Social (CLASSIC) - responses to people in need - PILIAVIN

Question 1

define bystander effect

Answer 1

where the presence of other people can inhibit (stop) people from coming to someone’s aid who is clearly in need of some help. They don’t offer assistance and assume someone else will

Question 2

define pluralistic ignorance

Answer 2

the tendency for people in a group to mislead each other unintentionally about an emergency situation. For example believing an emergency situation as non emergency because others are calm and not taking action

Question 3

define diffusion of responsibility

Answer 3

where the responsibility for the situation is spread among the people present implying the more people present, the more the bystander believes responsibility is spread out so they feel less personally responsible

Question 4

define bystander apathy

Answer 4

when a bystander may believe that someone else will do what is necessary so there is no need for them to offer assistance

Question 5

aim of study

Answer 5

to investigate, under real life conditions, the effect of several factors on helping behaviour
to investigate how nature of a situation would affect helping behaviour of those present

Question 6

describe the research method

Answer 6

field experiment

Question 7

describe all the IVs

Answer 7

1.the type of victim (drunk or carrying a cane)
2. the race of the victim (black or white)
3. the effect of a model (after 70s, 150s from critical/adjacent or no model at all)
4. size of the witnessing group (naturally occurring IV) - linked to diffusion of responsibility

Question 8

describe all the DVs

Answer 8

1. frequency of help
2. speed of help
3. race of helper
4. sex of helper
5. movement out of critical area
6. verbal comments by bystanders

Question 9

comment on the sample and sampling method

Answer 9

4450 men and women
opportunity sampling
45% black, 55% white

Question 10

describe the setting

Answer 10

men and women travelling on the 8th Avenue New York subway between 11am and 3pm on weekdays during the period of April 15th to June 36th 1968
two trains (A and D) selected for study
made no stops between 59th st and 125th st
7.5 minute journey

Question 11

procedure - the teams

Answer 11

researchers recruited 16 Columbia Uni general studies students aged (26-35) to carry out experiment trials - they were confederates
16 were split into 4 teams of 4
each team had a victim (male), a helper (male) and two observers (female)

Question 12

procedure

Answer 12

team boarded train using different doors, females sat outside the critical area and recorded data as unobtrusively as possible during the journey while the male model and victim remained standing
victim stood next to pole in critical area and as train passed first station the victim staggered forward and collapsed
until receiving help he remained motionless on the floor looking at the ceiling
if he received no help by the time the train slowed to a stop, the model helped him to his feet

Question 13

how many trials were run on any given day

Answer 13

six to eight

Question 14

the victims

Answer 14

four victims all males aged beween 26-35, 3 white, 1 black all dressed similar
victims behaved identically in two conditions
drunk - victims smelled of alcohol and carried a bottle of alcohol wrapped in a brown bag (38 trials)
cane - appeared sober and carried a black cane (65 trials)

Question 15

models

Answer 15

white males aged 24-29 all casually but not identically dressed
1. critical area - early - model stands in critical area and helps victim 70 secs after collapse
2. critical area - late - model stands in critical area and helps victim 150 secs after collapse
3. adjacent area - early - model stands in adjacent area and helps victim after 70 secs
4. adjacent area - late - model stands in adjacent area and helps victim after 150 secs

Question 16

female observers and data collection

Answer 16

each trial observer noted race, sex and location of every passenger seated or standing in the critical area
also counted total people in car and total number of people who helped victim
second observer recorded same things of passengers in adjacent area and time taken for first helper to respond
both recorded comments of passengers during journey

Question 17

cost reward model

Answer 17

in an emergency situation an emotional arousals created in bystanders. Dependent upon aspects of situation

Question 18

state of arousal is heightened by…

Answer 18

empathy with the victim
being close to the emergency
the length of time the emergency continues for
being unable to escape the scene

Question 19

the arousal can be reduced by

Answer 19

helping the victim
going to get help
leaving the scene
believing the victim does not deserve help

Question 20

according to this model…

Answer 20

we aremotivated to help people not by altruism (acting in the interest of others) but as a way of reducing unpleasant feelings of arousal

Question 21

results - effect of victim

Answer 21

cane victim received spontaneous help 62/65 trials (95%)
drunk victim received spontaneous help 19/38 trials(50%)
Help came quicker to cane victim with mean latency being 5 secs compared to 109 secs

Question 22

Effect of model

Answer 22

Helping behaviour was very high and much higher than earlier lab studies. Not able to investigate effects of models helping because on majority of trials the victims were helped before the model acted

Question 23

Who helped (race and gender)

Answer 23

90% first helpers were male (60% passengers were male) Slight tendency for same race helping especially in drunk condition

Question 24

Size of witnessing group (diffusion of responsibility)

Answer 24

49/91 (60%) trials help when help was given this was provided by 2 or more helpers
Nobody left carriage during incident but on 21/103 trials 34 people left the critical area particularly when the victim appeared drunk
Response time was faster in larger groups then smaller groups

Question 25

Qualitative data

Answer 25

More comments obtained on drunk trials and most of these obtained when no one helped until after 70 secs
May be due to discomfort passengers felt hoping others would confirm the inaction was appropriate
Comments included ‘it’s for men to help him’ and ‘I wish I could help him-I’m not strong enough’

Question 26

Results

Answer 26

Cane victim received spontaneous help 95% of time the drunk victim received spontaneous help 50% time therefore an individual who appears ill is more likely to receive help than one who appears drunk
90% first helpers were males therefore with mixed groups of men and women men are more likely to help than women to help a male victim
there was a slight tendency for same race helping especially in the drunk condition therefore with mixed race groups people are more likely to help those of of the same race as themselves particularly if they deem the victims situation to be of his own making e.g drunk

Question 27

result of field experiment can be explained using their arousal: cost and reward

Answer 27

the drunk is helped less as there is more perceived cost as helping a drunk is likely to cause disgust, embarrassment or harm. The cost of not helping a drunk is less because nobody will blame the other person for not helping as the drunk man is often seen as partly responsible for his own victimization
women help less as they see the cost to them in terms of effort and danger is greater and it may not be seen as a woman’s role to fffer assistance under the circumstances