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Core Studies: Social Area

Piliavin et al. (1969) subway Samaritans: background, design and method

  • 3 things to know
  • Component 02

Overview

Recall questions on the background and aims of Piliavin et al.'s 1969 subway Samaritan study, diffusion of responsibility, its field experiment method, independent measures design, and its independent and dependent variables.

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Study

What earlier laboratory research prompted Piliavin's subway study?

Who and when

What research method did Piliavin use?

Key term

Why is Piliavin's study described as using an independent measures design?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What earlier laboratory research prompted Piliavin's subway study?

    Model answer

    Work on bystander apathy which suggested that the more witnesses there are to an emergency, the less likely and the slower any one of them is to help.

  2. 2

    What is diffusion of responsibility?

    Model answer

    The tendency for each witness to an emergency to feel less personally obliged to act because the responsibility is shared among everyone present.

  3. 3

    State the aims of Piliavin's 1969 study.

    Model answer

    To investigate how the type of victim, the race of the victim, the presence of a helping model and the size of the group affect whether and how quickly a stranger is helped in a real emergency.

  4. 4

    What research method did Piliavin use?

    Model answer

    A field experiment carried out on a moving train, with data gathered by covert participant observation.

  5. 5

    Why is Piliavin's study described as using an independent measures design?

    Model answer

    Each trial exposed a different set of passengers to only one combination of conditions, so no group of passengers experienced every version of the emergency.

  6. 6

    Which independent variables did Piliavin manipulate?

    Model answer

    The type of victim, either apparently drunk or apparently ill with a cane, the race of the victim, and the timing and position of the helping model.

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