Piliavin et al on Subway Samaritan Flashcards
What is the background of this study ?
Since the murder of Kitty Genovese, psychologists have conducted many studies in order to find an explanation for the bystander behaviour. Much of previous research was conducted in lab environments which lacked ecological validity so some research also needed to be conducted in the field to provide confirmation in a more natural setting.
What are the aims of this study ?
To investigate bystander behaviour on a subway train and to see how the type of victim (drunk or ill, white or black, cane or no cane) affects the bystander effect. It also aims to investigate the impact of modelling and group size.
What is the sample of this study ?
Opportunity sampling of passengers on the new York subway on a weekday travelling north between 11am and 3pm,over the course of 3 months. Overall, there was 4,450 passengers in total, 45% black, 55% white.
Explain the confederates in this study.
The confederates played the roles of the victims and the models. They were students from Columbia university ages 24-35.
4 teams of 4 people, consisting of a male victim, a male model and 2 female observers. One male victim was black
Explain what happened in each trial.
There was 103 separate trials, after 70 seconds the victim staggered forwards and collapsed on his back. If no help was happening, the model would help the victim up at either 70seconds or 150 seconds. The train didn’t stop for 7.5mins.
Explain the victims and what their conditions were.
4 male victims were being dressed identically, each victim participated in a drunk trial and a cane trial. IN 38 trials the victim was drunk, in 65 trials the victim was ill carrying a cane.
In the drunk condition the victim smelt of alcohol and was carrying a bottle in a brown paper bag.
In the cane condition, the victim appeared sober and was using a black cane.
What did the female observers measure ?
Race, sex and location of everyone in the carriage
The total number of people on the train.
Total number of people who helped
Race, sex and location of every helper
Time when help was first offered.
Any verbal comments.
What results were found between the drunk condition and the cane condition ?
A person who is using a cane is more likely to receive help than one who is drunk: 95% vs 50%.
Help is more quickly offered for a person with a cane: 87% of victims with a cane were helped before the model intervened and only 178% of drunk victims were helped before the model helped.
What results were found between the race and gender conditions ?
The black victim received help slower than the white victim.
90% of first helpers were male, when 60% of the train passengers were male.
What results were found between the model conditions ?
The model intervening at 70seconds had slightly more effect than the model who intervened at 150seconds.
What results were found about group size ?
‘Diffusion of responsibility was nor found ion this study, helping was greater in groups of 7 then groups of 3.
What qualitative results were recorded ?
One passenger said ‘ it’s for men to help him’
Another said ‘you feel so bad when you don’t know what to do’.
What type of study is this ?
A field experiment
What were the main conclusions drawn from this study ?
A cost-reward model can predict when help will be forthcoming in an emergency situation where escape is not possible
The emergency situation creates heightened arousal, the decision on to help is motivated by a selfish desire to get rid of unpleasant emotions.
Avion will depend on whether the reward of helping is greater than the cost of not helping.
Evaluate the research methods used
Strengths- It was conducted in a natural environment of the new York subway where people were unaware of being studied.
Weaknesses- Extraneous variables are difficult to control in a field experiment. There may have been other factors that influence the likelihood of helping, e.g. anxiety, stress and age.
