Piliavin et al.

Question 1

Define altruism

Answer 1

the disinterested and selfless act of helping someone, which by doing so does not serve ay benefit to oneself

Question 2

diffusion of responsibility

Answer 2

occurs when a duty or task is shared between a group of people - people are therefore less obligated to complete the task

Question 3

What is the bystander affect

Answer 3

• when an individual does not help someone in a more dangerous situation when other bystanders are around
• supports the fact that if less people are present, an individual is more likely to help

Question 4

Psychology investigated

Answer 4

• altruism and the bystander affect

Question 5

link to the assumptions of the social approach

Answer 5

• behaviour, cognitions and emotions can be influenced by groups or social situations
• Behaviour, cognitons and emotions can be influenced by pther individuals

Question 6

Aim

Answer 6

• to bring a study on altruistic behaviour and the bystander affect to a natural setting (field experiment), and see the effect of 4 situational variables:
• Type of victim (drunk or cane)
• Race of victim (black; white)
• Behaviour of model (instant or not)
• Size of the group of bystanders

Question 7

hypothesis (3)

Answer 7

• people will be more likely to help their same race
• the ill victim will recieve help more frequently and quickly
• The larger the group, the more latency there will be in the victim recieving help

Question 8

Number of Pp

Answer 8

4450

Question 9

Demographic of sample

Answer 9

45% black; 55% white
- mean number of people in the carraige was 43
- lived in NYC between harlem and Bronx

Question 10

Details on the train journey in Piliavin

Answer 10

• between Harlem and Bronx NYC
• used old NYC subway cars
• between 11am and 3pm weekdays
• 7.5 minute train ride

Question 11

Groups and who played what role?

Answer 11

4 teams of 4: 4x in a group - 2M and 2F
- both females were observers
- Males were vicitms and models

Question 12

Vicitm apparatus

Answer 12

• all wore eisenhowler jacket, old socks, no tie
• drunk trials smelt of alcohol and carried a bottle in a paper bag
• Cane victims were ill and held a black cane

Question 13

Total number of trials

Answer 13

103

Question 14

Observer one

Answer 14

seated closer to the critical area:
- noted race, gender, location of everyone in the critical area
- counted total number of people in the car
- total number of people came to victim’s assistance, as well as sex & race of these people

Question 15

Observer two

Answer 15

seated in the adjacent area
- noted race, sex, location everyone in adjacent area
- recorded time taken for first helper to assist after the fall, and if appropriate, first helper after model helped
- recorded any comments from close by
- Tried to elict comments from person sitting next to them

Question 16

Type of study

Answer 16

field experiment - naturalistic observation

Question 17

Experimental design

Answer 17

Independant measures

Question 18

IVs

Answer 18

• cane or drunk victim
• black or white victim
• number of Pp in car
• early or late model helping
• adjacent or critical area - model

Question 19

DV

Answer 19

• latency for helping victim
• number of Pp in car
• race/sex/location helpers
• race/sex/location all pp

Question 20

Conclusions (5)

Answer 20

• Ill appearing people are more likely to recieve help than drunk
• males are more likely to help male victims
• Some tendency towards racial helping, especially when victim is drunk
• Diffusion of responsibility was not seen
• the longer the situation goes without help being offered:
  a. The less impact model has on helping behaviour
  b. people are more likely to leave critical area

Question 21

Individual vs situational

Answer 21

individual:
- individual experiences of arousal may be different depending on type and relation to model

Situational:
- drunk/cane victim - whether it seemed safe to help
- if someone else is already helping

Question 22

Generalisability

Answer 22

positive:
- Large sample
- mostly even split between sex and races

Negative:
- specific types of people who use the train at 11am-3pm
- only done in NYC

Question 23

reliability

Answer 23

Positive:
- standardised observers, victim procedures, length of train rides

Negative:
- no inter-rater reliability as observers were looking for different things
- field experiment - less variables could be controlled

Question 24

application

Answer 24

• helps people to be aware that biases do come in when help is being offered - should try to reduce this
• you should make yourself appear less threatning if needing help

Question 25

validity

Answer 25

positive:
- ecological validity - field experiment, mundane realism
- qualitative and quantitative data used
- range of numbers in the cars to test for diffusion of responsibility

Negative:
- only 1 black victim
- all trials done around the same time
- potential demand characteristics if Pp had seen victim more than once
- less drunk (38) than cane (65) trials

Question 26

Ethics

Answer 26

positive:
- no physical harm
- privacy
- right to withdraw - pp could leave critical area

Negative:
- potential psychological harm - guilt and arousal
- deception - fake situation
- no informed consent
- No debrief

Question 27

Number of cane trials

Answer 27

65

Question 28

Number of drunk trials

Answer 28

38