4 7 2015 Prosocial Behavior Prosocial Behavior Defined as behavior that is intended to help another person Do we help others Kitty Genovese o On March 13 1964 she was walking home from working at a bar and was attacked o Knifed and Raped in Queens NY o Attacker left twice and came back o 35 minutes before someone called police o No one was willing to help or step in This was mainly because they all thought that someone else January 13th 1982 Jet crashes into Potomac River had called the police o A construction worker passing by jumped into freezing river to try to help o He wasn t successful and bystanders beg him not to jump back into the water but he tries repeatedly to get to the jet plane o One man let everyone else get to safety first and unfortunately died from hypothermia o No one else was around to help at first so the worker was much more likely to help considering he was the only one to do so o Another reason why these men may have helped would be because of the memorability they will receive for being a hero Bystander Effect Tendency to be less likely to help as the number of other When Do We Help bystanders increases Child Abduction Video o A young girl and an adult male act out a scene where the girl is being taken by the man and screams Help and You aren t my dad o This was done to see if anyone around would come and help out the girl who is being taken o It took hours before 2 men on the street along with a man who was in his car ran and attempted to help the girl o The factors that influenced this help were Liverpool Video o Peter an actor pretends to be ill on the streets of Liverpool and test to see how long it takes to get help o Over 20 minutes and still no one helps Darley and Latane 1968 Seizure Study o 2 conflicting rules created of we ought to help but we should do what o Another actor now a woman takes Peters place and pretends to be everybody else is doing passed out o The strangers form a temporary group with a rule don t get involved o When someone else breaks from the social norm and steps up to help others begin to conform to this new rule and swarm to help o They then switch the actor to someone who is wearing professional clothing and is seen as a respectable gentleman it takes 6 seconds for someone to come and help him Since he is part of the right group everyone is willing to help o P s sat alone in cubicles o Thought they were participating in a conversation with 1 other person 2 other people or 5 other people Talking about what it is like to adjust to college life as a student o One person confederate mentions being prone to seizures during the phone conversation o A few minutes later this confederate has a seizure o Does the number of people effect whether they are likely to help o Results 1 other person Within a minute 80 of participants have already gotten help Within 3 100 has gotten help 2 other people Not everyone is going to get help Within 5 minutes 85 of participants go and get help One of 5 other people A full 1 3 of the participants did not get help in this situation REFER TO SLIDE 6 FOR GRAPH Darley and Latane s Model of Bystander Intervention 1 Notice the situation a Large number of bystanders may interfere with this i Distractions ii Hard to notice others 2 Interpret it as an emergency a We are likely to look to the people around us to see if anyone else notices i If everyone is acting normal then we perceive their behavior as normal and that everything is fine b Pluralistic Ignorance Looking at others for information about someone s behavior while others look to us for the reason This can lead to misinterpretation i Ex When you don understand something in class and look to others to ask a question about it while your classmates may be doing the same thing ii Darley and Latane 1968 Smokey Room Study P s completed a questionnaire either alone or in a room with 2 other people confederates Smoke pumped into room Confederates are instructed to sit in the room while the smoke is being pumped into the room and to act like nothing is wrong Did participants go and get help Results o When participant is alone they assess the situation and get out of the room immediately o If the 2 confederates are present participants noticed the smoke but looked the confederates for information about the situation o Since the confederates were told to show no concern or emotion about the situation the P s conformed to this reaction and did not access the situation for a while or at all in some cases One instance it took up to 20 minutes o Alone 75 went to get help before room was completely filled with smoke o 2 confederates 90 never went to get help 3 Assume responsibility decide to be the one that helps and does something a Diffusion of Responsibility The belief that others will take responsibility for helping a person in need 4 Know what to do What do I do a b I m not trained to handle this c We are afraid we might make the situation worse 5 Judge that any costs are outweighed by the benefits a There might be some very obvious costs that will stop us from helping Same with obvious benefits and getting us to help b Darley and Batson 1973 Good Samaritan Survey i Seminary students told to learn a sermon and to go across campus and to deliver sermon ii Some P s told Plenty of time to get there iii Some P s told Already late iv P s came across a person confederate slumped over in a doorway v Do they help vi Results 1 P s with plenty of time a little more than 60 of students stopped to help 2 P s in a rush almost 15 of students stopped to help a Some literally stepped over him Helping only occurs after all 5 are true Kitty Genovese revisited Why it may have went against helping behavior 1 Notice situation may be asleep at this time 2 Interpret as emergency might assume that it s 2 people having an argument 3 Assume responsibility think that someone else has already called the police 4 Know what to do we could call the police or go down and help 5 Judge the costs are outweighed by benefits we don t want to get injured Point someone out and have them assume responsibility eliminates 4 of 5 steps to go against helping behavior o Ex You in the blue shirt I need help Call 911 4 09 2015 Why do we …
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