Transcript Forms of Helping Direct vs. Indirect Emergency, Short-term versus Long-term Behavioral versus Emotional.

Forms of Helping
Direct vs. Indirect
Emergency, Short-term versus Long-term
Behavioral versus Emotional
~ Kitty Genovese Story ~
(From New York Times, March 27th, 1964)
For more than half an hour 38 respectable, law-abiding citizens in Queens watched a
killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens.
Twice the sound of their voices and the sudden glow of their bedroom lights
interrupted him and frightened him off, Each time he returned, sought her out and
stabbed her again. Not one person telephoned the police during the assault; one
witness called after the woman was dead.
That was two weeks ago today. But Assistant Chief Inspector Frederick M. Lussen, in
charge of the borough’s detectives and a veteran of 25 years of homicide
investigations, is still shocked.
He can give a matter-of-fact recitation of many murders. But the Kew Gardens slaying
baffles him — not because it is a murder, but because the ‘good people’ failed to call the
police. ‘As we have reconstructed the crime,’ he said, ‘the assailant had three
chances to kill this woman during a 35-minute period. He returned twice to
complete the job. If we had been called when he first attacked, the woman
might not be dead now.’
Basic Assumption
Groups should be more likely to help in emergency situations
But what if the situation is relatively ambiguous (as most
emergencies may be, or at least start off as such)?
Presence of others as a source of information (social cues)
Latane and Darley’s Model of Emergency
Intervention (1970)
Notice the
Event?
Define as
Emergency?
Take Responsibility?
Have the
qualifications to
help?
Decide to Help?
HELP
Smoke-Filled Room Study
Procedure?
Did the presence of others affect how quickly participants
noticed the smoke in the room?
Alone = Less than 5 seconds
(63% noticed within 5 sec.)
Group = About 20 seconds
(26% noticed within 5 sec.)
What if a condition existed where a confederate signaled the
need to help?
Epileptic Seizure Study
Procedure?
Epileptic Seizure Information
You are driving along a city street and you notice that a car has slid
across the shoulder and into a ditch. A middle-aged woman is
standing next to the car, bewildered. You are in a hurry to meet
someone in town, but it’s obvious that the woman needs help. What
would you do?
% helping
Time Pressure and Helping
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Ahead of schedule
On schedule
Behind schedule
In a local grocery store you notice a small child in a shopping cart. A
woman, likely the mother, slaps him in the face and yells for the child
to shut up or get more. You fell bad for the child but you wonder if
you’d make things worse if you say something. What would you do?
Piliavin and Piliavin’s Cost Analysis of Emergency Intervention
How do perceived costs for helping and not helping affect our willingness to
intervene in an emergency?
Piliavin and Piliavin (1972) proposed that a moderately aroused bystander to an
emergency assesses the costs of helping and not helping before deciding whether
to intervene. The table below predicts what a bystander is most likely to do in an
emergency when the costs for helping are low or high and the costs for not
helping are low or high.
Low
High
Low
Costs (to victim) if No
Direct Help Given
Costs (to helper) for Directly Helping Victim
Direct
Intervention
Intervention or
nonintervention largely
a function of perceived
norms in situation
High
Indirect
intervention
or
Redefinition of the situation,
disparagement of victim, etc.,
which lowers costs for no
help, allowing
Leaving the scene,
ignoring, denial
Perceived Costs & Helping
Blood on
Victim
Strangers
Arguing
No Blood on
Victim
Couples
Arguing
Culture and Helping
Country
# Helpful Acts
Philippines
280
Kenya
156
Mexico
148
Japan
97
U.S.
86
India
60
*Source: Whiting & Whiting, 1975
You a watching the TV news about a large-scale national disaster
across the world. Men, women and children are shown blankly
starring at the TV screen. Immediate financial support is requested
to but food and medicine before the death toll rises. How would this
make you feel? What would you do?
Impact of Past Experience on Helping
Thanked for
helping
Ask for
directions
Give help
What are the “big picture”
implications of such a finding,
especially for long-term helping
efforts?
“Punished” for helping (“I
cannot understand what
you’re saying. Never mind,
I’ll ask someone else”
Less likely to provide
assistance in future
Rank Charity
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Program Expenses
Professional Fundraising
Disabled Veterans Associations
4.6%
Children's Charitable Foundation
10.3%
Firefighters Charitable Foundation
8.3%
Disabled Police Officers Counseling Center 11.8%
Law Enforcement Education Program
2.2%
Operation Lookout
12.6%
Wishing Well Foundation USA
10.3%
Children's Charity Fund, Inc.
5.7%
Coalition Against Breast Cancer
18.3%
Children With Hairloss
24.5%
94.3%
87.3%
86.4%
85.7%
84.1%
80.8%
78.3%
78.1%
78.1%
72.3%
The United Nations Special Envoy to Haiti has
reported that only 40 percent of money raised for
Haiti in 2010 has been distributed, and only 15
percent of needed temporary housing has been built.
From: The Oakland Press, Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Attributions & Helping
External
attribution (e.g.,
poor economy is
at fault)
Helping
request (e.g.,
stranger
asking for
spare change)
Physiological
arousal
Positive emotions
Helping
Analysis of
the situation
Internal
attribution (e.g.,
stranger is lazy)
Negative
emotions
No helping
Moods (Guilt) on Helping
Break camera
Versus
Camera malfunctions
Helping?
Before confession
Versus
After confession
Similarity
Wrong phone number study
Heterosexual making request
100
Homosexual making request
90
80
90
70
70
60
50
40
30
30
35
20
10
0
Male
From Shaw, Borough, & Fink, 1994
Female