Bystanderism theories + studies

Diffusion of responsibility

• when multiple bystanders are present, individuals feels less personal responsibility to help/act

• Based on informational social influence

What study supports diffusion of responsibility?

Darley and latane (1968)

what is the aim of darley and latane?

to investigate the effect of group size on bystander intervention

what is the procedure of darley and latane?

• 72 university students

• were told they were being interviewed and they were placed in separate rooms and communicate through an intercom

• they were placed in three conditions:

• they believed the only people were themselves and the confederate

• believed they were speaking to 2 people

• believed they were speaking to 6 people

• the confederate then stimulated a seizure making chocking sounds

what were the findings of darley and latane

• particpants in the ‘alone’ condition: 85% helped

• participants in 2 people condition: 62% helped

• participants in the 6 condition 31% helped

• the look longer in larger groups

• helping decreases as group size increases demonstrating diffusion of responsibility.

evaluation of darley and latane?

• This was a carefully controlled experiment, demonstrating a causal relationship between the IV (number of bystanders) and DV (willingness to help)

• This study has high ecological validity, as participants really believed that the other student was choking and needed help

• This study raises ethical issues, as participants were put in a stressful situation, and were also deceived by the recording of the choking student

• The study only involved American university students, so it is questionable whether the findings can be generalized to other cultures or age groups

what is the arousal- cost benefit model

the model states:

• arousal in required for helping

• arousal triggers a cost benift model

• bystanders weight the cost (time, harm, and effort) against the benefits of ehlping

• if the percived cost outweights the benefits then the bystanders may be less lickey to help and vise versa

what study supports the cost-benefit model?

Pilivan

what was the aim of piliavin

to examine the factors influencing helping in a real-life setting

what was the procdure of pilivan?

• covert observations

• took place on a new york subway

• particpants either witnessed a ‘sick man’ with a cane falling or a drunk man falling

• the confederates fell 70seconds into the train ride and if they were not helped afger 70 seconds of falling a ‘model helper’ was instrucuted to assist

• 2 female researchers recorded data on: Gender, frequency, speed, and movement away from the person, verbal comments

what are the findings of pilivan?

• majority of the time confedrates were helped but expecially when the victim was sick

• there was usally one or more helpers

• it took longer for the ‘drunk’ confederate to get help and more comments were made as well as more comments when help took long

• more men helped, however the train consited of more men, despite this, this finiding was sti;l statistically significant

• people took longer to consider the costs and befits of helping the confederates.

what is the evaluation of pilivan?

• This was a field experiment involving a realistic emergency situation, so ecological validity of the study is high

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• This study raises some ethical issues, as it involved deception, and participants did not consent to participate in the study

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• An alternative explanation is that social norms (rather than costs & rewards) explain why the handicapped person was helped more often - as it is a social norm to help the disabled