Piliavin Flashcards
Key theme?
Responses to people in need.
What was the research method?
Field experiment.
Between the A and D trains of 8th avenue New York subway between 59th Street and 125 Street.
The journeys lasted about 7 minutes. The experimenter had four IVs:
Type of victim (Drunk or Ill)
Race of victim (Black or White)
Effect of a model (After early or late)
Size of witnessing group
The DV were recorded by two female observers seated in the adjacent area
1. No of helpers
2. Speed of help
3. Race of helper
4. Sex of helper
5. Movement out of critical area
6. Verbal comments by bystanders
7. Verbal comments by helpers
Sample?
4,450 men and women on the NY subway on weekdays between 11:00 and 15:00.
Procedure?
There were 4 teams of researchers, 2 female observers and 2 males one acting as the victim and one acting as the model.
The victims (3 white, 1 black) were all male, general studies students, aged 26-35 and dressed alike. They either smelled of liquor and carried a liquor bottle wrapped tightly in a brown bag or acted sober and carried a black cane. In all aspects they acted identically in both conditions. The victim stood near a pole in the critical area.
After about 70 seconds he staggered forward and collapsed. Until receiving help he remained on the floor looking at the ceiling. If no help was offered, the role model would step in and help either after 70 seconds or 150 seconds. The point of this was to see if this affected helping behaviour.
If no one helped up until the train stopped the model would help the victim up. After each trial, they then changed platforms to repeat the process in the opposite direction. The observers recorded the dependent variable as stated above. Both observers recorded comments spontaneously made by nearby passengers and helpers.
Results?
90% of the first helpers were male.
There was a slight tendency for same race helping especially in the drunk condition.
Conclusions?
Helping is also determined by a cost-reward model. If they possible cost of helping is greater than the reward e.g. praise, feeling good about yourself then someone is less likely to help.
