The Social Approach- piliavin Flashcards
What Type of experiment was this?
Covert field experiment
What was the aim of the study?
To test Latanè and Darleys theory concerning pluralistic ignorance and diffusion of responsibility about the bystander effect against another.
To investigate under real life conditions the effect on the speed and frequency of helping and the race of the helper.
What was the prior event that encouraged the study ?
The behaviour of the bystanders in the brutal murder of kitty Genovese in 1964.
Where was the location of the study?
Between 59th street and 125th street
Midtown and Harlem
7 1/2 minutes non stop
What was the sample for this study ?
OPPORTUNITY SAMPLE
4,450 witnesses
The people involved with the study?
4 teams of 4 researchers :
2 women recording reactions.
2 males : 1 ‘victim’ and 1 ‘model’
Victims : 3 white 1 black Aged 26 -35 Dressed and acted identically Collapse after 70 seconds Remain on floor until model helps after 70 seconds /150 seconds ( or until people do)
What were the 3 IVS?
1) whether the victims appeared drunk or ill
2) whether the victim was black or white
3) the manipulations of the actions of the model.
What were the 6 DV’s?
1) frequency of help
2) speed of help
3) race of helper
4) sex of the helper
5) movement out of the area
6) verbal comments - made by passengers
What was the control ?
The performance
What was the procedure ?
1) victim enacted collapse after 70 seconds
2) model worked out which condition and stood on appropriate side of carriage
3) observers made recordings covertly - participant observers
103 trials conducted (6-8 per day)
Over period of two months
38 drunk condition
65 ill ( cane blind) condition
Quantitative data collected ? (5)
1) 62/65 helped on trials average time of 5 seconds
2) 19/38 helped on drunk trials average time 109 seconds.
3) models rarely needed , public helped quickly
4) 34 people left critical area when help took longer
5) slight effect of race when drunk ( less likely to help other race.)
Qualitative data collected?
Comments came mostly from women and centred on why they weren’t helping :
“ it’s for men to help!”
“ you feel so bad you don’t know what to do”
Interpretation of the results ?
” diffusion of responsibility “
Hypothesis not supported
Results differ from that of Latanè and darley
( smoke filled room - sound the alarm or not)
What are the advantages of the study?
1) lower demand characteristics as don’t know in a study .
2) high ecological validity
3) a lot of detailed data due to both quantitative and qualitative data produced
What are the disadvantages of the study?
1) low control
2) can’t ask naïve questions so limited access to internal thoughts as the PPS may have different motivations.
3) hard to control variables, less control over environment ( confounding variables )
4) low validity
5 ) difficult to replicate
6) generalisability reduced as on male victims
7) narrow age range of the victims
