Piliavin

Question 1

The Experimenters

Answer 1

4 teams of 4 students

Each team had 2 males and 2 females

Question 2

Background to the study

Answer 2

In 1964 at 3.30AM 28 year old Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death by a knife wielding attacker outside her apartment in New York. Her screams woke up 38 of her neighbours although no one intervened

Question 3

Variables

Answer 3

Independent variables:
1. The TYPE of victim –I.V.

2. The RACE of the victim –I.V.
3. Presence of helping model
   (present or absent, early or late)
4. Size of witnessing group

Dependent Variables:

Frequency of help

Speed of help

Race of helper

Sex of helper

Movement out of critical area

Verbal comments by bystanders

Question 4

SAMPLE

Answer 4

45% black and
55% white passengers

4450 men and women

The average number of passengers in the critical area where the emergency was staged was 8.5

Question 5

Where

Answer 5

Two trains were selected. The trains travelled through Harlem to the Bronx in New York.

Question 6

VICTIMS

Answer 6

The four victims (one from each team) were males, aged between 26 and 35, three white and one black.

All were identically dressed in jackets, trousers and no tie.

Question 7

MODELS

Answer 7

The models (white males aged 24 to 29) were all dressed casually. There were 4 different model conditions used across both drunk and cane conditions.
Critical area early – helped 70 seconds after the collapse.
Critical area late – helped 150 seconds after the collapse.
Adjacent area early – helped after 70 seconds
Adjacent area late – helped after 150 seconds

Question 8

RESULTS

Answer 8

Diffusion of responsibility was not evident, in fact the quickest help came from the largest groups.

Helping behaviour was very high.

In the majority of trials, the victim was helped before the model acted.

Cane victim received spontaneous help on 62 out of 65 trials

Drunk victim received spontaneous help on 19 out of 38 trials

Question 9

Qualitative data

Answer 9

Female passengers said

“It’s for men to help him.”
“I wish I could help him – I’m not strong enough.”

Question 10

Describe how Piliavin’s study in bystander apathy links to the key theme of responses to people in need [4]

Answer 10

Who: approx. 4450 male and female adults travelling on a New York subway between 11am and 3pm weekdays during the months of April and June ‘68
What: To investigate different variables on helping behaviour
How: a drunk/cane male victim entered a subway carriage on a 7 ½ minute journey and collapsed after the first stop. The victim stood near a pole in the critical area. After about 70 seconds he staggered forward and collapsed. Until receiving help he remained supine on the floor looking at the ceiling. If he received no help by the time the train stopped the model helped him to his feet. At the stop the team disembarked and waited separately until other passengers had left the station. They then changed platforms to repeat the process in the opposite direction. The observers recorded the responses
Link: The cane victim received spontaneous help 95% of the time compared to 50% for the drunk victim, overall there was 100% help for the cane and 81% for the drunk victim and 90% of helpers were male. There was no diffusion of responsibility found. Therefore this links back to the key them of responses to people in need as it shows that people will help one another when in need (no evidence of diffusion of responsibility) but people are more likely to help when an individual is ill rather than drunk.

Question 11

Field experiment - strength

Answer 11

Field experiment
This means that it will have high ecological validity as it has taken place in a real life setting – Ps are behaving in their natural way.
The study took place on a subway in New York for a 7 ½ minute train journey
The field experiments were not subject to demand characteristics, as the travellers on the underground train did not know they were part of an experiment so their behaviour would have been a ntural

Question 12

Field experiment - weakness

Answer 12

Field experiment
There is low control over EV’s as this is taken place in a natural setting
Some of the passengers may have witnessed the collapsing on several occasions as therefore would have responded differently.

Question 13

Data - strength

Answer 13

Quantitative data was collected
This allowed the different victims to be easily compared
They found that 100% of cane victims received help and 81% of drunk victims

Question 14

Data - qualitative

Answer 14

Qualitative data was also collected
This allowed the observers to understand why people didn’t help
90% of the helpers were male. Females were heard to say that it’s for men to help him, or I wish I could help but I’m not strong enough

Question 15

ethics - strength

Answer 15

However the study did comply to APA guidance

Confidentiality was kept

Question 16

ethics - weakness

Answer 16

There a number of ethical issues associated with Piliavin et al.’s study. Participants were unaware that they were taking part in an experiment, therefore they could not consent to take part and it was also not possible to withdraw from the study or be debriefed. Furthermore, seeing a victim collapse may have been stressful for the participants, they also may have felt guilty if they didn’t help, therefore leading to psychological harm.

Question 17

Reliabilty - strengnth

Answer 17

There were high levels of standardised procedures and controls
The study place over 3 months and 4450 people were tested over a number of trials
All the victims wore the same clothes, fell down at the same time, stood in the same area. The models also entered at the same time

Question 18

reliability - weakness

Answer 18

Because of methodological problems, there were more cane trials than drunk trials and more white victims than black victims. Therefore the results from each group’s trials cannot always be reliably compared with each other.

Question 19

sample - strength

Answer 19

The sample size was also very large and we would assume a fairly representative sample of New Yorkers
It included both males and females

Question 20

sample - weakness

Answer 20

However it was just p’s were rode the subway at that particular time

Question 21

Aim

Answer 21

conduct a field experiment to investigate the effect of several different variables on who responded to help, the speed of responding and the likelihood of responding.

Question 22

Background

Answer 22

After Kitty Genovese’s murder in New York, Darley and Latané (1968) and Latané and Rodin (1969) conducted a series of experiments that introduced the theory of “bystander apathy” because of the “diffusion of responsibility”. In other words, a negative event, such as a public attack on a person or a person falling ill on the street and collapsing and needing help, was less likely to result in such help being given if there were many witnesses than if there were few. In fact the fewer the witnesses, the more help was given. If many people saw an attack, for example, each one was likely to believe that others had already called for help, were assisting, or had decided it was not an emergency situation.

Question 23

Method

Answer 23

Piliavin et al. designed a field experiment, using covert observation to test several variables and their effect on helping behaviour.

Question 24

Sample

Answer 24

The sample consisted of the 4450 American passengers using that particular train, 45% of which were black and 55% white