Piliavin Et Al, Flashcards
Background of Piliavin et al. (1969) subway samaritan?
Bystander behaviour and diffusion of responsibility.
Bystanders in an emergency situation often do not offer help. This is described as bystander behaviour . In a large group each person feels less responsibility and this may explain bystanders behaviour
Aim of Piliavin et als study (1969) on the subway Samaritan
To investigate the effects of four independent variables on helping behaviour in a real life setting.
Design method of piliavin et als (1969) study -on the subway samaritan
Field experiment, independent measures design, using observational techniques. It is also a snapshot study.
The IV was the type of victim, (drunk, or cane) ethnicity, (black, or white, )gender of helpers, (men, or women, )presence of model, group, size
The DV was time it took for help to be offered and number of people who offered help.
Sample of piliavin et als (1969) study -on the subway samaritan
Opportunity sample of 4450 passengers on the New York subway, weekdays, 11 am to 3 pm from 15th of April to 26th of June 1968. 60% of passengers were
Materials/apparatus of piliavin et als (1969) study -on the subway samaritan
Each trial involved, the victim carrying either a black cane or a liquor bottle wrapped in brown paper, standing next to a pole in the middle of the carriage
Procedure of piliavin et als (1969) study -on the subway samaritan
103 trials of one ride on the New York subway lasting 7 1/2 minutes on each trial for students boarded using different doors.
The victim stood next to the pole in the centre of the critical area after 70 seconds, the victim collapsed and remained on the floor until he received help or until the train stopped, and the muddle helped him up.
On 38 trials the victim smelled of liquor and carried a liquor bottle. This was the drunk condition. On 65 trials, the victim appeared sober and carried a black cane. This was the cane condition.
The model was in the critical or the adjacent area and either helped early 70 seconds after initial collapse or late 150 seconds later
The observers sat outside the critical area
Observer, one noted, ethnicity, gender, and location of people in the critical area number of people in the car, number of people who helped the ethnicity, gender and location of people who helped .
Observe noted, ethnicity, gender, and location of people in the adjacent area how long it took for the first person to help after the victim collapsed, and or after the model appeared.
Both observers recorded comments spontaneously made by nearby passengers
Results of piliavin et als (1969) study -on the subway samaritan
Type of victim, ( drunk or cane )
A person using a cane is more likely to receive help than one who appears drunk
Help is more quickly forthcoming for a person with a cane, then a drunk victim
The median latency for Kane trials was five seconds
Ethnicity and gender of helpers
The black victim received help less quickly than white victims
A slight same ethnicity effect was found in the drunk condition
90% of helpers were men whereas only 60% of passengers Were men.
Presents of model
The model intervening early after 70 seconds, had slightly more effect than the late model 150 seconds
Group size
-Diffusion of responsibility was not found in the study helping was greater in seven person groups than three person groups.
Comments from passengers
-For example, “it’s for men to help him, “or “you feel so bad when you don’t know what to do”
Conclusion of piliavin et als (1969) study -on the subway samaritan
A course reward model can predict when help will be forthcoming in an emergency situation, where escape is not possible-
-The emergency situation creates heightened arousal. The decision to help is motivated by a selfish desire to rid oneself of this unpleasant emotional state.
Action will depend on whether the rewards of helping are greater than the cost of not helping.
Research method and techniques
-extremely variables are difficult to control in a field experiment(on subway train) Factors, other than the independent variable may have influenced the likelihood of helping e.g. people people may have been stressed by the urban environment.
+ the study was conducted in the natural environment of the New York, subway where people were unaware of being studied, reducing demand characteristics
Reliability
+ standardised procedures were used, e.g. the victim was always dressed identically however, there were no checks of whether the teams followed these procedures.
-The reliability of the observations may be low as only one person made each set of observations.
Sampling bias
A very large sample collected over a period of several months containing a wide cross section of people and generalisable to the target population
Despite having a large sample, participants had characteristics that make them unrepresentative, e.g. living in or visiting a city and probably accustomed to being faced with emergency situations .
Types of data
Most data was quantitative, which is useful for comparing speed and frequency of helping in different trials
Qualitative data was comments from sitting in the carriage e.g. “it’s for men to help him” such comments, help us, understand reasons for not helping .
Ethical considerations
Informed consent can’t be obtained in a field experiment. This is particularly important in the study due to the risk of psychological harm from seeing someone collapse especially for those participants who did not offer help and may have felt bad afterwards.
Participants may have been upset by what they witnessed and there were no debriefing so participants may have been left wondering if the victim was okay.
Ethnocentrism
The results may be specific to some cultures and not others. America is an individualist culture, which is characterised by people being more concerned with individual games than the common good..
In contrast, people, living in a collectivist culture might show greater willingness to help in an emergency situation, and greater concern about the cost of not helping.
