levine

Created by

kaya greaves

Cards (18)

Simpatia 
A cultural value particularly associated with Spanish and Latin American societies. It is defined by a concern for the well-being of others, with an obligation to be friendly, polite and helpful.
background 
other studies-> helping rates differ between communities in a single country, but few have systematically compared any of the explanations for the differences.
Most of the studies of community differences in helping have focused on population size, most often testing the popular hypothesis that the tendency to help strangers declines as the size of a city increases.
However, population size is only one of many factors that define a city. This study investigates other factors that might influence helping behaviour.
aims 
Examine the tendency of people in the largest city (of each of 23 counties) to help a stranger in non–emergency situations.
Three more specific aims:
Establish if the tendency of people to help strangers is universal or dependent on the characteristics of a city.
Test if helping strangers varies between cultures
Investigate if particular characteristics of a community are associated with a tendency to help strangers eg city size.
method 
quasi
field
DV: the helping rate of the 23 individual cities (including: Rio de Janeiro-Brazil, Calcutta-Italy, Madrid (Spain), Shanghai (China), New York (USA)
Independent measures  
Whether a victim dropped a pen
Whether a victim had a injured leg
Whether a victim was blind and was trying to cross the street
sample 
large cities in each of 23 countries-in most case the largest in each country-1198
Each of the three helping measures and the walking speed measure were administered in two or more locations in main downtown areas, during main business hours, on clear days, during the summer months of one or more years for 5 yearsChildren(younger than 17) and people who were physically disabled, very old, carrying packages(so those who were not fully capable or expected to help) were excluded.Participants were selected by approaching the second potential person who crossed a predetermined line
procedure
Data collected by interested students travelling to foreign countries or returning to their home countries for the summer or by cross cultural psychologist's students in other countries who volunteered to assist the authors
All college age and dressed neatly/casually to control experimenter gender effects and avoid potential problems in some cities all experimenters were men
procedure: to ensure standardisation in scoring and to minimise experimenter effects:
i) all experimenters received both a detailed instruction sheet and onsite field training for their acting roles and learning the procedure
ii)the experimenters practiced together
iii) no verbal communication was required of the experimenter
procedure: helping measures 
dropped pen:
Experimenters walked towards a solitary pedestrian passing in the opposite direction. When they were 10-15 ft away, the experimenter “accidentally” dropped their pen (without appearing to notice) and continued to walk past the participant. (214 males 210 female participants). P’s were scored as having helped if they called back the experimenter that he had dropped his pen/handed it back to him
procedure: helping measures
Hurt leg:
Walking with a obvious limp and wearing an obvious leg brace, experimenters “accidently” dropped and unsuccessfully struggled to reach a pile of magazines as they came within 20 feet of a passing pedestrian . (253 men & 240 female P’s). Helping was measured as offering to help and or beginning to help without offering)
procedure: helping measures.
Helping a blind person across the road:
Experimenters dressed in dark glasses and carried a white cane. Experimenters attempted to locate downtown corners with crosswalks. They stepped up to the corner just before the light turned green, held out their cane and waited until someone offered to help. A trial was stopped after 60 sec or when the light turned red (whichever occurred first). 281 trials were conducted. Helping was scored if P’s, at a minimum informed the experimenter that the light was green.
results 
The city where help was most likely was Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), with a helping rate of 93%
San Jose (Costa Rica) 91%
Lilongwe (Malawi) 86%
least likely to help:
Kuala Lumpur, (Malaysia) 40%
New York (USA) 45%
Singapore (Singapore) 48%
results 
There was no relationship between between population size and helping behaviourMore individualistic countries showed less helping behaviour than collectivists countries
Simpatia countries (Brazil, Costa Rica, Spain) were on average more helpful than non-simpatia countries-> Simpatia countries help score=82.27% compared to low simpatia countries help score=65.87%
conclusions: 
Helping strangers is a cross-culturally meaningful characteristic of a place
There are large cross-cultural variations in the helping rates
Helping across cultures is inversely related to a country’s economic productivity
Countries with the cultural tradition of simpatia are mostly more helpful than countries with no such tradition
The value of collectivism-individualism is unrelated to helping behaviors.
RELIABILITY 
Because the procedure was carried out in a natural setting the internal reliability of the study was poor. Not all Ps had the same experience in the study because of factors such as time of day and the purpose of their journey. On the other hand, the experimenters were highly trained tp make sure they gave all participants as consistent an experience as possible, therefore increasing reliability
validity 
There is a straightforward behavioural measure of helping – this is high in validity. People were unaware they were taking part in a study, so their behaviour was unaffected by experimenter effects, increasing the study’s internal validity.
Ecological validity is also high because people were tested in the natural environment of their home city street and because the situations – of seeing a person drop a pen, or pick up magazines, or struggle to cross the road – were realistic day to day experiences.
practical application 
travellers - whether for business or pleasure, many of us will visit a range of cities around the world. It is helpful to know at the outset where we are likely to receive help if we need it, and where we are not. Based on the findings of this study it might be wise to take particular care not ever to need help in New York or Kuala Lumpur.