Piliavin, Rodin and Piliavin

AIMS: 

• does diffusion of responsibility occur in real life? 
• cost of intervention?

METHOD:

• took place in 1968 - civil rights movement/martin luther king/suppression of blacks
• field experiment/participant observation
• IV = type of victim (ill or drunk) and race of victim (black or white), location of helper (critical +early 70s, adjacent + early 70s, critical + late 150s, adjacent + late 150s, no model intervention)
• DV = speed/frequency of response and race of helper 

PARTICIPANTS:

• quasi variable, people on train - 4450 approximately over whole study
• 55% white, 45% black, 50/50 gender split
• 4 teams of 4 researchers - 2 female observers, 1 male role model, 1 male victim (1 team had a black victim)

DESIGN:

• independent groups

PROCEDURE:

• Trains A + D, 7.5 minute journey, non-stop journey
• Weekdays 11am - 3pm, 15th April till 26th June 1968
• conducted 103 times
• victim collapses after 70 seconds of journey, model intervened between 140 and 220 seconds
• Ill victim dropped cane and fell forward, drunk victim dropped bottle/brown paper bag and fell forward
• victims were all dressed indentically (smart/casual - no tie)

RESULTS:

• mean no. of passengers = 43, 
• 65 trials had ill victim, 38 had drunk victim (some students felt uncomfortable acting drunk)
• spontaneous helps (before model) = 62/62 (Ill) 19/38 (Drunk)
• Median speed of response was 5 seconds (Ill) 109 seconds (Drunk)
• White victim - 64% of the…