social study 3: Piliavin (1969) subway samariton

• What is the key theme of Chapter 2.2?

  Responses to people in need
• Who conducted the Subway Samaritan study?

  Piliavin et al
• What is the main focus of the Subway Samaritan study?

  Bystander behavior in emergency situations
• What does diffusion of responsibility refer to?


  Bystanders do not help in emergencies
• What type of study design was used in the Subway Samaritan research?

  Field experiment
• What were the independent variables in the study?

  Type of victim, ethnicity, gender, model presence, group size
• What was the dependent variable in the Subway Samaritan study?

  Time taken for help and number of helpers
• What was the sample size of the study?

  4,450 passengers
• What was the time frame for data collection in the study?

  From April 15 to June 26, 1968
• What were the two conditions of the victim in the study?

  Drunk condition and cane condition
• How long did the victim wait before collapsing?

  70 seconds
• What was the median latency for cane trials?

  5 seconds
• How did the ethnicity of the victim affect the likelihood of receiving help?

  Black victims received help less quickly
• What was the gender distribution of the first helpers?

  90% were men
• What effect did the presence of a model have on helping behavior?

  Early model had more effect than late model
• What was the finding regarding group size and helping behavior?

  Helping was greater in larger groups
• What does the cost-reward model predict?

  When help will be forthcoming in emergencies
• What emotional state does the cost-reward model suggest motivates helping?

  Heightened arousal from the emergency
• What are the costs associated with not helping according to the cost-reward model?

  Disapproval, shame, guilt, continuation of activities
• Why is informed consent difficult to obtain in field experiments?

  Participants are unaware they are being studied
• What ethical concern arises from witnessing someone collapse?

  Risk of psychological harm to witnesses
• How might the results of the study be ethnocentric?

  Specific to individualist cultures like America
• What type of data was primarily collected in the study?

  Most data was quantitative
• What qualitative data was collected in the study?

  Comments from passengers in the carriage
• What was a limitation regarding the reliability of observations?

  Only one observer made each set of observations
• What was a potential issue with sampling bias in the study?

  Participants may be unrepresentative of the population
• What is a key methodological issue in field experiments?

  Extraneous variables are difficult to control
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Subway Samaritan study's methodology?

  Strengths:

  • Conducted in a natural environment
  • Large sample size

  
  

  Weaknesses:

  • Difficult to control extraneous variables
  • Low reliability of observations
  • Ethical concerns regarding informed consent
• How does the cost-reward model explain helping behavior?

  • Emergency creates heightened arousal
  • Decision to help motivated by self-interest
  • Action depends on perceived rewards vs. costs