Apathy Experiment

Introduction to Psychology

Authors:
Ivanna Arce
Rodrigo Bayas
Elio Bruno
Myrka Castillo
Gianfranco Magnalardo


April 2014
2
Introduction
Many countries around the world tend to have different culture contexts that affect
people in their behavior and how they would react to different situations. People,
especially from third world countries face more constantly more people in need for
help. One example is found in Ecuador where are seen children asking money in
the streets and a more informal commerce, especially in the largest cities such as
Guayaquil. Following this situation, the question that arises is how many people
would tend to help a little kid when he or she requires for help?
This Psychology experiment was about two lost child who asked for help to adults
to find their mother. The objective was to know how many people care about these
kids and how many just ignore them for make a percentage of people apathy in
Guayaquil.

Hypothesis
Citizens of Guayaquil, tend to be empathic to lost kids requiring help.

Materials
Two little kids participated in the experiment, including a boy who was six years old
and a girl of seven years old. In order to accomplish this project it was used three
video cameras, two cellphones and a Samsung camcorder to collect information
about the subjects. An audio recorder, which was hidden in the kids clothes, was
used to obtain audio information during the experiment. The subjects of the
experiment included 25 people above 18 years old.
The video presentation was created with the use of a PC with software including
Adobe Premier, employed in the editing process of the project.

3
Methodology
The methodology used consisted in two children, a boy of six years old and a girl
aged of seven years old that claimed to people that they are lost. As people were
passing by, the kids would approach them asking for help. If the person did not
care for them, the children kept standing and asking for help to others, until
someone would notice and care about them. We waited a minute to approach the
people and explained that it was an experiment.

Results


The results show that 72%, which stands for 18 out of 25 persons, showed concern
for children; meanwhile 28% ignored them completely. Most people were
concerned about children being small and helpless.

Conclusion
As it was shown in the results section, it was proved that most people tend to help
28%
72%
People Percentage
People who didn't care
People who cared
4
lost kids, showing sign of empathy towards them. 18 out of 25 of the tested
subjects helped the kids, employed in the experiment, to find their strayed
"mother". The results are positive in proving the hypothesis of this experiment,
claiming that citizens of Guayaquil are open to help kids when they require for help.
The kids employed in the situation were portraying a dangerous situation to
themselves, which was being lost at a crowded place. Being lost from their mother
represents a situation that creates anxiety to kids, but also put them in a dangerous
situation as strangers could manipulate kids easily. At this situation, people tend to
help the strayed children to find the lost mom they were looking for, being empathic
in the process and worried for them.
Other questions emerged in the experiment. Would the hypothesis be proved
correct if it were used older kids or adults requiring for help? However through the
study of this experiment, it can be said that people would tend to help kids when
these are exposed to any danger. Another experiment can be made in the future in
which it can be created a fictitious hostile or dangerous situation toward an older
person rather than the kids of the experiment, in order to know at which point or
age, people would stop assisting them at moments in which they need it.