Piliavin (1969)

Question 1

describe the story of Kitty Genovese

Answer 1

Kitty was walking home late where she was attacked by a man with a knife. she was stabbed multiple times, then left alone for 5 minutes by her captor. in that time, Kitty tried to escape but she was found again and stabbed again. 38 people witnessed the attack but no one helped her, called the police, or called an ambulance. Kitty Genovese died.

Question 2

name the four aims of Piliavins study

Answer 2

• type of victim
• race of the victim
• someone setting an example of helping behaviour
• number of witnesses

Question 3

describe aim: type of victim

Answer 3

would it make a difference if the victim was perceived to be drunk or ill

Question 4

describe aim: race of the victim

Answer 4

would it make a difference if the victim was black or white

Question 5

describe aim: someone setting an example of helping behaviour

Answer 5

would it make a difference to those witnessing the event if someone ‘modelled’ the behaviour in front of them

Question 6

describe aim: number of witnesses

Answer 6

would there be a relationship between the levels of helping behaviour and the number of people witnessing the event

Question 7

conclusions of the aim ‘type of victim’

Answer 7

• the mean latency for help for an ill victim was 55 seconds, for the drunk victim it was 109 seconds
  (An individual who appears to be ill is more likely to receive help than one who appears drunk)

Question 8

conclusions of the aim ‘race of the victim’

Answer 8

there is some tendency for same-race helping, more commonly if the victim appears drunk rather than ill

Question 9

conclusions of the aim ‘someone setting an example of helping behaviour’

Answer 9

• which area the model came from had no effect on passenger behaviour
• when the model intervened early this triggered more helping behaviour than if he intervened late

Question 10

conclusions of the aim: number of witnesses

Answer 10

• passengers helped faster when 7 or more male passengers were in the critical area
• help comes quickest and in the greatest volume when there are more witnesses present

Question 11

how did gender effect helping behaviour

Answer 11

• there were 81 spontaneous helpers, 90% of these men
• men were more likely to help than women

Question 12

name some of the comments women made during the experiment (3)

Answer 12

‘it’s for men to help him’
‘i wish i could help him- I’m not strong enough’
‘You feel so bad you don’t know what to do’

Question 13

define ‘bystander apathy’

Answer 13

where people do not offer to help a victim when others are present

Question 14

define ‘diffusion of responsibility’

Answer 14

when there is a victim and lots of bystanders present, individual bystanders may not feel responsibility to help the victim because the responsibility is shared between all bystanders

Question 15

define ‘altruism’

Answer 15

selfless behaviour: behaviour that is unselfish in its concern for others

Question 16

what was the sample in this study

Answer 16

4450 men and women
45% black and 55% white

Question 17

what type of experiment was this study

Answer 17

a field experiment

Question 18

what made this experiment a field experiment

Answer 18

there were independent and dependent variables, additionally the research was conducted in the natural environment where behaviour happens

Question 19

name the independent variables for the victims condition

Answer 19

black or white
drunk or ill

Question 20

name the independent variables for the model conditions

Answer 20

early (70s to respond) or late (150s to respond)
critical area or adjacent area

Question 21

what gender were the two observers

Answer 21

female

Question 22

what did observer one observe

Answer 22

• the number of people in the carriage
• sex, race and location of the people in the critical area
• the number of people who helped the victim

Question 23

what did observer two observe

Answer 23

• how long it took before the helper stepped forward
• the time people took to help after the model intervened
• race, sex, and location of people in the adjacent area

Question 24

describe the victims

Answer 24

male, aged 26-35, dressed in an Eisenhower jacket, old trousers, no tie. 3 white one black.

Question 25

describe the model of response, explaining the findings from the study

Answer 25

• when bystanders are faced with a situation a state of arousal is created, this makes them feel very uncomfortable
• bystanders want to get rid of this uncomfortable feeling of arousal
• they can either help or leave the person
• the way they respond depends on wether the cost of helping outweighs the benefits received

Question 26

what are the appendices used in this study

Answer 26

• alcohol smell
• alcohol bottle wrapped in a paper bag
• walking cane
• Eisenhower jacket, old trousers
• paper

Question 27

name the strengths of this study (6)

Answer 27

• high ecological validity- conducted in natural environment (NY subway)
• High population validity- diverse group of participants
• participants deceived, helping behaviour genuine
• qualitative and quantitative data collected, we knew % of people helping and why
• opportunity sampling (easy to find lots of participants)
• confidentiality was upheld

Question 28

name the weaknesses of the study (4)

Answer 28

• limited understanding of how help would be with other genders or races
• unethical..
  + lack of informed consent (none of the 4450 passengers knew they data was being collected nor were they debriefed after the study)
  + deception (passenegers really thought someone had collapsed and required help)
  + protection from harm (some passengers may have felt guilty for not helping)
  + no right to withdraw
• lack of consistency with the trials
• low population validity (not representative of commuters and people who dont use public transport)

Question 29

describe the procedure of this study

Answer 29

• occurring on the express train of New York 8th Avenue independent subway
• four teams of students with a victim, model, and two observers boarded a train
• 70 seconds into the journey the victim (standing next to a pole in the center of the end section of the subway) staggered forward and collapsed
• the victim would remain lying on the floor face up until people came to help

38 trials were run where the victim smelled of alcohol and carried liquor in a brown bag
65 trials were run where the victim appeared sober and carried a cane

• within the team there was a ‘model’, he sometimes provided assistance (raised victim to sitting position and stayed with him for the duration of the trial
• two female observers sat and watched, designated certain things to watch

Question 30

describe the ‘model’

Answer 30

white male, aged 24-29, informal clothing