piliavin + levine

Question 1

what was the background to piliavins study?

Answer 1

-murder of kitty genovese in new york 1964
-she was stabbed over 35 times, at least 38 people saw or heard what was happening but failed to help or call the police
-showed the bystander effect and diffusion of responsibility

Question 2

what was the aim of piliavins study and the research questions?

Answer 2

investigate how a group of people would react if they saw a person collpase on the train

Would an ill person get more help than a drunk person? (the type of victim)
Would people help others of the same race before helping those of different races?
If a model started helping the victim, would that encourage others to also help?
Would the number of bystanders who saw the victim influence how much help was given?

Question 3

when did piliavins trials take place?

Answer 3

weekdays between 11am and 3 pm

15th April - 26th June 1968

Question 4

how long was the train journey piliavins trials took place on?

Answer 4

7.5 minutes

Question 5

how many teams were there in piliavins trials and who were they made up of?

Answer 5

4 teams of students

made up of 2 observers, a victim and a model

Question 6

how long into the journey would the victim in piliavins study collapse?

Answer 6

70 seconds

Question 7

what was the total number of trials in piliavins research and how many were ill/drunk?

Answer 7

103 times

38 drunk
65 ill

Question 8

who played the victim in piliavins trials and how were they dressed?

Answer 8

-all male aged 26 to 35, three were white and one was black
-dressed in eisenhower jackets, old trousers and no tie

Question 9

what was the part of the train carriage the victim in piliavins study collapsed in called?

Answer 9

the critical area

Question 10

what was the model like in piliavins trials and how were they dressed?

Answer 10

white male aged 24 to 29

wore informal clothes, but not all the same

Question 11

what were the observers like in piliavins study and where did they sit on the train?

Answer 11

always female and sat in the adjacent area

Question 12

what did observer one and observe two record in piliavins study?

Answer 12

both - recorded comments made by those near them

observer 1 - noted the race, sex and location of each passenger in the critical area and counted how many helpers there were, their race, sex and initial location

observer 2 - noted the race, sex and location of passengers in the adjacent area, recorded the length of time it took (latency) for the first helper to arrive

Question 13

what was the sample in piliavins study?

Answer 13

around 4450 men and women

mean number of 43 per carriage

racial composition was approximately 45% black and 55% white

Question 14

how many drunk and ill victims received spontaneous help in piliavins study and what was the median latency?

Answer 14

ill - 62/65 trials, median latency was 5 seconds

drunk - 19/38 trials, median latency was 109 seconds

Question 15

did the race of the victim affect the help given in piliavins study?

Answer 15

ill - proportion of helpers to black and white cane victims was in accord with the 55-45% split

with the drunk victim it was mainly same race helpers

Question 16

how did the number of witnesses in piliavins study effect helping behaviour?

Answer 16

victims were helped faster when there were seven or more male passenger in the critical area

Question 17

what percentage of spontaneous helpers in piliavins study were male?

Answer 17

of 81 spontaneous helpers, 90% were male

Question 18

what was a qualitative finding from piliavins study?

Answer 18

‘it is for men to help him’

Question 19

what were some conclusions from piliavins study?

Answer 19

-an individual who appears ill is more likely to receive help than a drunk
-men are more likely to receive help than women
-there is a tendency for same race helping especially if a victim is drunk rather than ill
-help comes quickest and in greater numbers when more witnesses are present

Question 20

discuss the ethics in piliavins study.

Answer 20

-were deceived as to why the man was collapsing
-passengers did not consent
-they could technically withdraw by removing themselves from the critical area however they could not withdraw their data
-may have suffered emotional harm or reduced self worth for not helping
-were not debriefed
-was confidential

Question 21

discuss the validity in piliavins study.

Answer 21

-for a field experiment, extraneous variables were controlled for quite well - trials were run on the same train line and at the same time of day, victim collapsed in the same area and in the same way, they were all dressed the same
-ecological validity - could be fairly life like as it was in a realistic setting and is a plausible scenario
-however, fall could be seen as dramatic and unusual for a 26-35 year old to have a cane or be drunk at 11 am

Question 22

discuss reliability in piliavins study?

Answer 22

-103 trials run is enough for a consistent effect
-not enough data in relation to the other variables to establish a consistant effect e.g. 81 white victims trialed, 22 black

Question 23

discuss reductionism/holism and free will/determinism in piliavins study.

Answer 23

reductionism/holism
-could be holistic as it takes into account a range of factors, physiological and cognitive
-could be reductionist as it misses out factors such as genuine kindness

free will/determinism
-difference in help between ill and drunk trials suggests people have control over their behaviour

Question 24

discuss ethnocentrism in piliavins study.

Answer 24

-only carried out in one city, however new york is quite heterogenous

Question 25

what was the background research that links to levines study?

Answer 25

studies conducted in several different countries such as the usa, saudi arabia and sudan found that people living in urban areas tend to be less helpful than those in rural settings

Question 26

what were the three aims of levines study?

Answer 26

-see if the tendency of people in a city to offer non emergency help was stable across different situations
-to see if helping of strangers varies across cultures
-to identify characteristics of cultures where strangers are more or less likely to be helped

Question 27

what research methods were used in levines study?

Answer 27

observation

was a snapshot study

correlational analysis was used to see if there was a relationship between the level of help and the characteristics of a country

Question 28

how many countries was data collected in in levines study?

Answer 28

23 in north america, south america, africa, europe and asia

brazil, costa rica, malawi, india, austria, spain, denmark, china, mexico, el salvador, czech republic, sweden, hungary, romania, israel, italy, thailand, taiwan, bulgaria, netherlands, singapore, united states and malaysia

Question 29

why were the specific cities chosen for levines study?

Answer 29

they were the largest in their countries and had populations over 230,000

Question 30

what were the confederates like in levines study?

Answer 30

-usually international students returning home for summer
-were college aged and neatly dressed, all male

Question 31

what were the three helping tasks in levines study?

Answer 31

dropped pen

hurt leg

helping a blind person along the street

Question 32

describe the dropped pen task in levines study.

Answer 32

-walked carefully at a moderate pace (15 paces/10 second)
-dropped a pen about 10 to 15 feet from a total of 214 men and 210 women
-helping behaviour was measured by whether or not the participant called back to the confederate or not

Question 33

describe the hurt leg study in levines study.

Answer 33

-confederate walked with a heavy limp and wore a knee brace
-they dropped and unsuccessfully tried to pick up a pile of magazines when they came within 20 feet of a pedestrian
-total of 253 men and 240 women were approached
-help was defined as whether help was offered or help begun

Question 34

describe the helping a blind person along the street trial in levines study.

Answer 34

-confederate wore dark glasses and carried a cane
-stepped up to a busy pedestrian crossing just before the light went green
-the trial was ended after 60 seconds or when the light went red
-total of 281 trials were done
-helping was classed by a minimum of someone informing them of the light going green

Question 35

what were the two rejected trials in levines study and why were they rejected?

Answer 35

lost letter - letters with addresses were dropped on the floor, helping was whether someone posted them or not
issues in places like tel aviv, israel as people were scared the letters contained explosives

asking for change in exchange for a note
issues in places like india where there was a lack of spare change

Question 36

when were levines trials carried out?

Answer 36

administered in two or more locations in main city centre districts, during main business hours during summer months between 1992 and 1997

Question 36

what results provide some information for aim 1 (to see if people will offer similar help across several different non-emergency situations in the city) of levines study?

Answer 36

mexico:
overall help = 75.67%
dropped pen = 55% helped
hurt leg = 80% helped
blind person = 92% helped

new york:
overall help = 44.67%
dropped pen = 31% helped
hurt leg = 28% helped
blind person = 75% helped

Question 37

what four variables did levine investigate for correlations?

Answer 37

population size

individualistic or collectivist societies

pace of life (male and female walking speed measured over 60 feet for 35 men and 35 women)

purchasing power parity (how wealthy a country is, how much the average salary was capable of purchasing

Question 38

what were the results of levines correlational studies?

Answer 38

-no correlation between population size and level of helping (-0.03)
-no correlation between collectivism and helping (-0.17)
-no correlation between pace of life and helping (0.26)
-purchasing power parity correlated significantly with both overall level of help (-0.43) and help given in the blind man scenario (-0.42) = countries where people earned less were more likely to offer help

Question 39

what percentages of help were given by simpatia countries and non-simpatia countries (latin america countries + spain)?

Answer 39

simpatia = 82.87 overall
non-simpatia = 65.87% overall

Question 40

what were the conclusions of levines study?

Answer 40

-level of help offered to someone in need doe vary across cultures
-this is related to the wealth of the cultures, cities with lower economic wealth tend to be more helpful
-simpatia cultures are also more helpful

Question 41

discuss ethics in levines study?

Answer 41

-confidential as each city was treated as a participant
-no harm caused and ensure those not able to help such as the elderly were not approached
-no consent gained and no debrief
-could not withdraw data
-deceived as confederates weren’t really blind

Question 42

discuss reliability in levines study.

Answer 42

-confederates practiced actions so behaviours should be standardised e.g. dropping the pen 15 feet away
-large number of trials run so should show a consistent effect e.g. 424 for dropped pen, 281 blind trials
-three different scenarios run so should show consistency within a country

Question 43

discuss validity in levines study.

Answer 43

-helping situations fairly everyday scenarios, blind trial was as realistic as possible with training before = ecological validity
-more realistic scenarios so more accurate measure of how much people are willing to help = construct validity
-participants may have seen what confederates were doing = demand characteristics

Question 44

discuss individual-situational and psychology as a science in levines study.

Answer 44

individual situational
-varying levels of help between cultures suggests situational factors
-level of help in the blind trial was generally highest so suggests situational factors

psychology as a science
-replicable as each trial was done multiple times
-falsifiable as you could prove people in rio are not that helpful etc.

Question 45

discuss ethnocentrism in levines study.

Answer 45

generally is not ethnocentric

however there is only one african country and no australasia and only collected data from the largest city in each country

Question 46

what were some similarities between levine and piliavin?

Answer 46

-ethical issues of deception and lack of consent
-observational methods to collect data
-both were field experiments

Question 47

what were some differences between levine and piliavin?

Answer 47

-piliavin was in a confined setting but levine was on the street
-levine was done in 23 countries whereas piliavin was in 1
-correlational methods were used by levine
-piliavin collected qualitative and quantitative data whereas levine was only quantitative