Altruism in Drunk Driving Situations: Personal and Situational Factors in Intervention

Helping and Altruism

“…Although the model was initially developed to understand how people respond in emergencies that require immediate assistance, aspects of the model have been successfully applied to many other situations, ranging from preventing someone from driving drunk to making a decision about whether to donate a kidney to a relative (Borgida, Conner, & Manteufel, 1992;Rabow, Newcomb, Monto, & Hernandez, 1990).…”

Alcohol Poisoning Among College Students Turning 21: Do They Recognize the Symptoms and How Do They Help?

“…Steele et al (1985) examined the role of alcohol on helping behavior, fi nding that at low doses alcohol increased helping behavior, especially in high-confl ict situations where individuals were pressured to help others. In a self-report survey, Rabow et al (1990) determined that college students were more likely to intervene in a drunkdriving situation if they knew and liked the driver but only if the driver was evaluated to be dangerous and the participants felt able to help. Thomas and Seibold (1995) similarly found that college students were likely to intervene in drunk-driving situations when they knew the person well or when they perceived potential harm to the driver or others.…”

The different voices of helping: Gender differences in recounting dilemmas

“…Researchers consistently report that at least one third of the United States population has attempted such an intervention in the previous year (Rabow and Newcomb, 1992). Prior studies have shown that DUI intervention shares many cognitive characteristics with what experimental researchers have characterized as "helping behavior" or "altruism" (Rabow et al, 1990;Wolfinger, Rabow, and Newcomb, 1994). Furthermore, DUI interventions involve complex social and psychological dynamics (Gusfield, Kotarba, and Rasmussen, 1981;Newcomb et al, 1992;Hernandez et al, 1993;Turrisi et al, 1993).…”