Pilavin-Prosocial behaviour

• Aim

  investigate bystander behaviour in a natural setting

  see whether characteristics of the victim affect help
• Method

  103 trials

  New York subway

  4 students

  1 member was a victim in the critical area of the subway. after 70 seconds staged a collapse

  on 38 trials victim smelled of alcohol and carried a brown bag of alcohol = drunk condition

  on 65 trials victim carried a black cane = disabled condition

  2 members were observers and noted peoples reactions and how long it took for help to come

  1 member acted as a model and stepped in to offer help after a further 70 or 150 seconds if no one else helped
• Results

  disabled condition was helped 95% of trials

  drunk condition was helped 50% of trials

  87% of disabled victims was helped in the first 70 seconds

  17% of drunk victims was helped in the first 70 seconds

  people equally offered help in big groups and small groups
• Conclusion

  certain characteristics make a difference for receiving help

  if they are more deserving they receive more help than less deserving

  in a natural setting the number of witnesses does not affect willingness to help
• strength

  high ecological validity

  field experiment so behaviour was natural and no demand characteristics
• weakness

  -unethical

  deceived and didn't give informed consent as the study was testing natural behaviour. participants were deceived as victims were confederates

  -culture bias

  all American citizens in an invidualist culture so can't be generalised to a collectivist culture

  -sample bias

  all participants were New York commuters so results can't be generalised to those who aren't frequent commuters