SOCIAL

Piliavin (1969)

Good Samaritan

Method: field experiment.
IV's- type of victim, race of victim, presence of model, no. of bystanders.

PP's: 4450 men and women who used the trains on a weekday between 11am and 3pm. 45% black, 55% white.

The emergency: The male victim would wait about 70 secs before stumbling forward and then collapse on the floor where he would wait for help.

Observers noted race, sex and location of everyone in the critical area, along with the total no. of people in the carriage. Both observers note spontaneous comments made too.

Findings: The cane victim received help 95% of the time whereas the drunk victim was only 50%. Of the spontaneous helpers, 90% were male.