Bystander Intervention

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DD307 - Bystander Intervention
Andrew Searle
Flashcards by Andrew Searle, updated more than 1 year ago More Less
Ken Adams
Created by Ken Adams over 8 years ago
Andrew Searle
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Key researchers? Darley & Latane - mainstream experimental (situational variables) Borofsky et al (1971) - mainstream experimental (role playing) Shotland & Straw (1976) - mainstream experimental (simulated attack) Cherry (1995) - move from mainstream to critical feminist perspective
Victim and attacker? Kitty Genovese (white, middle aged) - raped & murdered in middle-class superb of New York (1964) Winston Moseley (black)
Initial case details •38 witnesses (bystanders) - none intervened •Media - representative of an indifferent, uncaring, apathetic society (dispositional explanation)
Darley & Latane (1) •Challenged media assumptions •Failure to act due to situational factors •Diffusion of responsibility •Diffusion of blame •Assuming someone else is acting (if not able to see all witnesses)
Darley & Latane (2) •Operationalised assertions into series of experiments: >Medical emergency >Smoked filled room •IV - # people •DV - time taken to respond/report emergency
Darley & Latane (3) Findings (support hypothesis): 85% Ps who thought they were alone responded 62% when 2 other attendees 31% when 4 attendees Conclusion - more perceived help available - less likely people were to respond Group size = big impact on speed of response Failure to respond = situational not dispositional factors Non-intervening Ps: still felt guilty, not apathy (emotional conflict re whether they should respond) (good experiment: consistent, has been replicated) •Demand characteristics?
Cherry's critique of Darley & Latane (& bystander research in general) (1) **Situated knowledge key** •Initially accepted findings of D&L - later adopted critical feminist stance •Necessary to attend to socio-cultural factors (gender & nature of M/F r'ships) (NB - D&L did use female Ps) •Behaviour complex & incidental variables impossible to ctrl (can't be operationalised) •Experiments strip away these factors (class, gender, poverty, lack of female representation in psych generally) •Ecological validity •White m/c researchers unlikely to be aware of socio-cultural factors
Cherry's critique of Darley & Latane (& bystander research in general) (2) •Emphasis on situatedness - violence not reported; police not intervene in domestic violence (NB - phone system not allow anon report of crime) •Challenge assumption research apolitical, ahistorical, value-free (standpoint epistemology) •Power systematically excluded - inequalities re gender, race, class, poverty •Structural factors underplayed •Borofsky; Shotland & Shaw - support representative stance, more like original event •Reflexivity crucial
Cherry quote KG case not so much about "bystander apathy" but specific form of "turning a blind eye" to something that is "none of your business" **very different explanation to D&L's**
Further criticisms of experimental method •Ignores how people's interpretations of situation are framed by personal histories, value & moral principles of society •Scientific language 'persuades' people that issues exist - but also disguise assumptions & preconceptions of researchers •Experiments not tests of 'truth' but instead reflect the cultural knowledge of the experimenter working in certain social context
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