social area year 2 Flashcards
who was kitty genovese?
Kitty drove home from her bar job at 3.15am in 1964. When she got out she was approached by Moseley who attacked and tabbed her. She screamed several times and her cries were heard by several witnesses. Moseley ran away and Kitty made her way back to her apartment seriously injured
35 people saw what happened.
she was then murdered by moseley when she got to the building
what is the bystander effect?
the more bystanders present in an emergency situation, the less likely they will help
what is the diffusion of responsibility?
an explanation for the bystander effect
when responsibility is shared between bystanders. people see themselves as being less personally responsible
aim of piliavin?
to investigate how different situations and circumstances can impact helping behaviour
participant details of piliavin?
4450 unsolicited ps who were on the carriage at the time
racial composition of the typical train was around 45% black and 55% white
mean number of 43 people on carriage
IVs of Piliavin?
type of victim: drunk or ill
race of victim: black or white
presence of a model: early or late
number of witnesses: varied naturally
research method and procedure of piliavin?
this is a field experiment and used an independent measures design
took place on the New York subway on the 8th Avenue line between 59th and 125th street. They chose this journey because it had a non-stop journey of 7.5 minutes which meant it had a captive audience
the study took place during weekdays between 11am and 3pm
it was conducted between april and june in 1968
what were the teams in piliavin?
consisted of four students, 2 males and 2 females
there were 4 teams who always performed the same role in each trial and always worked in the same teams
the females were the observers
the males were either the victim or model
what was the victim like in piliavin?
4 victims, one in each team
male
age 26-35
dressed identically - standardised
38 trials of a drunk victim, smelling of liquor and carrying a bottle in a paper bag
65 trials with an ill victim, who had difficulty walking and carried a cane
3 white victims and one black victim
what was the model in piliavin like?
models were aged between 24-29
they dressed informally yet not identically
model either stood in critical or adjacent area, and either helped early (after 70 seconds) or late (after 150 seconds)
what were the observers like in piliavin?
the females took seats outside of the critical area and recorded the data as secretively as possible
where did the victim always stand in piliavin?
next to a pole in the centre of the critical area
what was the emergency situation in Piliavin?
after 70 seconds, the victim staggered forward and collapsed. he lay on the floor looking at the ceiling
what were the DVs in Piliavin?
time taken for the first passenger to offer help
the total number of passengers who helped
the gender, race and location of every helper
time taken for the first passenger to offer help after the model had assisted
also noted was the behaviours of any passengers out of the critical area; the gender, race and location of every passenger in the critical area; and spontaneous comments made by passengers
what were the findings from the main IV in piliavin? (drunk vs cane)
the cane victim received spontaneous help 95% of the time
the drunk victim received spontaneous help 50% of the time
what were the findings of piliavin regarding the race of the victim?
with white and black cane victims, the proportion of help offered represented the 55% - 45% split of white to black passengers in the carriage
in the drunk condition, a tendency towards same-race helping was evident
what were the findings of piliavin regarding the effect of the model?
couldn’t really see effects of model as too many people helped spontaneously
found that location of model didn’t really have an impact, but early model triggered more helping
findings of piliavin regarding the number of bystanders on the train during each trial?
victims helped much faster when 7+ male passengers in critical area than when there were only 1-3 male passengers in critical area
not really any diffusion of responsibility found
findings of piliavin regarding gender of first helpers?
90% of first helpers were male
findings of piliavin regarding the qualitative data of comments from the passengers?
more comments during drunk trials
women said things like ‘It’s for men to help him’ and ‘I wish I could help him– I’m not strong enough.’
overall conclusions of piliavin?
if someone is ill they are more likely to receive help than someone who is drunk
men are more likely to help than women
tendency for same race helping especially if drunk
how is piliavin ethnocentric?
may not generalise to cultures other than the USA
only black and white groups, no other ethnic groups
how is piliavin holistic?
multiple IVs and DVs
gathered both qualitative and quantitative data
how is piliavin reductionist?
didn’t consider gender of victim
didn’t consider age
didn’t consider other ethnic groups
aims of Levine?
to see if the tendency to help people within a city was stable across 3 different situations
to see if helping strangers varies across cultures
to identify characteristics of the communities in which strangers are more or less likely to be helped
sample of levine?
ps in this study were individuals in each of the cities at the time of the experiment
large cities in each of 23 countries - in most cases the largest in each country eg Stockholm, Prague
for the dropped pen and hurt leg situations only individuals walking alone were selected
anyone who was a child or physically disabled was not approached
confederates in levine?
they conducted this study by getting someone - usually a student going home for the summer - to collect the data for them
these people were confederates working for the researcher
they were all college age, dressed neatly and casually, and all men (controls)
told not to use any verbal communication when staging the event
were given instructions and were trained and briefed etc
basic procedure of levine?
in 23 cities around the world, confederates would stage three non-emergency situations during main business, on clear days during the summer months
researchers analysed the frequency of helping behaviour across the 3 measures.
it was looked at whether the gender of the bystanders affected helping behaviour in the hurt leg and dropped pen conditions only
researchers also analysed helping behaviour in 4 Latin American countries and Spain with simpatia, and compared this to helping behaviour in the remaining 18 countries
finally, the researchers also conducted correlations on ‘community variables’ such as whether the wealth of the country affected how helpful people were
what was the dropped pen condition in levine?
one of the situations involved walking at a moderate pace towards a solitary pedestrian passing in the opposite direction.
when approx 10-15 feet away, the confederate would reach into his pocket and accidentally drop his pen. Participants were recorded as having helped if they called back to the confederate or picked up the pen for him
what was the hurt leg condition in levine?
the second situation involved the confederate walking with a heavy limp and wearing a leg brace
confederates would drop a pile of magazines as they came within 20 feet of a passing pedestrian
helping was defined as the pedestrian offering to help pick up the magazines or beginning to help without offering
what was the blind man condition in levine?
the third helping measure involved the confederates wearing dark glasses and carrying a white cane. They would go to a pedestrian crossing and just before the light turned green would step up to the corner, hold out their cane and wait until someone offered help
participants were recorded as having helped if they at a minimum informed the confederate the light was green
results of levine goal 1? (is there a difference in helping behaviour when a stranger drops a pen, has a hurt leg or is blind?)
results suggest a modest level of consistency across the three helping measures ie if you help with the pen theyre more likely to help with hurt leg or blind person
results of levine goal 2? (dies helping strangers vary across cultures?)
the most helpful country was Brazil, 93% helped
the least helpful country was Malaysia, 40% helped
was there a relationship between helping behaviour and population size of the city?
no significant relationship
was there a relationship between helping behaviour and wealth of the country?
significant relationship between helping and PPP was found
was there a relationship between helping behaviour and individualistic-collectivist rating?
no significant relationship
was there a relationship between pace of life (how fast 35 men and women walked in the 23 countries) and helping behaviour?
no significant relationship
what were the community variables explored in Levine?
population size
economic wellbeing in purchasing power parity aka PPP
cultural values (individualism-collectivism, simpatia)
walking speed / pace of life
