the behaviour of bystanders who do not assist those in need during an emergency
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What is the background of the study?
The Kitty Genovese murder
This took place in 1964 in new York and 38 people ignored it and didn't call the police
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What was the aim of the study?
To see if helping behaviour was affected by 4 variables
- responsibility
- race
- modelling
- group size
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What was the sample?
around 4550 passengers (unsolicited participants)
- 43 passengers in each carriage
- 8 models in the critical area
- 55% white, 45% black
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What was the design of the study?
Field experiment
Carried out on trains on the NY subway
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What was the procedure?
A male experimenter fake collapsed on a train between stops in order to see whether he would be helped by other passengers
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Experimenters worked in teams of 4 (2 females to record and 2 males to play victims and model)
1 team had a black male
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Each male playing the victim pretended they were drunk or ill
70 seconds after the train left the victim would stagger and fall
the models then came and helped victims
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What were the IVs?
Victims responsibility
carrying a cane, ill- low responsibility
smelling of alcohol/ carrying a bottle, drunk- high responsibility
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-Victims race
Black or white
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Presence of a model
whether they were close to or distant from a victim
whether they helped after 70 or 150 seconds
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number of bystanders
however many people were present in the vicinity
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What were the model conditions?
- stood in C area/ helped after 70 seconds
- stood in C area/ helped after 150 seconds
- stood in Ad area/ helped after 70 seconds
- stood in Ad area/ helped after 150 seconds
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What were the dependent variables?
- Time taken for first passenger to help
- Total number of passengers who helped
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What were the results?
79% of victims recieved spontaneous help from passengers
most helpers were male
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ill vs drunk results?
ill victims received help 95% of the time without intervention from a model
drunk victims received help only 50% of the time without intervention
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race results?
In the cane condition black and white victims were equally likely to be helped
in the drunk condition black victims were less likely to receive help
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presence of model results?
when the model intervened after 70 seconds passengers were more likely to help
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number of bystanders results?
- no evidence of diffusion of responsibility
there was a slight effect where more passengers were present and people were more likely to receive help
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What were the conclusions?
- The situation was unusual, as participants were in a carriage so they couldn't walk away. They may have felt like they had to help
- An ill person is more likely to receive help than a drunk person
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- men are more likely to help another man than women are
- The longer an incident goes on for, the less likely people are to help
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Other cards in this set
Card 2
Front
What is the background of the study?
Back
The Kitty Genovese murder
This took place in 1964 in new York and 38 people ignored it and didn't call the police
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