Background

Kitty was attacked three separate times and died. The attacker came back two times,
but nobody helped. The next day, 38 people came
forward as a witness. Nobody had called the police.

Diffusion of responsibility - the theory that the more potential helpers are
present in an emergency situation, the less likely the
victim is to receive help. Responsibility of helping the victim is shared amongst
lot of people and therefore more people = less likely
to receive help.

Bystander apathy/effect - Used to describe behaviour of bystanders in a situation

where a victim needs help. The bystanders believe that there
will be other people who will help the victim, so they do not need to offer
assistance.

Piliavin et al decided to conduct a field experiment in a real life setting. -->

Field experiment. Naturalistic, Structured observation
Event
sampling

2 female observes at each end of the critical area in the adjacent area.
Frequency of help
Speed of help
Race of helper
Sex of helper
Movement out of the critical area
Verbal comments by bystanders

Aims:
Test the diffusion of responsibility.
Investigate the type of victim and speed of helping, frequency of responding
and the race of the helper
Investigate the effects of modelling
Investigate the relationship between size of bystanders and frequency and
latency of helping a face to face victim.

Hypotheses:
An individual would be more inclined to help someone of the same race
Help would be given more frequently and rapidly to the ill victim
The inclination to help a drunk victim will be reduced by the cost/reward
matrix. (Help=no value, the victim is disgusting,
violent, and embarassing to help)

4 IV
Type of victim (drunk/ill)
Race of victim
Effect of a model (fast 70s, slow 150s, or no model)
Size of bystanders (naturally occuring)

Groups
Ill black
Ill white
Drunk black
Drunk white
Critical early - model in critical area, 70s
Critical late - model in critical area, 150s
Adjacent early - model in adjacent area, 70s
Adjacent late - model in adjacent area, 150s
Around 4450 ppl on the 8th avenue line in NYC subway from 11am to 3pm. Naive
participants --> Opportunistic sample.
Subway travels 7.5 mins from Harlem to Bronx
45% black, 55% white
Experimenters : Students from Columbia university. 4 male victims, 3w 1b, 4 male
models, and 8 female observers.

Victims wore Eisenhower jackets (working class) and old slacks (no tie)
Ill --> Black cane
Drunk --> Smell of alcohol and carried a liquor bottle in a brown paper bag.
(Brown paper bag is common for covering alcohol)

6 to 8 trials each day, and one day = one condition for the victim.

Basically, the experimenters (1 of 4 groups - 1 vic 1 mod 2 obs) enter the carriage
to their specific positions
After 70s, the victim falls and looks at the carriage ceiling. Remain on the
ground.
If nobody helps, model offers help (Look at condition)
Observers record the data
After getting help, all 4 experimenters leave the train and then do it again in the
carriage going the opposite direction.

RESULTS

No model --> 100% help for all apart from black drunk, 73%.
Model --> No data for black cane. 100% for white cane, 77% for white drunk, 67% for
black drunk.

Race of helper: copy

Findings
Ill received spontaneous help on 62/65 trials
Drunk received spontaneous help on 19/38 trials
Median helping time ill = 5s
Median time for helping drunk = 109s
Spontaneous help -> 2 or 3 or more people on 60% of trials. (All trials)
First help is important --> Acts as a cue.
60% first helpers in crit were males, 90% all helpers were male. Black and
white helpers = half half ish
Same race helping: White - 68%, Black - 50%
Ill condition - no diff between black or white helpers. Mainly same race
helping.
People left critical area only 20% of the time. More people left when the
victim was drunk.
Comments for drunk trial --> Discomfort of not helping and needing to justify
the inaction. e.g. It's for men to help/ Im not
enough
No diffusion of responsibility shown --> Face to face, so probably feel the
urge to help. However, more bystanders, more help.

Conclusions
Ill>Drunk for getting help
Men more likely to help
Same sex helping is more likely, especially for drunk condition
Diffusion of responsibility nor observed
 Longer no help = smaller impact of the model (less ppl join in to help) and
more ppl leave the critical area

Cost/Reward matrix
Observation of an emergency situation creates arousal and is a stimulus
Stimulus is unpleasant. Want to rid of it.
This can be done through helping, getting help, leaving the scene, or
rejecting the victim as a victim undeserving of help

Cost of helping = Physical harm

Cost of not helping = Embarassment, damaged self esteem
Reward of helping = Thank you, social improvement
Reward of not helping = No time lost, No harm