Levine

Question 1

What were the aims of Levine’s study?

Answer 1

1) 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.
2) To see if helping strangers varies across cultures.
3) To identify the characteristics of those communities in which strangers are more (or less) likely to be helped.

Question 2

What was the population of all of the cities?

Answer 2

All had a population of more than 230,000.

Question 3

what happened during the dropping pen scenario?

Answer 3

walking at a carefully practised moderate pace (15 paces/10 seconds), confederates waled toward a solitary pedestrian passing in the opposite direction. When 10-15 feet away, the confederate would reach into his pocket and accidentally, without appearing to notice, drop his pen behind him, in full view of the pedestrian whom he would continue to walk past.
A total of 214 men and 210 women were approached. participants were recorded as having been helpful if they called back to the confederate that he had dropped his pen and/or picked up the pen and took it to him.

Question 4

What pace were the confederates walking at?

Answer 4

15 paces/10 seconds

Question 5

How many men were approached in the dropped pen scenario?

Answer 5

214

Question 6

How many women were approached in the dropped pen scenario?

Answer 6

210

Question 7

What happened during the hurt leg scenario?

Answer 7

Walking with a heavy limp and wearing a large and clearly visible leg brace, confederates would seemingly by accident, drop and unsuccessfully struggle to reach down for a pile of magazines as they came within 20 feet of a passing pedestrian. A total of 253 men and 240 women were approached. Helping were defined as offering help and/or beginning to help without offering.

Question 8

How many men were approached in the hurt leg scenario?

Answer 8

253

Question 9

How many women were approached in the hurt leg scenario?

Answer 9

240

Question 10

How many feet away from the participants were the confederates in the hurt leg scenario?

Answer 10

20 feet

Question 11

What happened in helping a blind person across the street scenario?

Answer 11

Confederates, dressed in dark glasses and carrying white canes, would locate city centre intersections which had pedestrian crossings, traffic signals and moderate, steady pedestrian flow. Just before the light turned green they would step up to the corner hold out their cane and wait until someone offered help. A total of 281 trials were conducted. Participants were recorded as having helped if, at a minimum, they informed the confederate that the light was green.

Question 12

How many helping a blind person across the street trials were run?

Answer 12

281

Question 13

Which cities were the most helpful? (top three)

Answer 13

Rio de Janerio, Brazil - 93.33%
San Jose, Costa Rica - 91.33%
Lilongwe, Malawi - 86%

Question 14

Which cities were the least helpful? (bottom three)

Answer 14

Singapore, Singapore - 48%
New York, United States - 44.67%
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 40.33%

Question 15

When and where did the study take place?

Answer 15

In main city centre districts, during main business hours, on clear days, during the summer months of one or more years between 1992 and 1997.

Question 16

How were people selected as participants?

Answer 16

Only individuals walking alone were selected. Children (younger than 17 years old) and people who might not be capable of helping, very old, or carrying heavy packages. Participants were selected randomly, usually by approaching the potential participant who crossed a predetermined line.

Question 17

What were the community variables used in the correlation analyses?

Answer 17

1) Population size of the city
2) Purchasing Power Parity - an indication of economic well-being measuring how much the average income earned in that country is capable of purchasing.
3) Where the country could be placed on a scale from 1 (the most collectivist -ie. highest priority is given to the welfare of one or more collective entities, such as a tribe) through to 10 (the most individualistic - ie. there is an orientation to the individual and their nuclear family.)
4) Pace of life - this was assessed by the confederates timing the speed at which 35 men and 35 women (pedestrians walking alone) covered a distance of 60 feet in the same city centre locations were the helping measures were taken.

Question 18

Brazil, Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Spain share a culture of what?

Answer 18

Simpatia

Question 19

What does Simpatia mean?

Answer 19

Being friendly, nice and agreeable and good-natured is prioritised over achievement and productivity.

Question 20

How did having a culture of Simpatia effect helping behaviour?

Answer 20

the five simpatia cities were all above the mean in overall helping, and on average were more helpful than the other international cities (mean for simpatia countries - 82.87%; mean for non-simpatia countries - 65.87%)

Question 21

What conclusions were made from this study?

Answer 21

overall levels of helping across cultures are inversely related to a country’s economic productivity.

Countries with the cultural tradition of simpatia area on average more helpful than countries with no such tradition.