Piliavin

• Question

  Answer
• describe the story of Kitty Genovese


  Kitty was walking home late where she was attacked by a man with a knife. she was stabbed multiple times, then left alone for 5 minutes by her captor. in that time, Kitty tried to escape but she was found again and stabbed again. 38 people witnessed the attack but no one helped her, called the police, or called an ambulance. Kitty Genovese died.
• name the four aims of Piliavins study

  #NAME?
• describe aim: type of victim


  would it make a difference if the victim was perceived to be drunk or ill
• describe aim: race of the victim


  would it make a difference if the victim was black or white
• describe aim: someone setting an example of helping behaviour

  would it make a difference to those witnessing the event if someone 'modelled' the behaviour in front of them
• describe aim: number of witnesses


  would there be a relationship between the levels of helping behaviour and the number of people witnessing the event
• conclusions of the aim 'type of victim'

  - the mean latency for help for an ill victim was 55 seconds, for the drunk victim it was 109 seconds

  (An individual who appears to be ill is more likely to receive help than one who appears drunk)
• conclusions of the aim 'race of the victim'


  there is some tendency for same-race helping, more commonly if the victim appears drunk rather than ill
• conclusions of the aim 'someone setting an example of helping behaviour'


  #NAME?
• conclusions of the aim: number of witnesses


  - passengers helped faster when 7 or more male passengers were in the critical area

  - help comes quickest and in the greatest volume when there are more witnesses present
• how did gender effect helping behaviour


  - there were 81 spontaneous helpers, 90% of these men

  - men were more likely to help than women
• name some of the comments women made during the experiment (3)


  'it's for men to help him'

  'i wish i could help him- I'm not strong enough'

  'You feel so bad you don't know what to do
• define 'bystander apathy'


  where people do not offer to help a victim when others are present
• define 'diffusion of responsibility'

  when there is a victim and lots of bystanders present, individual bystanders may not feel responsibility to help the victim because the responsibility is shared between all bystanders
• define 'altruism'


  selfless behaviour: behaviour that is unselfish in its concern for others
• what was the sample in this study

  4450 men and women

  45% black and 55% white
• what type of experiment was this study

  a field experiment
• what made this experiment a field experiment

  there were independent and dependent variables, additionally the research was conducted in the natural environment where behaviour happens
• name the independent variables for the victims condition

  black or white

  drunk or ill
• name the independent variables for the model conditions


  early (70s to respond) or late (150s to respond)

  critical area or adjacent area
• what gender were the two observers

  female
• what did observer one observe

  #NAME?
• what did observer two observe

  #NAME?
• describe the victims

  male, aged 26-35, dressed in an Eisenhower jacket, old trousers, no tie. 3 white one black.
• describe the model of response, explaining the findings from the study

  #NAME?
• what are the appendices used in this study

  #NAME?
• name the strengths of this study (6)

  - high ecological validity- conducted in natural environment (NY subway)

  - High population validity- diverse group of participants

  - participants deceived, helping behaviour genuine

  - qualitative and quantitative data collected, we knew % of people helping and why

  - opportunity sampling (easy to find lots of participants)

  - confidentiality was upheld
• name the weaknesses of the study (4)

  - limited understanding of how help would be with other genders or races

  - unethical..

  + lack of informed consent (none of the 4450 passengers knew they data was being collected nor were they debriefed after the study)

  + deception (passenegers really thought someone had collapsed and required help)

  + protection from harm (some passengers may have felt guilty for not helping)

  + no right to withdraw

  - lack of consistency with the trials

  - low population validity (not representative of commuters and people who dont use public transport)
• describe the 'model'

  white male, aged 24-29, informal clothing