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Question 1

what was the aim of this study

Answer 1

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)

Question 2

what is the kin selection theory?

Answer 2

the tendency to help people with a similar genetic background

Question 3

what is reciprocal altruism?

Answer 3

incentive for helping in the present will pay off in the future

Question 4

what is a collectivist society

Answer 4

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)

Question 5

what is an individualist society?

Answer 5

these societies place more emphasis on the rights and freedoms of the individual and their nuclear family (britain, usa, western europe)

Question 6

what is a simpatia

Answer 6

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

Question 7

what is the method and design

Answer 7

independant measures design
cross cultural quasi experiment carried out in the field

Question 8

what is the independent variable

Answer 8

the people in each city

Question 9

what is the dependant variable

Answer 9

the helping rate of the 23 individual cities

Question 10

what are the co variables

Answer 10

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

Question 11

what was the sample for this study

Answer 11

large cities in each of the 23 countries
1198 people were studied in total

Question 12

what were the standardised procedures put in place?

Answer 12

all experimenters recieved a detailed instruction sheet and on site field training on how to act
the experimenters all practiced together

Question 13

how was the data collected

Answer 13

data was collected by either interested students going on holiday or back to their home country or by cross cultural psychologists and their students

Question 14

describe the dropped pen experiment

Answer 14

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

Question 15

describe the hurt leg experiment

Answer 15

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

Question 16

describe the helping a blind person across the street scenario

Answer 16

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

Question 17

what were some of the results

Answer 17

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)

Question 18

what were some of the conclusions of this study

Answer 18

countries with less economic value are accompanied by more traditional values
the helping of strangers is a cross culturally meaningful characteristic of a place

Question 19

key theme question

Answer 19

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%

Question 20

area question

Answer 20

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

Question 21

how was population size measured

Answer 21

statistics from the ‘united nations demographic yearbook’

Question 22

how was economic well being measured

Answer 22

a measure of how much the average income earned in each country is capable of purchasing
purchasing power parity

Question 23

how are the cultural values measured

Answer 23

simpatia, individualistic, collectivist, rated on a scale from 1-10
1-collectivist and 10- individualistic

Question 24

how was pace of life measured

Answer 24

how quickly male and females in down town areas of each city walked a distance of 60 feet