Prosocial/Antisocial Behaviour And Piliavin Et Al Study

Question 1

What is prosocial behaviour and example

Answer 1

• acting in a way that would benefit other people

- bystander intervention, where people who witness emergencies offer to help those who need assistance

Question 2

What is bystander apathy

Answer 2

-when they choose not to help others in distress

Question 3

What is diffusion of responsibility

Answer 3

-when others are present the responsibility of helping is divided among these people
People are more likely to help if there are fewer people present because they feel more responsible

Question 4

What is pluralistic ignorance

Answer 4

When we interpret situations according to others reactions

Question 5

Piliavin’s study

Answer 5

-aim: whether appearance of a victim would influence whether people helped or not

Question 6

Procedure of study

Answer 6

• 103 trails on NYC subway
• victim stood next to a pole and after 70 seconds they pretended to collapse and remained there
• 65 trails, appeared sober and carried cane
• 38 trials, victim smelt of alcohol and carried a bottle in brown bag
• cane -> 95% helped
• drunk -> 50% helped

Question 7

Strengths and weakness

Answer 7

• strengths, conducted as a field experiment, eliminated demand characteristics
• high ecological validity and explains bystander behaviour in real life situations
• weakness, cannot be generalised to all cultures
• ignores individual characteristics such as personality variables