GOOD SAMARITANISM:
AN
UNDERGROUND PHENOMENON?'
IRVING
M. PILIAVIN JUDITH RODIN
University
of Pennsylvania Columbia University
AND
JANE ALLYN PILIAVIN
University
of Pennsylvania
A field experiment was performed to
investigate the effect of several variables on helping behaviour, using the express
trains of the New York 5th 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 expe6ted decrease in speed of responding as
group size increase the "diffusion of responsibility effect" found by
Darley and Latan6-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 behaviour in emergency situations is presented.
Since the murder of Kitty Genovese in Queens, a
rapidly increasing number of social scientists have turned their attentions to
the study of the good Samaritan's act and an associated phenomenon, the evaluation
of victims by bystanders and agents. Some of the findings of this research have
been provocative and nonobvious. For example, there is evidence that agents,
and even bystanders, will sometimes derogate the character of the victims of
misfortune, instead of feeling compassion (Berscheid & Walster, 1967;
Lerner & Simmons, 1966). Furthermore, recent findings indicate that under
certain circumstances there is -not "safety in numbers," but rather
"diffusion of responsibility." Darley and Latane (1968) have reported
that among bystanders hearing an epileptic seizure over earphones, those who
believed other witnesses were present were less likely to seek assistance for
the victim than were bystanders who believed they were alone. Subsequent
research by Latane and Rodin (1969) on response to the victim of a fall
confirmed this finding and suggested further that assistance from a group of
bystanders was less likely to come if the group members were strangers than if
they were prior acquaintances. The field experiments of Bryan and Test (1967),
on the other hand, provide interesting findings that fit common sense
expectations; namely, one is more likely to be a good Samaritan if one has just
observed another individual performing a helpful act.
Much of the work on victimization to date has
been performed in the laboratory. It is commonly argued that the ideal research
strategy over the long haul is to move back and forth between the laboratory,
with its advantage of greater control,
and the field, with its advantage of greater reality. The present study was
designed to provide more information from the latter setting.
The primary focus of the study was on the
effect of type of victim (drunk or ill) and race of victim (black or white) on
speed of responding, frequency of responding, and the race of the helper. On
the basis of the large body of research on similarity and liking as well as
that on race and social distance, it was assumed that an individual would be
more inclined to help someone of his race than a person of another race. The
expectation regarding type of victim was that help would be accorded more
frequently and rapidly to the apparently ill victim. This expectation was
derived from two considerations. First, it was assumed that people who are
regarded as partly responsible for their plight would receive less sympathy and
consequently less help than people seen as not responsible for their
circumstances (Schopler & Matthews, 1965).
Secondly, it was assumed that whatever
sympathy individuals may experience when they observe a drunk collapse, their
inclination to help him will be dampened by the realization that the victim may
become disgusting, embarrassing, and/or violent. This realization may, in fact,
not only constrain helping but also lead observers to turn away from the
victim-that is, to leave the scene of the emergency.
Aside from examining the effects of race and
type of victim, the present research sought to investigate the impact of modelling
in emergency situations. Several investigators have found that an individual's
actions in a given situation lead others in that situation to engage in similar
actions. This modelling phenomenon has been observed in a variety of contexts
including those involving good Samaritanism (Bryan & Test, 1967). It was expected
that the phenomenon would be observed as well in the present study. A final
concern of the study was to examine the relationship between size of group and
frequency and latency of the helping response, with a victim who was both seen
and heard. In previous laboratory studies (Darley & Latane, 1968; Latane
& Rodin, 1969) increases in group size led to decreases in frequency and
increases in latency of responding. In these studies, however, the emergency
was only heard, not seen. Since visual cues are likely to make an emergency
much more arousing for the observer, it is not clear that, given these cues,
such considerations as crowd size will be relevant determinants of the
observer's response to the emergency. Visual cues also provide clear information
as to whether anyone has yet helped the victim or if he has been able to help
himself. Thus, in the laboratory studies, observers lacking visual cues could
rationalize not helping by assuming assistance was no longer needed when the
victim ceased calling for help. Staging emergencies in full view of observers
eliminates the possibility of such rationalization.
To conduct a field investigation of the above
questions under the desired conditions required a setting, which would allow
the repeated staging of emergencies in the midst of reasonably large groups,
which remained fairly similar in composition from incident to incident. It was
also desirable that each group retain the same composition over the course of
the incident and that a reasonable amount of time be available after the
emergency occurred for -good Samaritans to act. To meet these requirements, the
emergencies were staged during, the approximately 7˝minute express run between
the 59th Street and 125th Street stations of the Eighth Avenue Independent
(IND) branch of the New York subways.
METHOD
Subjects
About 4,450 men and women who travelled on
the 8th Avenue IND in New York City, weekdays between the hours of 11:00 A.m.
and 3:00 P.m. during the period from April 15 to June 26, 1968, were the unsolicited
participants in this study. The racial composition of a typical train, which
travels through Harlem to the Bronx, was about 45% black and 55% white.
The mean number of people per car during these hours was 43; the mean number of
people in the "critical area," in which the staged incident took
place, was 8.5.
Field situation. The A and D trains of the 5th Avenue IND were selected
because they make no stops between 59th Street and 125th Street. Thus, for
about 7˝ minutes there was a captive audience who, after the first 70 seconds
of their ride, became bystanders to an emergency situation. A single trial was
a non-stop ride between 59th and 125th Streets, going in either direction. All
trials were run only on the old New York subway cars, which serviced the 8th
Avenue line since they had two-person seats in group arrangement rather than
extended seats. The designated experimental or critical area was that end
section of any car whose doors led to the next car. There are 13 seats and some
standing room in this area on all trains (see Figure 1).
Procedure
On each trial a team of four Columbia General
Studies students, two males and two females, boarded the train using different
doors. Four different teams, whose members always worked together, were used to
collect data for 103 trials. Each team varied the location of the experimental
car from trial to trial. The female confederates took seats outside the
critical area and recorded data as unobtrusively as possible for the duration
of the ride, while the male model and victim remained standing. The victim
always stood next to a pole in the centre of the critical area (see Figure 1).
As the train passed the first station (approximately 70 seconds after
departing) the victim staggered forward and collapsed. Until receiving help,
the victim remained supine on the floor looking at the ceiling. If the victim
received no assistance by the time the train slowed to a stop, the model helped
him to his feet. At the stop, the team disembarked and waited separately until
other riders had left the station. They then proceeded to another platform to
board a train, going in the opposite direction for the next trial. From 6 to 8
trials were run on a given day. All trials on a given day were in the same
"victim condition."
Victim. The four victims (one from each team) were males between the ages of 26
and 35. Three were white and one was black. All were identically dressed in
Eisenhower jackets, old slacks, and no tie. On 38 trials the victims smelled of
liquor and carried a liquor bottle wrapped tightly in a brown bag (drunk
condition), while on the remaining 65 trials they appeared sober and
carried a black cane (cane condition). In all other aspects, victims dressed
and behaved identically in the two conditions. Each victim participated in
drunk and cane trials. [It will be noted later that not only were there more
cane trials than drunk trials, they were also distributed unevenly across black
and white victims. The reason for this is easier to explain than to correct.
Teams 1 and 2 (both white victims) started the first day in the cane condition.
Teams 3 (black) and 4 (white) began in the drunk condition. Teams were told to
alternate the conditions across days. They arranged their running days to fit
their schedules. On their fourth day, Team 2 violated the instruction and ran
cane trials when they should have run drunk trials; the victim "didn't
like" playing the drunk! Then the Columbia student strike occurred, the
teams disbanded, and the study of necessity was over. At this point, Teams 1
and 3 had run on only 3 days each, while 2 and 4 had run on 4 days each.]
Model. Four white males between the ages of 24 and 29 assumed the roles of
model in each team. All models wore informal clothes, although they were not
identically attired. There were four different model conditions used across
both victim conditions (drunk or cane).
1.
Critical
area-early. Model stood in critical area and waited until passing
fourth station to assist victim (approximately 70 seconds after collapse).
2.
Critical
area-late. Model stood in critical area and waited until passing
sixth station to assist victim (approximately 150 seconds after collapse).
3.
Adjacent
area-early. Model stood in middle of car in area adjacent to
critical area and waited until passing fourth station.
4. Adjacent area-late. Model
stood in adjacent area and waited until passing sixth station.
When the model provided assistance, he raised
the victim to a sitting position and stayed with him for the remainder of the
trial. An equal number of trials in the no-model condition and in each of the
four model conditions were pre-programmed by a random number table and assigned
to each team.
TABLE
I
PERCENTAGE
OF TRIALS ON WHICH HELP WAS GIVEN,
By
RACE AND CONDITION OF VICTIM, AND TOTAL
NUMBER
OF TRIALS RUN IN
EACH
CONDITION
Note.-Distribution
of model trials for the drunk was as follows: critical area: early, 4; late. 4;
adjacent area: early, 5; late, 3. The three model trials completed for the cane
victim were all early, with 2 from the critical area and 1 from the adjacent
area.
Measures. On each trial one observer noted the race, sex, and
location of every rider seated or standing in the critical area. In addition,
she counted the total number of individuals in the car and the total number of
individuals who came to the victim's assistance. She also recorded the race,
sex, and location of every helper. A second observer coded the race, sex, and location
of all persons in the adjacent area. She also recorded the latency of the first
helper's arrival after the victim had fallen and on appropriate trials, the
latency of the first helper's arrival after the programmed model had arrived.
Both observers recorded comments spontaneously made by nearby passengers and
attempted to elicit comments from a rider sitting next to them.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
As can be seen in Table 1, the frequency of
help received by the victims was impressive, at least as compared to earlier
laboratory results. The victim with the cane received spontaneous help, that
is, before the model acted, on 62 of the 65 trials. Even the drunk received
spontaneous help on 19 of 38 trials. The difference is not explicable on the
basis of gross differences in the numbers of potential helpers in the cars.
(Mean number of passengers in the car on cane trials was 45; on drunk trials,
40. Total range was 15-120.)
On the basis of past research, relatively
long latencies of spontaneous helping were expected; thus, it was assumed that
models would have time to help, and their effects could be assessed. However,
in all but three of the cane trials planned to be model trials, the victim
received help before the model was scheduled to offer assistance. This was less
likely to happen with the drunk victim. In many cases, the early model was able
to intervene, and in a few, even the delayed model could act (see Table 1 for
frequencies).
A direct comparison between the latency of
response in the drunk and cane conditions might be misleading, since on model
trials one does not know how long it might have taken for a helper to arrive
without the stimulus of the model. Omitting the model trials, however, would
reduce the number of drunk trials drastically. In order to get around these
problems the trials have been dichotomised into a group in which someone helped
before 70 seconds (the time at which the early model was programmed to
help) and a group in which no one had helped by this time. The second group
includes some trials in which people helped the model and a very few in which
no one helped at all. If a comparison of latencies is made between cane and
drunk nonmodel trials only, the median latency for cane trials is 5 seconds and
the median for drunk trials is 109 seconds (assigning 400 seconds as the latency
for nonrespondents). The Mann-Whitney U for this comparison is significant at p
<.0001.
It is quite clear from the first section of
Table 2 that there was more immediate, spontaneous helping of the victim with
the cane than of the drunk. The effect seems to be essentially the same for the
black victim and for the white victims. Among the white victim teams, the data
from Team 2 differ to some extent from those for Teams 1 and 4. Team 2 accounts
all of the cane-after 70 seconds trials for, as are 4 of the 5 drunk before 70
trials. Median latency for cane trials is longer for Team 2 than for the other
teams; for drunk trials, shorter. This is the same team that violated the
"alternate days" instruction. It would appear that this team is being
rather less careful-that the victim may be getting out of his role. The data
from this team have been included in the analysis although they tend to reduce
the relationships that were found.
What of the total number of people who
helped? On 60% of the 81 trials on which the victim received help, he received
it not from one good Samaritan but from two, three, or even more. The data from
the model trials are not included in this analysis because the model was
programmed to behave rather differently from the way in which most real helpers
behaved. That is, his role was to raise the victim to a sitting position and
then appear to need assistance. Most real helpers managed to drag the victim to
a seat or to a standing position on their own. Thus the programmed model
received somewhat more help than did real first helpers.
There are no significant differences between
black and white victims, or between cane and drunk victims, in the number of
helpers subsequent to the first who came to his aid. Seemingly, then, the
presence of the first helper has important implications that override whatever
cognitive and emotional differences were initially engendered among observers
by the characteristics of the victim. It may be that the victim's uniformly
passive response to the individual trying to assist him reduced observers' fear
about possible unpleasantness in the drunk conditions. Another possibility is that
the key factor in the decisions of second and third helpers to offer assistance
was the first helper. That is, perhaps assistance was being offered primarily
to him rather than to the victim. Unfortunately the data do not permit adequate
assessment of these or other possible explanations.
Characteristics of Spontaneous First
Helpers
Having discovered that people do, in fact,
help with rather high frequency, the next question is, "Who helps?"
The effect of two variables, sex and race, can be examined. On the average,
60%, of the people in the critical area were males. Yet, of the 81 spontaneous
first helpers, 90% were males. In this situation, then, men are considerably
more likely to help than are women (p < .001).
Turning now to the race variable, of the 81
first helpers, 64% were white. This percentage does not differ significantly
from the expected percentage of 55% based on racial distribution in the cars.
Since both black and white victims were used, it is also possible to see
whether blacks and whites are more likely to help a member of their own race.
On the 65 trials on which spontaneous help was offered to the white victims,
68% of the helpers were white. This proportion differs from the expected 55%
at the .05 level. On the 16 trials on which spontaneous help was offered to
the black victim, half of the first helpers were white. While this proportion
does not differ from chance expectation, we again see a slight tendency toward
"same race" helping.
When race of
helper is examined separately for cane and drunk victims, an interesting
although nonsignificant trend emerges (see Table 3). With both the black and
white cane victims, the proportion of helpers of each race was in accord with
the expected 55%-45%Split. With
the drunk, on the other hand, it was mainly members of his own race who came to
his aid.
This interesting
tendency toward same-race helping only in the case of the drunk victim may
reflect more empathy, sympathy, and trust toward victims of one's own racial
group. In the case of an innocent victim (e.g., the cane victim), when
sympathy, though differentially experienced, is relatively uncomplicated by
other emotions, assistance can readily cut across group lines. In the case of
the drunk (and potentially dangerous) victim, complications are present,
probably blame, fear, and disgust. When the victim is a member of one's own
group-when the conditions for empathy and trust are more favourable-assistance
is more likely to be offered. As we have seen, however, this does not happen
without the passing of time to think things over. Recent findings of Black and
Reiss (1967) in a study of the behaviour of white police officers towards
apprehended persons offer an interesting parallel. Observers in this study
recorded very little evidence of prejudice toward sober individuals, whether
white or black. There was a large increase in prejudice expressed towards
drunks of both races, but the increase in prejudice towards blacks was more
than twice that towards whites.
Modelling Effects
No extensive analysis of the response to the
programmed model could be made, since there were too few cases for analysis.
Two analyses were, however, performed on the effects of adjacent area versus
critical area models and of early versus late models within the drunk
condition. The data are presented in Table 4. While the area variable has no
effect, the early model elicited help significantly more than did the late
model.
Other Responses to the Incident
What other responses do observers make to the
incident? Do the passengers leave the car, move out of the area, make comments
about the incident? No one left the car on any of the trials. However on 21 of
the 103 trials, a total of 34 people did leave the critical area. The second
section of Table 2 presents the percentage of trials on which someone left the
critical area as a function of three variables: type of victim, race of victim,
and time to receipt of help (before or after 70 seconds). People left the area
on a higher proportion of trials with the drunk than with the cane victim. They
also were far more likely to leave on trials on which help was -not offered by
70 seconds, as compared to trials on which help was received before that time.
The frequencies are too small to make comparisons with each of the variables
held constant.
Each observer spoke to the person seated next
to her after the incident took place. She also noted spontaneous comments and
actions by those around her. A content analysis of these data was performed,
with little in the way of interesting findings. The distribution of number of
comments over different sorts of trials, however, did prove 'interesting (see
Section 3 of Table 2). Far more comments were obtained on drunk trials than on
cane trials. Similarly, most of the comments were obtained on trials in which
no one helped until after 70 seconds. The discomfort observers felt in sitting
inactive in the presence of the victim may have led them to talk about the
incident, perhaps hoping others would confirm the fact that inaction was
appropriate. Many women, for example, made comments such as, "It's for men
to help him," or "I wish I could help him-I'm not strong enough......
I never saw this kind of thing before-I don't know where to look,"
"You feel so bad that you don't know what to do."
A Test of the Diffusion of Responsibility Hypothesis
In the Darley and Latane experiment it was
predicted and found that as the number of bystanders increased, the likelihood
that any individual would help decreased and the latency of response increased.
Their study involved bystanders who could not see each other or the victim. In
the Latane and Rodin study, the effect was again found, with bystanders who
were face to face, but with the victim still only heard. In the present study,
bystanders saw both the victim and each other. Will the diffusion of
responsibility finding still occur in this situation?
In order to check this hypothesis, two
analyses were performed. First, all nonmodel trials were separated into three
groups according to the number of males in the critical area (the assumed
reference group for spontaneous first helpers). Mean and median latencies of
response were then calculated for each group, separately by type and race of
victim. The results are presented in Table 5. There is no evidence in these
data for diffusion of responsibility; in fact, response times, using either
measure, are consistently faster for the 7 or more groups compared to the 1 to 3 groups."
As Darley and Latane
pointed out, however, different-size real groups cannot be meaningfully
compared to one another, since as group size increases the likelihood that one
or more persons will help also increases. A second analysis as similar as
possible to that used by those authors was therefore performed, comparing
latencies actually obtained for each size
group with a base line of hypothetical groups of the same size made up by
combining smaller groups. In order to have as much control as possible the
analysis was confined to cane trials with white victims and male first helpers
coming from the critical area. Within this set of trials, the most frequently
occurring natural groups (of males in the critical area) were those of sizes 3 (n
= 6) and 7 (n = 5). Hypothetical groups of 3 (n = 4) and 7 (n = 25)
were composed of all combinations of smaller sized groups. For example, to obtain
the hypothetical latencies for groups of 7, combinations were made of (a) all
real size 6 groups with all real size I groups, plus (b) all real size 5
groups with all real size 2 groups, etc. The latency assigned to each of these
hypothetical groups was that recorded for the faster of the two real groups of
which it was composed. Cumulative response curves for real and hypothetical
groups of 3 and 7 are presented in Figure 2.
As can be seen in the figure, the cumulative
helping response Curves for the hypothetical groups of both sizes are lower
than those for the corresponding real groups. That is, members of real groups
responded more rapidly than would be expected on the basis of the faster of the
two scores obtained from the combined smaller groups. While these results
together with those summarized in Table 5 do not necessarily contradict the
diffusion of responsibility hypothesis, they do not follow the pattern of
findings obtained by Darlev and Latane and are clearly at variance with the
tentative conclusion of those investigators that "a victim may be more
likely to receive help . . . the fewer people there are to take action [Latane
& Darley, 1968, p. 221]."
Two explanations can be suggested to account
for the disparity between the findings of Table 5 and Figure 2 and those of
Darley and Latane and Latane and Rodin. As indicated earlier in this paper, the
conditions of the present study were quite different from those in previous
investigations. First, the fact that observers in the present study could see
the victim may not only have constrained observers' abilities to conclude there
was no emergency, but may also have overwhelmed with other considerations any
tendency to diffuse responsibility. Second, the present findings may indicate
that even if diffusion of responsibility is experienced by people who can
actually see an emergency, when groups are larger than two the increment in
deterrence to action resulting from increasing the number of observers may be
less than the increase in probability that within a given time interval at
least one of the observers will take action to assist the victim. Clearly, more
work is needed in both natural and laboratory settings before an understanding
is reached of the conditions under which diffusion of responsibility will or
will not occur.
CONCLUSIONS
In this field study a personal emergency
occurred in which escape for the bystander was virtually impossible. It was a
public, face-to-face situation, and in this respect differed from previous lab
studies. Moreover, since Generalizations from field studies to lab research
must be made with caution, few comparisons will be drawn. However, several
conclusions may be put forth:
The authors are currently developing a model
of response to emergency situations consistent with the previous findings. It
is briefly presented here as a possible heuristic device. The model includes
the following assumptions: Observation of an emergency creates an emotional
arousal state in the bystander. This state will be differently interpreted in
different situations (Schachter, 1964) as fear, disgust, sympathy, etc., and
possibly a combination of these. This state of arousal is higher (a) the more
one can empathize with the victim (i.e., the more one can see oneself in his
situation-Stotland, 1966), (b) the closer one is to the emergency, and
(c) the longer the state of emergency continues without the intervention of a
helper. It can be reduced by one of a number of possible responses: (a)
helping, directly, (b) going, to get help, (c) leaving the scene of the
emergency, and (d) rejecting the victim as undeserving of help (Lerner &
Simmons, 1966). The response that will be chosen is a function of a cost-reward
matrix that includes costs associated with helping (e.g., effort,
embarrassment, possible disgusting or distasteful experiences, possible
physical harm, etc.), costs associated with not helping (mainly self-blame and
perceived censure from others), rewards associated with helping, (mainly praise
from self, victim, and others), and rewards associated with not helping (mainly
those stemming from continuation of other activities). Note that the major
motivation implied in the model is not a ‘positive altruistic’ one, but
rather a selfish desire to rid oneself of an unpleasant emotional state.
In terms of this model, the following after
the-fact interpretations can be made of the findings obtained:
1. The drunk is helped less because costs for
helping are higher (greater disgust) and costs for not helping are lower (less
self blame and censure because be is in part responsible for his own
victimization).
2. Women help less because costs for helping
are higher in this situation (effort, mainly) and costs for not helping are
lower (less censure from others; it is not her role).
3. Same-race helping, particularly of the
drunk, can be explained by differential costs for not helping (less censure if
one is of opposite race) and, with the drunk, differential costs for helping
(more fear if of different race).
4. Diffusion of responsibility is not found
on cane trials because costs for helping in general are low and costs for not
helping are high (more self-blame because of possible severity of problem).
That is, the suggestion is made that the diffusion of responsibility effect
will increase as costs for helping increase and costs for not helping decrease.
This interpretation is consistent with the well-known public incidents, in
which possible bodily harm to a helper is almost always involved, and thus
costs for helping are very high, and also with previous research done with
nonvisible victims in which either (a) it was easy to assume someone had
already helped and thus costs for not helping were reduced (Darley &
Latane) or (b) it was possible to think that the emergency was minor,
which also reduces the costs for not helping (Latane & Rodin).
5. All
of the effects of time are also consistent with the model. The longer the
emergency continues, the more likely it is that observers will be aroused and
therefore will have chosen among the possible responses. Thus, (a) a late model
will elicit less helping, since people have already reduced their arousal by
one of the other methods; (b) unless arousal is reduced by other methods,
people will leave more as time goes on, because arousal is still increasing;
and (c) observers will discuss the incident in an attempt to reduce self-blame
and arrive at the fourth resolution, namely a justification for not helping
based on rejection of the victim.
Quite obviously, the model was derived from
these data, along with data of other studies in the area. Needless to say,
further work is being planned by the authors to test the implications of the
model systematically.