pilliavin

• background

  • kitty Genovese's murder was observed by multiple witnesses who heard her screaming and may have even watched from their windows as she was stabbed yet no one helped her or called the police
  • social psychologists began to investigate why people fail to help someone in need
  • Darley and Latane set up a experiment where participants heard someone apparently having an epileptic seizure, either they alone heard the victim or there were 1 or 4 others present. when they were alone 85% reported the seizure 62% when there was 1 other present and 31% when there were 4 others present
• aim

  • to investigate how a group of people would react if they saw a person who collapsed on a train
  • would an ill person get more help that a drunk person?
  • would people help others of the same race before helping those of a different race?
  • if a model person started helping the victim, would this encourage others to do so?
  • would the number of bystanders who saw the victim influence how much help was given?
• sample

  • passengers on board the 8th avenue subway express train in New York
  • the experiment always took place between the same two stops on the train as there was a 7.5 minute captive audience
  • they did not know they were taking part in the experiment, they did not give consent nor were debriefed
  • 4450 participants over 3 months
  • 55% white, 45% black
• procedure

  • 70 seconds into the subway journey one researcher would stagger forwards and collapse on the train
  • the student would always collapse in the critical area and the other side of the carriage was called the adjacent area
  • the conditions were white or black and drunk or ill
  • the race, gender and location of all passengers on the train, who helped the victim, how long it took passengers to help the victim and what passengers said to each other was recorded
  • at the end of the three months the teams had conducted 103 trials on the train, most of these being ill rather than drunk
• results

  • ill victims received help 95% of the time (62/65 trials)
  • drunk victims received help 50% of the time (19/38)
  • race did not have a large effect on who helped whom
  • black victims received slightly less help
  • models were rarely needed, the public usually helped quickly enough on their own
  • the number of bystanders made no difference to how many people helped
• conclusions

  • an individual who appears ill is more likely to receive help than an individual who seems drunk
  • men are more likely than women to help a male victim
  • people are more likely to help people of the same race especially if they are drunk
  • more help was given and more quickly than the bystander effect and diffusion of responsibility would have suggested