Good Samaritanism: An underground phenomenon?

Abstract

A field experiment was performed to investigate the effect of several variables on helping behavior, using the express trains of the New York 8th Avenue Independent Subway as a laboratory on wheels. Four teams of students, each one made up of a victim, model, and two observers, staged standard collapses in which type of victim (drunk or ill), race of victim (black or white) and presence or absence of a model were varied. Data recorded by observers included number and race of observers, latency of the helping response and race of helper, number of helpers, movement out of the "critical area," and spontaneous comments. Major findings of the study were that (a) an apparently ill person is more likely to receive aid than is one who appears to be drunk, (b) race of victim has little effect on race of helper except when the victim is drunk, (c) the longer the emergency continues without help being offered, the more likely it is that someone will leave the area of the emergency, and (d) the expected decrease in speed of responding as group size increasesthe "diffusion of responsibility effect" found by Darley and Latane-does not occur in this situation. Implications of this difference between laboratory and field results are discussed, and a brief model for the prediction of behavior in emergency situations is presented.

Understanding and improving low bystander CPR rates: a systematic review of the literature

“…235 Overall helping behaviour decreases with an increasing number of bystanders (the concept of diffusion of responsibility). 234,[236][237][238][239] Simple and complex behavioural methods exist to address those issues. [240][241][242] CPR teaching should include information on the concepts of ambiguity and diffusion of responsibility.…”

Character Traits, Social Psychology, and Impediments to Helping Behavior

“…51 Clark and Word 1972. 52 Piliavin et al 1969. For additional studies, see Clark and Word 1974, Schwartz and Gottlieb 1980, and Fischer et al 2006.…”

Happiness is the Wrong Metric

“…However, studies of actual affirming behavior itself reach the same conclusion. For example, Latane and Darley and Piliavin et al found that high proportions of people did assist researchers pretending to be in distress (Latane and Darley 1970;Piliavin et al 1969). Even in poor urban areas, where a lack of social capital or physical resources is thought to discourage altruism, a vast majority of residents reported witnessing affirming behavior including "saving the life of someone who was in danger; taking permanent custody of, or providing temporary care for, the children of neighbors; providing housing for homeless individuals and families; intervening to protect others from crime or violence; and providing money, food, clothes, guidance, and encouragement to others" (Mattis et al 2009).…”