Piliavin Et Al

Question 1

Define bystander apathy

Answer 1

Observer has lack of help or interest

Question 2

What is the diffusion of responsibility

Answer 2

Not acting on something because they believe other people will

Question 3

What is altruism

Answer 3

The selfless concern for the wellbeing of others

Question 4

What were the four aims

Answer 4

Type of victim - ill with a cane or drunk
Race of victim - black or white
Number of witness - whether there are lots of people available to help
Model prescience - whether there is someone else setting an example of helping behaviour

Question 5

What were the independent variables

Answer 5

Race (white or black)
Type (ill or drunk)
Early or late (critical area)
Early or late (adjacent area)

Question 6

What were the dependent variables

Answer 6

Time taken for the first person to help
Total number of helpers
Gender/race/location of help
Time for first help after model steps in
Spontaneous comments and movements

Question 7

What type of experiment was the study

Answer 7

A field experiment

Question 8

What is a field experiment

Answer 8

A research method with IV, DV and controls but in a real life setting

Question 9

Who inspired Piliavins study

Answer 9

Kitty genovese

Question 10

What happened to Kitty Genovese

Answer 10

On 13th March 1964, she was attacked and stabbed on three separate occasions in Kew Gardens
38 people witnessed and only one called the police once she was dead

Question 11

What experiment did Darley and Latane carry out and what findings did they gather

Answer 11

They conducted a study where participants overheard someone having a seizure
85% of people helped if alone
62% of people helped if in a pair
31% of people helped in a group of 5

Question 12

What were the four hypotheses

Answer 12

Type - a drunk person would get less help than an ill victim
Race - people would help those of the same race as them
Number of witnesses - larger the group, the less likely for the victim to get help
Model presence - seeing a model help would encourage others to help

Question 13

What were the characteristics of the sample

Answer 13

4450 passengers of both men and women over a three month period
45% black and 55% white
Mean number of passengers per carriage was 43

Question 14

What were the characteristics of the sample

Answer 14

4450 passengers of both men and women over 3 months
45% black and 55% white
Mean number of passengers per carriage was 43

Question 15

What sampling method was used

Answer 15

Opportunity - researchers used passengers who happened to be in New York Subway taking the express train from 8th avenue between 59th and 125th street between 11am and 3pm on a weekday

Question 16

What was the procedure carried out

Answer 16

The journey was approximately 7.5minutes
1. 70 seconds into the journey the victim would collapse in the critical area and stare at the ceiling until helped
2. After a further 70 or 150 seconds an informally dressed white male model would help the victim
3. Two female observers were sat in the adjacent area recording variables such as sex, race and location of helpers

Question 17

What were the characteristics of the confederates

Answer 17

• males
• aged 26-35
• 3 were white and 1 was black
• dressed in Eisenhower jackets, old trousers, shirt and no tie
• 38 drunk trials - smelled of alcohol and carried a liquor bottle in a brown paper bag
• 65 ill trials - can/ill victim appeared sober and carried a black cane

Question 18

What could piliavin control

Answer 18

• victims and models as well as their behaviour
• seats/location or victim, model and observer
• same stations and times

Question 19

What did piliavin have no control over

Answer 19

• ability to view if the carriage was crowded
• another emergency takes place
• time of journey if delayed
• repeat passengers after 3 months

Question 20

What were the quantitative findings

Answer 20

Ill victims received help 95% of the time (62/65)
Drunk victims received help 50% of the time (19/38)
It took passengers a median time of 5 seconds to help an ill victim
It took passengers a median time of 109 seconds for a drunk victim to receive help
90% of first helpers were male
34 people left the critical area

Question 21

What were the qualitative findings

Answer 21

Race did not have a large effect on who helped whom
Black victims received slightly less help however not significant
Models were rarely needed to step in
The number of bystanders made no difference to how many people helped

Question 22

What were two quotes collected

Answer 22

“It’s for men to help”
“You feel bad when you don’t know what to do”

Question 23

What were the conclusions found

Answer 23

The state of the victim affects how likely people are to help
Males are more likely to help than females
Race makes no difference
There was no diffusion of responsibility

Question 24

What were the explanations for the findings found

Answer 24

1. Passengers were trapped on the train and could not really leave the situation
2. It was less effort for passengers to help if they were sitting on the train anyway waiting for the next stop
3. It was clear what the problem was for bystanders near the victim

Question 25

What is the arousal cost- reward model

Answer 25

That for everything done there are both costs and rewards of each option and people subconsciously make a judgement call

Question 26

What were the materials needed to carry out the field experiment

Answer 26

• victim costumes
• victim props
• observer notebooks
• watch or stopwatch

Question 27

What were the strengths of the study

Answer 27

• the area has a diverse population
• the procedure was controlled
• the participants were likely to act natural as unaware of being watched
• the sample was large
• it is likely someone would fall over so realistic scenario
• procedure was repeated many times

Question 28

What were the weaknesses of the study

Answer 28

• it was only conducted in one place
• participants did not know they were in a study
• it could have been upsetting to see someone fall over so realistic
• people may have realised it was fake if they were on the train everyday
• unrealistic for people to be drunk in the middle of the day
• the victim did not try to get up themselves
• there were some things they could not control