Study 11 Piliavin et al - psychology - Summary of the paper PDF

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Detailed notes on Cognitive Psychology - Piliavin et al
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Amy Jacobsz

Piliavin, Rodin and Piliavin

Background-This study is concerned with bystander behavior. The murder of Kitty Genovese inspired the research as she was stabbed 3 times in Kew Gardens; 38 people saw and only 1 person called the police. The ordeal lasted 30 min as she was chased screaming ‘Please help me!’ and ‘Oh my God I’m going to die’. Throughout the attack peoples lights went on and off but no one came to help. Psychology- Latane and Darley proposed this happened due to ‘diffusion of responsibility’. Where people in a group fell less responsible because their role in a group if smaller than when by themselves.

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Aims- to study bystander behavior outside the lab in a realistic setting where

participants would have a clear view of the victim. To see whether helping behavior was affected by 4 variables: victim’s responsibility for being in a situation where they needed help, the race of the victim, the effect of modeling helping behavior and the size of the group. Participants-4450 unsolicited participants, average 43 on a carriage with 8 in the critical area, the racial mix was 45% black and 55% white. They were travelling from Harlem to the Bronx.

Design- field experiment carried out on the New York subway. The trains chosen were

those running from 11am to 3pm during the period of 15 April-26 June 1968. One particular track was targeted where there was a gap of 7.5 min between stations. A single trial was a non-stop ride between 59 th street and 125th street. There were 4 people in the team a victim, model and 2 observers. This was a covert observation. Procedure:

1. The male experimenter faked a collapse on the train between stops in order to see how many passengers would help. 2. There were 4 IVs: Ill-carrying a cane, drunk-holding a bottle of booze in a bag, black or white, number of bystanders and presence of a role model or not.

Amy Jacobsz

Piliavin, Rodin and Piliavin

3. 103 trials were carried out between 4 groups. Each group had a model a victim and 2 observers from the University of Columbia. 3 groups had a white victim 1 had a black victim. Each male took turns in each condition. 4. The team bordered the train through different doors, the observers sat in the adjacent area, the victim stood by the pole and the model sat behind him. 70 seconds after the train left the victim collapsed. If no help was given the model helped him then they got off at the next stop and boarded the train going in the opposite direction and repeated the procedure. 6-8 trails were done a day.

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The Victim Males aged 26-35 3 white, 1 black All wore a jacket, no tie and old trousers. Drunken condition victim would smell of alcohol.

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The Model 4 males Aged 24-29 Dressed in casual clothes

5. Critical area early- model helped after 70 seconds, Critical area late- model helped after150 seconds. 6. Adjacent area early- model helped after 70 seconds, adjacent area late-model helped after 150 seconds. 7. DV- time taken for passenger to help, number of passengers that helped, race and gender of helpers and location from where participant helped. 8. There were more cane trials than drunk trials because the victim didn’t like playing the drunk.

Results:

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More spontaneous help was given for the cane victim than the drunk victim. More people left the critical area if the victim was drunk and black. More comments were passed if the drunk victim was white. There was more help for the drunk victim from their own race- showing same race sympathy.  34 participants left the critical area.  90% of first helpers were male.  Comments: ‘I wish I could help him, but I’m not strong enough’, ‘it’s for men to help him’.

Amy Jacobsz

Piliavin, Rodin and Piliavin

Conclusion

A person who is ill is more likely to receive help than someone who is drunk, men are more likely to help another man than women are, people are more likely to help someone of their own ethnic group, no relationship between size of group and likelihood of helping, the longer an incident goes on the less likely people are to help. Application- findings can educate people on bystander intervention. Try to break stereotypes and teach children to help those who need care. Strengths

Weaknesses

field experiment- subway is a natural task and everyday place for people giving ecological validity.

situational variables (not seeing it happen, ignoring it) No informed consent or consent- they were deceived Protection- people may have been stressed or disturbed the rest of the day after watching someone collapse Generalisability- rural areas or people in different cities may act different.

Covert observation- people did not know they were being watched so there were no demand characteristics....