Latane and Darley (1970) Bystander effect

Background: Kitty Genovese Murder

13th March 1964

- Kitty Genovese is stabbed, then raped and murdered by Winston Moseley in Kew Gardens, New York city

23rd March 1964

- Police commissioner claims that 38 witnesses had refused to intervene

27th March

- New York Times prints front-page article by Martin Gansburg

Background: New York times article

Leads to public outcry and debate about the breakdown of moral and social values

- Popular hypothesis = Living conditions in the city divide people and undermine their capacity to empathise

John Darley asks

How are all people the same and how might anybody in that situation be influenced to respond not why were those people monsters?

Went on to devise a -5-step cognitive model

- A set of experiments to test the model

Background: the five-step model

- Notice something is happening

- Interpret event as emergency

- Take responsibility for providing help

- Decide how to act

- Provide help

The studies

1 - White smoke experiment

2 - Seizure experiment

The bystander hypothesis

Latane and Darley suggest an inverse relationship between the number of bystanders and the likelihood of emergency helping

- More bystanders, less emergency help

Two processes

- pluralistic ignorance

- diffusion of responsibility

Pluralistic ignorance

The presence of other people who remain inactive or seem unconcerned during an event (a norm of inactivity) can dissuade or discourage an individual from intervention, even though they might have felt concerned by the situation

- Don't interpret event as emergency

The white smoke experiment: Method

Male Columbia University undergraduates

- cover story: Problems involved in life at an urban university

- Asked to sit in 'waiting room' and fill in a survey

- Room begins to fill with an invisible/harmless white smoke

White smoke experiment: IV

Group size: Partcipant alone/with two others

Others = confederates who do not react/naive ps

White smoke experiment: DV

Behavioural response to emergency

Did the P leave the room to report the smoke?

How many minutes did it take until the person reports

White smoke experiment results alone

75% intervened and 55% reported within 2 minutes

White smoke experiment results: two or more

38% intervened and 12% reported smoke within 2 mins

White smoke experiment results: two confederates

10% intervened and 10% reported within 2 mins

Diffusion of responsibility

As the number of other people present in a give situation increases the responsibility that a given individual feels for responding to that situation is correspondingly diminished

- We expect on of the others to take on responsibility

- 3rd rule of taking responsibility

The seizure experiment method: No.

72 New York University undergraduate Psychology students

The seizure experiment: Cover story

Discussion about personal problems of students while at uni

- seated in one of several small rooms and communicate via intercoms in turns

- Can hear other discussants (actually recordings) through headphones

- Experimenter will not listen or participate in the discussion

The seizure experiment: emergency event

One discussant admits to being prone to seizures and expresses distress when it is hi turn again

The seizure experiment: method, IV

Group size of 1, 2 or 6 others

The seizure experiment: method, DV

Behavioural repsonse to emergeny

- Did P leave to report?

- How many minutes does it take?

The seizure experiment results: Alone

85% intervene

Average time of 52 seconds for intervention

The seizure experiment results: One more

62% Interventions

96 seconds for intervention

The seizure experiment results: Four or more

31% Interventions

166 seconds to intervene

Debate and Controversy

- Culturally-embedded theorising

- The danger of groups

- The responsive bystander experiments

- Kitty Genovese revisited

Debate and controversy: Culturally-embedded theorising

1960s: Domestic violence and violence of men against women were not discussed

- Researchers have failed to translate this gender aspect of the Kitty Genovese case into their experiments

Debate and Controversy: The danger of groups

Groups are portrayed as reducing personal control due to conditions of anonymity

According to the social identity approach, the willingness to help should depend on

- the norms of the group

- whether bystanders share social identity

- whether bystanders and the victim/perpetrator share a social identity

Debate and Controversy: The Responsive Bystander Experiments; Theory

Psychological relationship of bystanders

Composition of bystander group

- in-/out-group

- female/male

Group norms

- Norm of men being chivalrous towards women in need

Debate and Controversy: The Responsive Bystander Experiments; Method

N = 76 Lancaster University undergraduates

Phase 1 = Ps watch CCTV footage of man attacking woman on street and fill in quesionnaire

Phase 2 = A female grad student comes into the room and gets rudely rebuffed by the experimenter; she looks upset

Phase 3 = Ps can help her by offering to participate in the study

Debate and Controversy: The Responsive Bystander Experiments; DV

Offer to help?

Debate and Controversy: The Responsive Bystander Experiments; Hypotheses

Female Ps are most likely to help after being in a group of three women compared with being tested on their own

Female Ps will be least likely to help in the minority condition compared with any other condition

Men are most likely to help when in the minority condition compared with any other condition

- chivalry effect

Debate and Controversy: The Responsive Bystander Experiments; Results

76.9% of males in minority group helped

27.3% of females in minority group helped

75.0% of females in group helped

Debate and controversy: Kitty Genovese revisited

- Court proceedings suggest far fewer than 38 witnesses

- People did intervene - Moseley was driven away by shouting after first attack and residents called police w/out 911 system but were ignored

Impact

Meta-analysis shows that vystander effect is a robust and reliable finding across many different situations and demographics

- however, little effect on promoting helping