Pilliavin et al 1969

• Bystander

  People who are physically present at the scene of an event or incident but do not take an active part in helping others in need
• Bystander apathyA term used to describe the lack of help offered in such situations
• Diffusion of responsibility

  When an accident is observed by more than one person there might be a diffusion of responsibility Diffusion: the spreading of something more widely.
• aim Pilvin aimed to investigate factors affecting helping behavior on a new york subway train .

  1. To investigate bystander behavior in a natural setting.
  2. To test the diffusion of responsibility hypothesis in real life setting 
  3. To examine the relationship between size of group , and frequency and latency of helping response with a face-to-face victim.
• Dependent variable : 

  •  time taken for a passenger to help.
  •  total number of passengers who offered help.
  •  verbal remarks were also recorded.
• Independent variable : 

  •  type of victim - either drunk or ill
  •  race of victim either black or white
  •  the model behavior - close or distant proximity and helping early or late.
  •  size of bystander group (naturally occurring)
• Conditions

  Critical/early

  The model stood in the critical area and waited 70 seconds to help the victim.

  Critical/late

  The model stood in the critical area and waited 150 seconds to help the victim.

  Adjacent/early

  The model stood in the adjacent area and waited 70 seconds to help the victim

  Adjacent/late

  The model stood in the adjacent area and waited 150 seconds to help the victi
• Qualitative 

  Bystander comments 

  Female

  • “I wish i could help him”
  • “I'm not strong enough “
  • “ I never saw this kind of thing before”
  • “I don't know where to look”
  • “You feel bad that you don't know what to do”
• Strengths

  • Field experiment: (real life setting)
  • High ecological Validity: (generalize to real life)
  • Controls (length of the journey , time taken for the actor/victim to fall)
  • Quantitative Data : the time taken for a vitamin to receive help 
• The independent groups design as different people were exposed to different models on their journey.