Core Studies - Social Psychology Section A’s - Responses To People In Need

Question 1

Outline background dor Levine

Answer 1

Levine was interested in the cultural differences in helping behaviour. Population size has been
suggested as one of the reasons for this. Research suggests that people living in urban areas are less
helpful than those in rural areas and this is supported by Steblay who found that urban
environments of 300,000 people or more were some of the worst places if someone was looking for
help. In addition to this, cultural values are also thought to influence helping behaviour.
Individualistic cultures focus on independence and the needs of their own in comparison to
collectivist cultures that focus on the needs of the group and community. Much of the research into
helping behaviour has focussed on single communities or countries, therefore, Levine wanted to
investigate cross-cultural differences in helping behaviour, focussing on a number of factors which
could affect helping rates.