Piliavin

• Background


  - Kitty Genovese, stabbed outside of a block of flats.

  - 38 people witnessed the attack, but no one called the police or offered to help.
• Aim


  Investigate the effects of the following variables on helping behaviour:

  - type of victim (drunk or ill)

  - race of victim (black or white)

  - whether people were more likely to help if they saw other people helping (modelling)

  - whether the group size affected helping behaviour (diffusion of responsibility (Darley and Latane)
• Research method


  - Field experiment

  - IV = type of victim, race of victim, effect of group size, model conditions

  - DV = time taken to help, total number of passengers, gender/race/location of helpers, comments made, movement of passengers
• Sample


  - 4,450 men and women

  - Travelled on the subway between Harlem and the Bronx

  - 45% black, 55% white
• Results


  Cane victim

  - 62/65 trials, received help

  - 5 seconds to help

  Drunk victim

  - 19/38 trials received help

  - 109 seconds to help

  Other notes

  - 90% of first helpers were male

  - Black victims received help less quickly

  - Slight 'same race' effect
• Conclusions


  - Drunk is helped less often because cost of helping (cost-reward hypothesis) is seen as greater as it may cause disgust embarrassment or harm

  - The cost of not helping is less because the victim is seen as responsible for his own situation
• Links to key theme (responses to others in need)


  - said to be affected by the nature of the situation, helper and victim, as well as the cost to the helper

  - Can also be affected by the diffusion of responsibility hypothesis

  - Context
• Links to key area (social)

  - assumes the main influences on behaviour is other people and the environment

  - social context affects behaviour more than individual characteristics