Chapter 6: Prosocial behavior

The bystander effect of the death of Kitty Genovese

The woman was stabbed so many times, but no one of the 37 witnesses in the apartments called the police

Darly & Latane’s (1968) first study of smoke coming out

While being (fake) tested on paper

Hard to assess if there’s real emergency or not when the situation is ambiguous (like smoke coming out under the door)

“No emergency”

• Face the smoke alone → 75% of sessions come out for help (within the first 6 minutes)

• Face the smoke with 2 other ppl → Helping in 38% of sessions

The Bystander Effect

More people → Lower % help, longer delay

When can see others’ responses (E.g. Smoky room study): Pluralistic ignorance

When can’t see others’ responses (E.g. Kitty): Diffusion of responsibility

Pluralistic ignorance

Individual situation, where you CAN see others and assume that others will handle it. See no one does anything → do nothing

People conform to what they wrongly believe is others’ unconcerned reaction (a tendency to follow the beliefs that no one believes (ex. After seeing the blank/unconcerned face of other ppl in this smoky room situation, they believed that ppl believed that this is not an emergency)

Ex. Smoky room study

Diffusion of responsibility

Group setting, where Everyone CAN’T see each other and assumes someone else will take care of it

Ex. Kitty Genovese

Samuel & Marjorie Koshkin saw attack from window

Mr. Koshkin wanted to call the police, but his wife stopped him before “there must have been 30 calls already”

Darley & Latane’s second study in which someone had an apparent epileptic seizure

Diffusion of responsibility

To assess if participants will help when they’re “calling” (it was a tape) another person who appears to have a sudden seizure.

Listening in the room alone → Ask for help outside the room immediately

Listening with 3-4 other ppl in the room → They all feel the responsibility, but are much likely to respond to this, even it’s clearly an emergency situation

Latane & Darley: Bystander intervention decision tree

Notice

Interpret as emergency

Assume responsibility

Know what to do (e.g. run and scream and tell ppl a clear instruction to call 911)

Decide to help (e.g. weigh costs)

Darley & Batson (1973) Good Samaritan Study

Rushed → less likely to notice → less likely to help

Seminary students (half of whom were asked to discuss the parable of Good Samaritan

Comes across a man who’s slumping on the door way

Hurry manipulation: Low (They’re almost ready for you, but no rush), Med (The assistant is ready for you, should go now), High (they were expecting you a few minutes ago, you’d better hurry)

% chance of help: 60% for no rush, <50% for some rush, 10% for very rushed

Interpret as emergency

More bystanders → pluralistic ignorance (happens because ppl misinterpret each other’s nonverbal behaviors)

Ambiguity of situation (ex. Guy with his dog on the side of the road)

Assume responsibility

More bystanders → diffusion of responsibility (Ex. Drunk pedestrian on sea to sky highway)

What keeps ppl from deciding to help

Fear of embarrassment (ex. Assume that we’re giving unwanted help, other ppl around u judge u, awkward)

Best way to ask for help

“I am being mugged. You in the black leather pants, call the police!”

Identify the need for help (easier for them to provide help)

Identify specific helper (get rid of diffusion responsibility)

% of who reported smoke in Darly & Latane’s smoky room study

How quickly they reported within 6 mins

Conditions:

Alone (subject by himself): 75%

Two passive confederates (subject + two actors who ignored the smoke): 10%

Three naive subjects (three real subjects together): 40%

Latane and Darley (1968) reported that, “Despite the obvious and powerful inhibiting effect of other bystanders, subjects almost invariably claimed that they had paid little or no attention to the reactions of the other people in the room” (p. 220).

What other study that you’ve learned about in a previous module would be most relevant to tell your friend about to help them understand this discrepancy?

a. Epley & Dunning’s study in which students could choose whether to help by buying a daffodil

b. Nisbett & Wilson’s study in which participants rated how much they liked pairs of pantyhose

c. Tversky and Kahneman’s study in which people were asked to guess whether individuals were engineers or lawyers

d. Simons’ study of the monkey business illusion, in which people were asked to count the number of times players wearing white passed the ball

e. Both c and d

b. is correct. both the serial position effect and the bystander effect are a cognitive barrier. The person experiencing the effect isn't aware of it, but the effect still greatly influences their behavior.

Imagine there is a new mapping app for drivers called WatchOut, which allows drivers to easily indicate any hazard they see on the road, such as a pile of fallen rocks on the highway. Whenever any member records a driving hazard on the app, all other members of WatchOut automatically see the hazard appear on their map, too. You just accepted a job at WatchOut. You propose adding a small icon that indicates whether or not each hazard has been reported to the police yet. What should you tell your boss about to convince her that your idea could save lives?

a) Tversky & Kahneman’s research on the availability heuristic

b) Tversky & Kahneman’s research on the representativeness heuristic

c) Latane & Darley’s study in which a room slowly filled with smoke

d) Darley & Latane’s study in which someone had an apparent epileptic seizure

e) Darley & Batson’s study in which seminary students encountered a man slumped over in a doorway

d. is correct. The small icon on app is to avoid diffusion of responsibility (can’t see others, group setting). On phone, you’re in group setting and you can’t see if other ppl have seen the accident. d is the only study that shows diffusion of responsibility (can’t see others)

a) and b) are clearly irrelevant.

c) and e) are pluralistic ignorance (CAN SEE OTHERS)

Kruger et al (2005) argue that when people write an email, they use their own interpretation of their message as a starting point in judging how other people will interpret their message, creating a systematic bias. This idea builds most closely on which of the following studies you’ve learned about this semester?

a. Tversky and Kahneman’s study in which people were asked to guess whether individuals were engineers or lawyers

b. Epley & Dunning’s study in which students could choose whether to help by buying a daffodil

c. Navajas et al’s study in which TEDx attendees answered general-knowledge questions

d. Englich et al’s study of German judges sentencing a shoplifter

e. Darley & Latane’s study in which someone seemed to have a seizure

d. Anchoring bias cuz “as a starting point” is anchoring

You belong to a lab that is studying prosocial behaviour. You are interested in diffusion of responsibility, whereas your friend is interested in pluralistic ignorance. The whole research team brainstorms some possible lab study designs.

Tomoko suggests bringing a group of students into a large lab room where they would all sign consent forms, and then as soon as the forms are signed, a confederate would scream out in the hallway.

Allie thinks it would be better to bring students into the large lab room to sign consent forms, and then put each of them in their own individual lab rooms to complete questionnaires; while the participants complete questionnaires, the confederate would scream in the hallway. Whose idea should you and your friend use?

A) You should both take Tomoko’s suggestion.

B) You should both take Allie’s suggestion.

C) You should take Allie’s suggestion and your friend should take Tomoko’s suggestion.

D) You should take Tomoko’s suggestion and your friend should take Allie’s suggestion.

E) Your friend should take Allie’s suggestion, but the team will need to keep brainstorming for you.

Allie: Separated indv room. Can’t see each other → diffusion of responsibility → my research

Tomoko: Group. Can see each other → pluralistic ignorance → friend’s research

Ans is C