Social area: Piliavin Flashcards
Describe the case of Kitty Genovese
A woman was stabbed to death over a period of 30 minutes to the knowledge of 38 unresponsive witnesses
What is bystander apathy?
A social psychological phenomenon in which individuals don’t offer help to a victim when others are present. Receiving help is linked to the number of bystanders
What is diffusion of responsibility?
When individuals are less likely to take responsibility for actions when others are present and assume that others are responsible
What were the 4 aims/hypotheses/research questions?
1) The type of victim (drunk/ill)
2) Race of victim (black/white)
3) The presence of helping models
4) The size of the witnessing group
What was Piliavin’s research method?
Field experiment, Observation, Snapshot
What were the IV’s in terms of victim conditions?
Drunk or Ill
Black or white
What were the IVs in terms of model conditions?
Early or late
Critical area or adjacent area
What was the 7 DVs?
Frequency of help Speed of help Race of helper Sex of helper Verbal comments Movement out of area Total number of people in carriage
What subway were the emergencies staged on?
NY 8th Avenue Subway
When were the emergencies staged? (day/time/date)
Weekdays from 11am-3pm from 15th April ‘68 to 26th June ‘68
How many teams of how many students were there?
4 teams of 4 students
How long into the journey would the victim collapse?
70 seconds
How many times was the emergency staged?
103 times
What was the sex of the victim?
Male
Describe how the victims were dressed
Identically in Eisenhower jackets, old trousers and no tie
What was the ratio of black to white (victim)?
1:3
What was the age range of the victims?
26-35
On how many trials did the victim appear drunk?
38
What was the main characteristic to identify the drunk victim?
Carried a bottle of liquor in a brown bag
What was the blind victims carrying?
Black cane
Describe the model
Aged 24-29 and dressed informally
After how long did an ‘early’ model intervene?
70 seconds
After how long did a ‘late’ model intervene?
120 seconds
What were the names of the two areas in the carriage?
Critical area and adjacent area
What were the four model conditions?
Critical - early
Critical - late
Adjacent - early
Adjacent - late
In what area were the observers?
Adjacent
In what area was the victim?
Critical
Give 4 controls that Piliavin used
What the victim wore, the race and gender of the model, the gender of the victim, the time of collapse
Describe the sample used in the study
4,450 men and women (mean of 43 per carriage)
45% black
55% white
What sampling method did Piliavin use?
Opportunity sampling
On how many trials did the blind victim receive spontaneous help?
62/65
What was the median latency of spontaneous help for the blind victim?
5 seconds
On how many trials did the drunk victim receive spontaneous help?
19/38
What was the median latency for spontaneous help for the drunk victim?
109 seconds
What was the proportion in terms of race when helping the blind victim?
It was in accordance with the 45/55 split
What was the proportion in terms of race when helping the drunk victim?
There was a tendency of same race helping
Why was it not possible to analyse the data for model intervention but what seemed to be the tendency?
Because there was too much spontaneous helping however an early model seemed to have more of an effect
Victims were helped much _____ when there were __ or more male passengers
Faster
7
In what condition were there more comments made by women?
Drunk
Give 2 examples of qualitative data that was gathered
‘I wish I could help’
‘It’s for the men to help’
What did Piliavin conclude in terms of which condition is more likely to receive help?
An individual who appears to be ill is more likely to receive help than one who appears drunk
What was concluded in terms of which sex was more likely to help?
Men were more likely to help than women
What was concluded in terms of helping when a person was drunk (race)?
There was a tendency for same race helping
What was concluded in terms of how number of witnesses influence the speed of help?
Help comes quickest and in greatest numbers when more witnesses are present
The longer the emergency continues _____ help, the _____ of an impact the model will have
Without
Less
What model did Piliavin create as a result of the findings?
Arousal cost-reward model
What was the idea of the arousal cost-reward model?
That there will be an emotional arousal and then we will weigh up the costs and rewards of helping before making a decision to help someone
On what grounds can Piliavin’s research be accused of being ethnocentric?
All living in the same area and so we only learn about American/New yorker behaviours
How did Piliavin break the guideline of deception?
Wasn’t a real person in need, people really believed that someone had collapsed
How did Piliavin break the guideline of informed consent?
People hadn’t given consent to what happened or to take part
How did Piliavin break the guideline of debrief?
Didn’t explain P’s afterwards what was happening or why the experiment happened
Why could it be argued that Piliavin didn’t protect participants from harm?
Because some distress and guilt was caused
How did Piliavin break the guideline of withdrawal?
P’s could walk into next carriage however they could not withdraw their data
Which ethical guideline did Piliavin uphold?
Confidentiality
Was the study internally reliable (standardised and replicable)?
Yes, there were clear controls, trained actors, specific timings and objective data
Was the study externally reliable? Were there enough trials?
103 in total but not enough with the black victim conditions and few model conditions carried out
Was the study externally reliable? Was the sample large enough to confirm a consistent effect?
Yes, total of 4450 and high levels of helping behaviour recorded
Did the study have construct validity? Was it an accurate measure of ‘responses to people in need’?
Generally, there were significant differences between drunk and cane condition however some people may have experienced the trial before so altered behaviour
Did the study have population validity? Can the sample be generalised from?
Impressive sample size and ethnic mix however the times of trials may mean certain people did not take part (e.g. school/people at work/disabled people)
Was the study ecologically valid?
Overall, yes can be seen as fairly true to life - not that bizarre that someone may collapse
