levine Flashcards
what was the aim of this study
to look at helping behaviour in a wide range of cultures in relation to 4 specific community values (economic well being, population size, cultural values, walking speed)
what is the kin selection theory?
the tendency to help people with a similar genetic background
what is reciprocal altruism?
incentive for helping in the present will pay off in the future
what is a collectivist society
the cultural values centre on obligations to a group rather than to the self, so individuals are obligated to put the needs of the family company or community ahead of their own (far east and africa)
what is an individualist society?
these societies place more emphasis on the rights and freedoms of the individual and their nuclear family (britain, usa, western europe)
what is a simpatia
a cultural value associated with spanish and latin american societies. Its defined by concern for the well being of ohers , with an obligation to be friendly polite and helpful
what is the method and design
independant measures design
cross cultural quasi experiment carried out in the field
what is the independent variable
the people in each city
what is the dependant variable
the helping rate of the 23 individual cities
what are the co variables
whether the victim dropped a pen
whether the victim had a hurt leg
whether the victim was trying to cross the street and was blind
what was the sample for this study
large cities in each of the 23 countries
1198 people were studied in total
what were the standardised procedures put in place?
all experimenters recieved a detailed instruction sheet and on site field training on how to act
the experimenters all practiced together
how was the data collected
data was collected by either interested students going on holiday or back to their home country or by cross cultural psychologists and their students
describe the dropped pen experiment
experimenter walked passed a solitary person in the opposite direction
when 10-50 feet from the participant the experimenter dropped the pen without appearing to notice
participants were scored as having helped if they called back to the experimenter or picked the the pen up and brought it to them
describe the hurt leg experiment
walking with a heavy limp and wearing a large clearly visable leg brace experimenters dropped and unsuccesfully struggled to pick up a large pile of magazines within 20 feet of a passing pedestrian
helping was defined as offering to help of begining to help with out asking
describe the helping a blind person across the street scenario
experimenters dressed in dark glasses and carrying white canes acted the role of a blind person needing help across the street
they stepped up to a corner before the light turned green and waited until someone helped
a trial was terminated after 60 seconds or when the light turned red
helping was scored if the participant atleast told them the light was green
what were some of the results
simpatia countires were more helpful than none simpatia countries
1) rio de janeiro Brazil 93.33%
11)prague Czech Republic 75%
17)Bnagkok Thailand 61%
21) singapore 48%
(overall helping index)
what were some of the conclusions of this study
countries with less economic value are accompanied by more traditional values
the helping of strangers is a cross culturally meaningful characteristic of a place
key theme question
who- 1198 participants from large cities in each of the 23 countries
what- to look at helping behaviour in a wide range of cultures
how-using 3 helping scenarios which involve, a dropped pen, hurt leg and helping a blind person across the street
findings- rio had the highest helping index core of 93% whereas Prauge only scored 75%
area question
principle- or behaviour is heavily influenced by our social environment
aim- to look at helping behaviours in a wide range of cultures
findings- simpatia countires were more helpful than non simpatia countries
how was population size measured
statistics from the ‘united nations demographic yearbook’
how was economic well being measured
a measure of how much the average income earned in each country is capable of purchasing
purchasing power parity
how are the cultural values measured
simpatia, individualistic, collectivist, rated on a scale from 1-10
1-collectivist and 10- individualistic
how was pace of life measured
how quickly male and females in down town areas of each city walked a distance of 60 feet
