathered?
Was a relationship found between this and helping behaviour?
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.
Strengths and weaknesses of correlational studies
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.
Two other variables analysed
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.
Conclusion
Overall levels of helping across cultures are inversely related to a countries economic productivity.
Countries with a cultural tradition of ‘simpatia’ are more helpful.
Ethics
Upheld and broken
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.
Internal and external reliability
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.
Internal, external (population), external (ecological)
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.
Ethnocentrism
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.
Individual/ situational
Individual. Culture of the person influences the help received.
Situational. Highest levels of help when helping the blind man cross the street.
Psychology as a science
Replicable (repeated in every city), trained data collectors who all do the same thing.
Controls (15 paces/10 seconds walking speed in dropped pen)
Usefulness
Holiday planning
Socially sensitive research
May decrease tourism to less helpful countries.
Racism against people from less helpful countries.
