Are there any ethical problems?
Hands on Chapter Project
Darley and Latane's Bystander Apathy Experiment
By Shea Murphy and Nick Caceres
The Bystander Effect
The bystander effect occurs when the presence of others hinders an individual from intervening in an emergency situation.
The Murder of Kitty Genovese
- Catherine Genovese (July 7, 1935[1] – March 13, 1964)
- New York City woman who was stabbed to death by Winston Moseley near her home in Kew Gardens, a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, on March 13, 1964.[3]
The Experiment: What is it?
Within the Experiment: Groups
- Control Group: Subjects who waited in a room alone
- Experimental Groups: Subjects who waited with a friend, positive subject, or a stranger.
- Goal is to experiment with and investigate emergency helping behaviors in an emergency
- Each participant talks to other participants of varying number in a discussion group
- But each of the participants has separate rooms
- Each participant will be given two minutes to speak during their turn
- One "subject" begins to have a seizure and the trial begins, testing the reaction time of the other subjects
Sample and Data Collection
- Selected by recruiting university students; telling them that they will be participating in a discussion about personal problems.
- Experimenters measured the time it took for the subject to stand up, leave the room, look for the experimenters and ask for help.
Variables in the Experiment
Dependent Variable: Time it takes for the participant to seek help or the time it takes for a reaction to the stimulus
Independent Variable: Number of participants within a discussion group and how certain subjects would react based on the other participants.
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Ethical Problems with This Experiment
1. "NO PEACE AND LOVE" - doc
- Very stressful situation to put random subjects into (High stress and intensity)
- Fight or Flight response could trigger unpredictable responses (could be dangerous to themselves or the people around them)
2. Subjects were unaware of the actual experiment, no deception is allowed.
Conclusions From The Experiment
- Overall only 31% of the subjects tried to ask for help.
- Although, in the 1st treatment condition(one-on-one) 85% of the subjects asked for help-proving if the subjects think they're the only ones who know about the incident, there is a better chance they will ask for help.
- Psyschologists offered 2 reasons for no reactions.
- 1. Diffusion of Responsibility- occurs when other people think that another person will intervene, so they feel less responsible.
- 2. Pluralistic Ignorance- the mentality that since everyone is not reacting to the situation then you don't have to help either.