piliavin et al.

Question 1

psychology being investigated

Answer 1

1. bystander apathy
2. diffusion of responsibility

Question 2

bystander apathy

Answer 2

The presence of other people discourages a person from helping in an emergency. People are more likely to help when they are alone

Question 3

diffusion of responsibility

Answer 3

Responsibility to help is shared between the number of bystanders present; the
more bystanders, the less responsible each person feels and the less guilty felt for
not helping.

Question 4

background

Answer 4

-Interest in bystander apathy increased after the murder of Kitty Genovese
- A newspaper claimed that none of the 38 witnesses telephoned the police.
- Psychologists began to conduct lab experiments into ‘bystander behaviour’.
-The findings showed that, as group size increased, the amount of helping decreased. This was termed diffusion of responsibility.

Question 5

aim

Answer 5

To investigate how the following factors affect helping behaviour in a real-life setting:
- type of victim (drunk or ill)
- race of the victim (black or white)
- modelled help
- group size

Question 6

research methods

Answer 6

field experiment

Question 7

research design

Answer 7

independent measures design
(participants experienced either an ill/black, an ill/white, a drunk/black or a drunk/ white trial).

Question 8

data collection techniques

Answer 8

Covert observation

Observer 1 recorded:
– sex, race and location of passengers (seated or standing) in the critical area
– total no of pplin the car
– total no of ppl who went to help (including race, sex and location).

Observer 2 recorded:
- sex, race and location of passengers in the adjacent area
-time taken for the first passenger to help (the latency)

-Both observers recorded comments by passengers.
- Movement of passengers out of the critical area was also recorded.

Question 9

independent variables

Answer 9

• type of victim, 65 ill (carried a cane) or 38 drunk (smelt of alcohol, carried a liquor bottle).
• race of victim (black or white)
• modeled help (from confederate): time (70 or 150 seconds after collapse) and
  proximity (confederate helper was in the critical or adjacent area)
• group size (naturally occurring, e.g. number of passengers in the carriage

Question 10

dependent variables

Answer 10

• frequency of helping
• speed of helping
• race of helper
  -sex of helper.
• movement of passengers in and out of critical and adjacent areas.
• comments made by passengers

Question 11

sample

Answer 11

Size: 4,450 unaware passengers.

Demographic: men and women; passengers on the New York subway; approximately 45 % black and 55 % white.

Sampling technique: opportunity sample consisting of passengers travelling on the 8th Avenue subway between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays.

Question 12

procedure

Answer 12

• 2 male confederates (victim and model) and 2 female observers got on the express subway train via separate doors.
• The observers took separate seats while the male victim stood in the critical area. The male model stood in the adjacent or critical area.
  -70 seconds after leaving the station, the victim staggered forward and collapsed. He lay still and looked upwards until he was helped.
• The model helped the victim to his feet. None of the passengers helped.

Question 13

controls

Answer 13

1. The 7.5 train journey was used for all trials.
2. Victims wore the same clothes (old trousers, jacket and no tie) and fell after 70 seconds in the same place and in the same way.
3. Each team member started the journey in the same place

Question 14

ethical issues

Answer 14

1. Informed consent: participants were not informed that an observation was occurring
2. Debriefing: lack of debrief. passengers moving out of the carriage when the subway stopped
   meant debriefing was impossible.
3. Protection from harm: Passengers may have left the carriage in a negative psychological state
4. Deception: passengers were unaware of the use of confederates

Question 15

results

Answer 15

1. Type of victim: a person appearing ill received more help than a person appearing
   drunk (62/65 of trials vs. 19/38 of trials).
2. Race of victim: there was a tendency for same-race helping in the drunk condition.
3. Modelled help: early models were more likely to prompt additional help than late
   models.
4. Group size: there was an insignificant correlation between group size and helping,
5. Males helped more than females: 90% of 1st helpers were male.
6. People left the critical area in 20% of trials.
7. Female comments included: ‘It’s for men to help him’, ‘I wish I could help him – I’m not strong enough.’

Question 16

conclusions

Answer 16

1. Observation of an emergency situation creates unpleasant arousal bystanders aim
   to reduce.
2. The strength and nature of arousal depends on empathy for the victim, distance from the emergency and length of time without intervention.
3. People reduce arousal by directly helping, fetching help or leaving the scene.
4. Individuals compare costs of helping (effort, ability, disgust) with the cost of not helping (self-blame, guilt) and rewards
5. No support was found for diffusion of responsibility- help was offered frequently and quickly.

Question 17

evaluation

Answer 17

1. Reliability
   -standardisation (S)
2. Validity
   -confounding variables (W)
   -lack of controls (W)
   -qualitative data (S)
3. Objectivity
   -quantitative data (S)
4. Generalisations
   -generalising beyond the sample (S)
   generalising to everyday life (S)

Question 18

issues and debates

Answer 18

1. Individual and situational explanations:
   - situational explanation: situation of an ill victim falling triggered helping behaviour – help was offered without a model intervening on every trial.
   -individual differences:90% of 1st helpers were male, suggesting individual characteristics affect rates of helping. The cost–reward matrix suggests appraisal of whether to offer help differs between individuals.
2. Application to everyday life
   - Responses to emergency situations could be changed through education and
   training.
   - Programmes could be developed for young people to understand the cost–reward matrix and their own biases and emotions to emergency situations.