Psychology Paper 2

Developmental Psychology: Developing as a learner

Chugani (1999) - Maturation, stress/harm, withdrawal rights, consent

A: to determine areas of brain development in infants and young children.

P: Chugani and others used PET scans to determine areas of brain activity, by measuring glucose metabolism in different brain regions. They used a cross-sectional research design, comparing infants, toddlers and children of different ages.

R: A baby’s brain develops neuronal connections (white matter) from back to front, with the frontal cortex developing last. Glucose metabolism in the brain of a newborn baby is 30% lower than that of adults. But by the age of three years, and until about 10 years old, the glucose metabolism, and therefore the activity and neuronal growth, is more than twice the level of that in adults. This period is characterised by maximum neuroplasticity and is a critical period for learning → “window of opportunity”. With adolescence, glucose metabolic rates decrease to adult levels by about age 16-18

Developmental Psychology: Developing as a learner

Giedd (2004) - Maturation, withdrawal rights, informed consent

A: to investigate brain development over time in children between ages of 6 and 20.

P: Giedd performed MRI scans on healthy children using a longitudinal research. They measured increases and decreases in white matter (myelinated neuronal connections) and grey matter (neurons). The sample consisted of 95 males and 66 females. Scans were conducted approximately every two years in children. This corresponds to a repeated measures design.

R: He found that 95% of the brain structure is formed when the child is around 5 or 6 years old, but areas in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) start growing again in adolescence. The PFC is the last part of the brain to mature. It is responsible for cognitive processes such as planning, impulse control, the direction of attention, and decision making. Giedd also found that the dorsal lateral PFC does not mature until the early 20s.

Developmental Psychology: Developing as a Learner

Piaget and Inhelder (1956) - Individual Cognitive Development

A: to demonstrate the development of egocentrism of children

P: Children were shown a three-dimensional display of a mountain scene. They were then asked to choose a picture that showed the scene they had observed. In general. the children were able to do this with little difficulty. In the next part of the experiment, a child was asked to look at the model of the three mountains. The researcher then placed a doll in various positions in the model. The child was shown different pictures and asked to choose the one that showed what the doll would see from its position.

R: When four-year-olds were asked to select a picture showing what *a* doll sitting across the table would have observed when looking at the mountain, they chose the image that reflected their own viewpoint. Piaget used this to show the egocentrism of children. By the time children reached the age of seven, they were able to do this task with little problem,

Developmental Psychology: Developing as a Learner

Hughes (1975) - Individual Cognitive Development

A: to demonstrate the faults in Piaget’s study

P: Hughes showed children a model comprising of two intersecting walls. The researcher placed a policeman doll at one of the points on the ‘X’. The children were then asked to place another doll somewhere in the walls so that the policemen couldn’t see him.

Then Hughes introduced a second policeman doll and placed both dolls at the ends of two walls. The children were then asked to once again hide the boy doll from the policemen. This forced the children to consider two points of view.

R: Four-year-olds had no problem with the first task. 90% of children aged 3.5-5 years old were able to do the second task without error. When more walls and a third policeman, 90% of four-year-olds were still able to complete the task. Concluded that Piaget overestimated how long it took to lose egocentrism.

Developmental Psychology: Developing as a learner

Nichols (1996) - Social Cognitive Development, True Experiment

A; to find out if children working in groups would learn more effectively than if they were working alone.

P: 81 American high school students were randomly allocated to one of three groups for one semester. One group had a half-semester of cooperative group learning and then a half-semester of traditional lecture. The second group had a half-semester of lecture and then a half-semester of cooperative group learning, The third group had a full semester of traditional instruction.

R: It was found that group 1 and 2 showed significantly higher levels of motivation than group 3. In addition, motivation was highest during the cooperative group learning part of the course. This supports Vygotsky’s theory that social interaction promotes development.

Developmental Psychology: Developing as a learner

Prior and Welling (2001) - Social Cognitive Development (counterargument)

A: to test if children in the pre-operational stage would understand information better if they read it out loud, as opposed to in their heads.

P: The sample consisted of 73 Canadian children aged 5 to 8 years old. They were selected for the sample after teachers confirmed that their reading level was appropriate for their age group. In one condition, the children were asked to read a text quietly to themselves; in the second condition, they were asked to read it out loud. They were then tested on their understanding of the passage.

R: The younger children showed no difference in comprehension, whether they read the text quietly or aloud. The older children, however, performed best when they read aloud. This contradicts Vygotsky’s theory of development of internalised speech

E: participant variation; didn’t look at children under 5, which is half the operational stage.

Developmental Psychology: Developing an Identity

Ainsworth (1970) - Attachment Theory

A: to measure the child’s attachment behaviour, based on how the child reacts when the mother leaves and subsequently returns.

P: In the strange situation test, the mother and infant are first left alone in a room together. Then a stranger enters and the mother leaves. The mother then returns and the stranger leaves. The mother then leaves the baby completely alone. Then the stranger returns. Then the mother returns and the stranger leaves.

The sample consisted of 28 children from several villages in Uganda. When the study began, the babies ranged from 15 weeks to two years old. Ainsworth observed them every two weeks, for two hours at a time, over a nine-month period. The visits took place in the family living room, so it was a natural environment. Ainsworth used an interpreter when she interviewed the mothers.

R: Type A - Insecurely attached - avoidant (20 percent of the children) The child shows apparent indifference when the mother leaves the room, and avoids contact with her when she returns. The child is apparently not afraid of strangers. The mothers of type A children tend to be insensitive and do not seem interested in their child’s play.

Type B - Securely attached (70 percent of the children) The child is upset when the mother leaves and is happy to see her again. The child is easily comforted by the mother. The mothers of type B children are very interested in their child’s play and actively communicate with their children during play.

Type C - Insecurely attached - ambivalent (10 percent of the children) The child is very upset when the mother leaves the room, and she has difficulty soothing the child when she returns. The child seeks comfort, but at the same time rejects it. The mothers of type C children tend to be inconsistent in their reactions to the children.

E: The method is a highly standardized procedure which allows for replications across time and culture. It is modeled on common, everyday experiences where mothers leave their children for brief periods of time in different settings. However, it could be argued that exposing children to stress in an experimental setting is very different from what happens in everyday life.

Only looks at mother.

In certain cultures this doesn’t apply, like in Japan where children are rarely, if ever, separated from their mother.

Developmental Psychology: Developing an Identity & Human Relationships: Personal Relationships

Hazan and Shaver (1987) - Attachment, Internal Working Model, Formation of Relationships (cognitive), Questionnaire

A: to investigate attachment in adult relationships

P: The researchers reworked Ainsworth’s three attachment styles to describe adult relationships. They then devised a “love quiz,” which they put into a local newspaper, asking readers to indicate which of the three patterns best described their feelings about romantic relationships. The participants had to read the three statements shown and indicate which paragraph best described their attitude to close relationships.

A self-selected sample of 620 people, aged 14–82 years, responded to the love quiz. The mean age was 36 years. There were 205 males and 415 females.

R: The researchers found that about 56 percent of respondents showed a secure attachment style, 25 percent showed an avoidant pattern, and 19 percent showed an ambivalent pattern. The researchers also asked participants to describe their parents’ parenting style, using a simple adjective checklist. People who were securely attached said their parents had been readily available, attentive, and responsive. Avoidant people said their parents were unresponsive, rejecting, and inattentive. Ambivalent people said their parents were anxious, only sometimes responsive, and generally out of step with their needs.

Secure lovers: Love relationships were discussed in terms of trust, happiness and friendship.

Avoidant lovers: Characterized relationships with fear of intimacy, emotional highs and lows, and jealousy.

Ambivalent lovers: Characterized by obsession, emotional highs and lows, extreme sexual attraction, and jealousy.

E: self-selected sample may have attracted more securely attached people as they would have more confidence and be more trusting. correlational, social desirability bias, asking about people’s parent’s behaviour is kinda dodgy, WEIRD sample.

Developmental Psychology

Martin and Halverson (1983) - Social Roles, Gender Roles

A - to see the effect of stereotyping on memory recall

P - 48 kids (half boys, half girls) aged 5-6 were sampled. shown pictures of males and females doing activities either in-line with gender stereotypes or inconsistent with them. a week later they were asked about the photos, some questions were about photos they had not seen. they were asked if the actor in the photo had been a boy, girl, man, woman or "i don't remember". they then had to rate their confidence out of 4

R - when women were doing activities consistent with stereotypes they were more often recalled correctly. when men were doing activities INconsistent with stereotypes they were more often recalled. memory distortion was shown as a girl holding a hammer was occasionally remembered as a boy holding a hammer. children were more confident when the photos were in-line with stereotypes

Developmental Psychology: Developing an Identity

Wood (2002) - Social Roles

A - to examine gender role enculturation as a result of parenting and toy selection

P - sample of 48 children (24 boys and 24 girls, age 24 - 72 months) played with either his or her own mother or father, a mother or father of another child, and a man or woman who was not a parent. The adults were matched for age, educational level and occupation. Each child were required to have one-on-one play session three times with an adult in child's preschool or home, each session lasted for fifteen mins. Half of the girls played with their biological mother, others' mother or non-mother, and the other half played with their biological father, others' father and non-father. Same went for boys. 15 toys were presented to the children (5 boys toys, 5 girls toys and 5 gender neutral toys). Adult were then given a gender sorting task to categorise which toys are masculine, feminine or neutral after the session.

R - Parents spent most time playing masculine toys with boys, but in girls, there was greater flexibility in the categories of toys they selected.

Developmental Psychology: Developing an Identity

Imperato-McGinley et al (1974) - Social Roles, biological.

A case study looked at a family in the Dominican Republic who had a genetic mutation which meant that some children initially appeared to have the genitalia of girls, but then developed into males at puberty. The genetic mutation is due to a lack of testosterone in the womb so the penis did not descend until testosterone increased in puberty. In childhood, they were raised as girls, however, as adults, they demonstrated clearly masculine behaviour. Interviews with the children who had changed from female to male recalled never being happy doing ‘girl things’. This seems to indicate a strong biological origin of gender identity, however, it is a rather extreme case.

Eval: demand characteristics, memory distortion, not representative.

Developmental Psychology: Developing an Identity

Repacholi and Gopnik (1997) - Theory of Mind

A: to investigate when children are able to understand that other people may have a belief or desire that is different from their own

P: The sample was made up of children aged 14 and 18 months. Children were presented with two bowls of snacks. In one bowl there were Goldfish crackers. In the other bowl - raw broccoli. The children watched as the researcher showed signs of disgust when eating the crackers, and signs of delight when eating the broccoli. The researcher then asked the child to give them something to eat.

R: The 14-month-olds responded egocentrically, offering whichever food they themselves preferred - which was usually the Goldfish crackers. However, 18-month-olds correctly inferred that the experimenter wanted the food associated with a positive response - in this case, to broccoli. They were able to make this inference even when the experimenter's desires differed from their own.

The children not only inferred that another person held a desire but also recognized how desires are related to emotions.  This study shows that perhaps children develop the belief-desire stage of theory of mind earlier than previously thought.

E: controlled environment, high ecological validity as the situation had high mundane reality. controlled for food preference, inter-coder reliability, no cause and effect, counterbalanced, reliability is questionable.

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Developmental Psychology: Developing an Identity

Baron-Cohen et al (1985) - Theory of Mind

A:

P: They had children listen to the following story - known as the Sally-Anne task.

When giving this task, the researcher asked the children three questions.  First, Where will Sally look for her marble?  This question tests the child's understanding of Sally's beliefs.  The second question is Where is the marble?  This question determines if the child actually understood the story.  The final question was Where was the marble in the beginning?  This is to test the child's memory.

R: Baron-Cohen found that all 27 of the children, ages 3.5 to 5.9 years old, were able to answer the second and third questions. It was the children under four years old who were not able to correctly answer the first question.

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Human Relationships: Personal Relationships

Wedekind - Biological Approach (evolution), quasi experiment

A: To investigate the role of MHC (major histocompatibility) in human attraction \n P: 49 female participants and 44 male participants were tested to identify their MHC genes. The men were given cotton t-shirts to wear to sleep for two nights. The researchers collected the t-shirts and placed them in boxes with a hole to smell. Seven boxes were presented to the women for them to smell, one control, meaning it had not been slept in, three from men who had similar immune systems to the women, and three were from men who had different immune systems to the women. The women were asked to rate each t-shirt on a scale of 1-10 in terms of its intensity, pleasantness, and sexiness. \n R: The women all chose the shirts belonging to men with different immune systems as smelling the most appealing. These results were used to validate evolutionary theory, as according to the theory of evolution, the women would choose to mate with the man who had a different immune system so their offspring would have the strongest immune system possible.

Human Relationships: Personal Relationships

Ronay and von Hippel - Biological approach (evolution and hormones), experiment

A: to determine if men would take greater risks in the presence of an attractive female, than in the presence of a male

P: The sample was made up of 96 young adult Australian male skateboarders who recruited at skateboard parks. 43 were assigned to the male-researcher condition and 53 were assigned to the female-researcher condition. Skateboarders were asked to do one “easy trick” and one difficult trick which they could successfully complete approximately 50% of the time. They were asked to do each trick 10 times. After a break, they were asked to make 10 more attempts of each trick but this time in front of the same male researcher or an attractive 18-year-old female researcher who was blind to the hypothesis. The attractiveness of the researcher was established by having 20 male raters view photos of potential female experimenters. The skateboarders’ attempts were coded for one of three outcomes: success, crash landing or aborted attempt. High levels of aborted attempts would be seen as an indicator of low-risk taking. Saliva samples were also collected at the conclusion of the experiment to measure for testosterone. Heart rate was measured by having participants wear a sports watch. Measurements were taken immediately prior to the test and then measured throughout the task.

R: Participants took greater risks on the difficult tricks in the presence of the female researcher - that is, they aborted the trick fewer times. In addition, testosterone levels were higher in the men that skateboarded in front of the female researcher than in front of the male researcher. There was no significant difference in the measure of heart rate between the two groups.

Human Relationships: Personal Relationships

Moreland and Beech (1992) - Formation of Relationships, Sociocultural, Field Experiment

A: to test the validity of the Mere Exposure Effect theory

P: The experiment used confederates - four women who posed as students in the course. Each of the women attended a different number of class sessions. Woman A attended no session; woman B attended 5 sessions; woman C attended 10 sessions; woman D attended 15 sessions. The choice of which session to attend was determined randomly. For each visit, the same procedure was followed. One of the women arrived at the lecture hall a few minutes before class began, walked slowly down toward the front of the hall, and sat where she could be seen by all the other students. During the lecture, she simply listened and took notes. A few minutes after class ended, the woman rose, walked slowly up toward the back of the hall, and left. In order to create conditions of mere exposure, none of the women was allowed to interact with the other students. At the end of the semester, the participants were shown slides of the four women and asked to fill in a survey in which they were asked to rank the women on a 1 - 7 scale for several traits - including attractiveness, popularity, intelligence, warmth, honesty, and success. They were also asked whether they knew the woman or if she was familiar.

R: score positively correlated with number of visits.

Human Relationships: Personal Relationships

Markey and Markey (2007) - Cognitive Approach to relationship formation, Mere Exposure effect, questionnaire

A: to investigate the extent to which similarity is a factor in the way people choose a partner.

P: Using questionnaires, the researchers asked a large self-selected sample of undergraduate students to describe the psychological characteristics, values, and attitudes of their ideal romantic partner, without thinking of anyone in particular. Afterward, they were asked to describe themselves.

In a follow-up study, the researchers recruited 106 heterosexual young couples who had been together for a year through a local newspaper. The participants filled out a questionnaire about their own as well as their partner’s personality characteristics.

R: In the initial study, the results showed that the way the participants described themselves was similar to what they were seeking in their ideal partner. In the follow up, the results were in line with the first investigation. The study confirmed that people want partners who are similar to themselves.

Human Relationships: Personal Relationships

Gupta and Singh - Formation of Relationships, Sociocultural

A: to study the differences in relationships between people in arranged marriages and love marriages.

P: 50 participants were recruited in Jaipur in India, some of which were in arranged marriages and others were in love marriages, however the exact number in each type of marriage was not stated by the researchers. Participants completed the 'Rubin's love scale' in the form of a questionnaire at various points in time after getting married.

R: The researchers found that those who were in arranged marriages felt less love at the start of their marriage than those who married for love. However, the couples in arranged marriages showed an increase in love during their first five years of marriage, and this new level of love was maintained when asked to complete a questionnaire five years later, ten years into their marriage. In love marriages, the degree of love began at a higher level which was maintained over the first five years. However, after ten years it had fallen well below the level of love experienced by those in arranged marriages. Thus, the findings support the point that arranged marriages are initiated by something other than love, and that love tends to develop as the marriage develops.

Human Relationships: Personal Relationships

Bradbury and Fincham (1992) - Communication, Why Relationships End

P: The participants were recruited through advertisements in the local media. Couples were considered only if they were married, living together and had not been for marriage counseling. 47 couples participated.  The average length of marriage was 8.5 years.  All participants were asked to fill out a survey to determine their level of marital satisfaction.

Prior to the observation, the couple was asked to individually fill in a questionnaire to determine what the greatest problems were in the marriage.  The researchers chose a common problem from the questionnaires and then asked each participant questions about the cause of the problem and who was responsible for the problem.  They were also each asked about a problem that was identified in their questionnaire which their spouse did not identify as a problem.After the individual session, they were brought together and instructed to discuss a possible solution to the problem that they had both identified.  The observation took place in a laboratory setting.  The observation was discontinued after 15 minutes had elapsed. The observation was videoed.Two trained researchers independently coded the videotape to identify relationship enhancing and distress maintaining patterns of communication.

R: Couples that reported lower levels of marital satisfaction had more frequent distress maintaining patterns of communication – in other words, they were more likely to attribute marital problems to the partner and have a greater tendency toward seeing the partner as behaving intentionally and with selfish motivation. The interaction between such couples was rated as more hostile and rejecting of the positive approaches of the partner.

Human Relationships: Personal Relationships

Gottman - Communication, Why Relationships End

P: Couples invited into the lab, and he observed couples having a low-conflict conversation and then a high-conflict conversation. Videotape analyzed by coding (moment-by-moment) verbal statements and "facial affect" (emotion) He measured physiological factors such as heart-rate, blood pressure and skin galvanization. He argues that he can predict the likelihood that a marriage will survive by watching communication patterns between two people. He has studied by heterosexual and same-sex couple Couples followed up to see which couples stayed together and which couples divorced

R: Couples whose arguments were high in criticism, contempt, defensiveness and stonewalling were significantly more likely to divorce

​ After developing the model, Gottman was able to predict (with 91% accuracy) which couples would stay together and which would divorce after viewing such one argument

Human Relationships: Social Responsibility

Marsh et al (2014) - Biological Approach for Prosocial Behaviour, quasi experiment

A: To investigate if humans have a genetic predisposition for helping others. Inspired by previous research on psychopaths that showed that they have reduced amygdala activity when seeing others in fear.

P: 19 people who had donated a kidney to a stranger were sampled. 20 average other people were sampled. They were matched for IQ, income, education, psychological history, and medication use.

Participants were shown different images of people’s faces and had to identify the facial expression they were making. The time taken to decide the emotion was measured. Participants then had MRI scans to look at their brain structure. They then took tests to measure empathy and psychopathy.

R: The study showed that extraordinary altruists had a greater average volume in the right amygdala than in the controls. The right hemisphere is associated with negative emotions. It plays a role in the expression of fear and in the processing of fear-inducing stimuli. In addition, there was a faster response time in the right amygdala to fearful facial expressions than in the control group.

Human Relationships: Social Responsibility

Levine et al (2001): Sociocultural Approach to Prosocial Behaviour

A: to determine if a city’s tendency to offer help to strangers is stable across different situations over a wide range of cultures

P: Three different scenarios of helping were sampled in a large city in 23 countries.

\-The experimenter would accidentally drop a pen as they walked. 214 men and 210 women were passed in the street. Participants were scored as having helped if they called for the experimenter that he had dropped the pen and/or picked up the pen and brought it to the experimenter.

\-Experimenter would be walking with a limp and wearing a leg brace and then drop magazines and struggle to pick them up. He would stand about 20 ft from passing pedestrians. A total of 253 men and 240 women were approached. Helping was determined as offering to help and/or beginning to help without offering.

\- Experimenter dressed as a blind person in dark glasses and with a white cane, waiting to cross the street. Experimenters stepped up to the corner just before the light turned green, held out their cane, and waited until someone offered help. After 60 seconds or when the light turned red, the trial would be considered done after which the experimenter walked away from the corner. A total of 281 trials were conducted. Helping was scored if participants informed the experimenter that the light was green.

R: Countries that had a high population were usually less helpful overall. Cities from Latin America and Spain were all above the mean in overall helping, and on average were more helpful than the other international cities. The Simpatico hypothesis - people in communities where social obligations take priority over individual achievements show more willingness to assist others. The evidence indicates that helping tends to be less dependent on the nature of the local people than it is on the characteristics of the local environment.

Human Relationships: Social Responsibility

Simons et al (2002) - ‘Against’ Prosocial Behaviour

A: to see if those who have abused/assaulted others have empathy or any inclination to help those who are victims of abuse.

P: 188 incarcerated male sex offenders sampled. there criminal sexual history was recorded. They completed a questionnaire about their offending history. They also disclosed details of there previous sexual history, any history of abuse, and pornography use/exposure. the participants empathy for women and children was tested using standardised questionnaires which assessed their ability to distinguish abusive scenarios from non-abusive scenarios

R: most of the offenders had experience abuse in their childhood. victims of childhood sexual abuse had less empathy for children in abusive scenarios. victims of childhood physical abuse had less empathy for women who are victims of abuse.

Human Relationships: Social Responsibility

Greitemeyer and Osswald (2010) - ‘For’ Promoting Prosocial Behaviour

P: The researchers conducted experiments where participants played either a prosocial (City Crisis) or neutral (Tetris) video game. Thirty-six students (13 women, 23 men) from a German University were randomly assigned to one of the two video game conditions.

The participants entered the lab one at a time and were greeted by two female researchers. One of the researchers then demonstrated how to play the video game and the participants then played for eight minutes. One of the two female researchers left the room and a male confederate entered the lab, playing the role of an ex-boyfriend who was angry that his ex had left him. When the confederate entered the lab, he ignored the participants and approached the female researcher and shouted at her. He also kicked a trash can and pulled the arm of the researcher as if he would drag her out of the lab. She was instructed to react calmly and asked him not to disturb the experiment.

R: The results showed a significant relationship between the type of video-game and the frequency of helping. Only 4 out of 18 participants who played a neutral video game intervened, whereas 10 out of 18 who had played a prosocial video game intervened. From this, it seems that playing a prosocial video game could prime participants for prosocial behaviour - even in a case where they could fear negative consequences.

Human Relationships: Social Responsibility

Latane and Darley - bystanderism

A:  Investigate why people fail to intervene in an emergency situation when there are many bystanders present. 

P: Participants (university students) were told they were being interviewed, by intercom, in separate rooms (to preserve anonymity). Midway through the interview, participants hear another "participant" cry for help, making choking sounds (it was actually just a recording). The independent variable in this study was the supposed number of other participants.  In one condition, participants were told they was just one other person (who would later be choking).  In a second condition, participants were told there were two other students.  And in a third condition, participants were told there were four other students

R: When participants were told there was just one other student (who began choking), 85% rushed out to help.  That number decreased to 65% with two other students, and just 31% with four other students

Human Relationships: Social Responsiblity

Piliavin et al (1969) - Bystanderism

P: The participants in the study were an opportunity sample of New York subway travelers who were observed between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. While they were on a non-stop 7.5-minute journey between stations, they would witness one of two scenarios: either a man with a cane who appeared ill or a man who appeared drunk would fall to the floor of the subway car. The “victims” were men, aged 25–35, who were dressed and acted identically. They collapsed to the floor 70 seconds after the train left the station and remained on the floor until they were helped. A “model helper” was instructed to help after 70 seconds if no one else offered assistance. Two female researchers recorded the data. The independent variables were the type of victim (drunk or ill) and the size of the group. The researchers measured the following dependent variables: frequency of help, the speed of help, the sex of the helper, movement away from the victim, and verbal comments. In other words, they gathered both quantitative and qualitative data. There were 103 trials, and of these, 38 involved a drunk victim who smelled of alcohol and carried a bottle in a bag, while the remaining 65 trials involved a sober victim with a cane.

R: Overall, 78 percent of the time, someone helped spontaneously; this occurred in 62 of the 65 trials where the victim had a cane and 19 of the 38 trials where the victim was “drunk.” 60 percent of the time that someone helped, more than one helper was involved.

The median response time for helping the man with the cane was 5 seconds; for the drunk victim, there was a median response time of 109 seconds. Overall, it took people longer to assist the drunk person in need of help than the ill man. It appears that it took people longer to consider the costs and benefits when the man who fell was drunk than when he was ill and had a cane. It was found that 90% of helpers were male.  Although there were more men present, this percentage was statistically significant.

The researchers also found that there were more comments made about the incident the longer that the victim waited for help - and there were more comments made when they thought the victim was drunk.