What was the aim of Piliavin et al. (1969)?

Piliavin and colleagues aimed to find out how the type of victim affects helping in a real emergency. The study also tested the effects of the victim's race, a helpful model and group size.

What happened during each trial of Piliavin et al.'s study?

A male student acting as the victim collapsed about 70 seconds after the train left the station. Two female observers recorded how passengers responded, and a male model helped if nobody else did.

How did Piliavin et al. vary the type of victim?

The ill victim appeared sober and carried a black cane. The drunk victim smelled of alcohol and carried a bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag.

What did Piliavin et al. find about helping the ill and drunk victims?

The victim with a cane received spontaneous help on 62 of 65 trials. The drunk victim was helped on 19 of 38 trials, and help came more slowly.

What did Piliavin et al. find about who helped and about group size?

Most first helpers were men, and there was a slight tendency to help a victim of the same race. Larger groups did not help less, so diffusion of responsibility was not found.

Edexcel GCSE Psychology 1PS0

Development

Topic overview Early brain development Piaget's theory of cognitive development Dweck's mindset theory and Willingham's learning theory The three mountains task and Gunderson's praise study The development of morality

Memory

Topic overview Information processing, duration and capacity Retrograde and anterograde amnesia Bartlett's theory of reconstructive memory The multi-store model, reductionism and holism War of the Ghosts and the Peterson and Peterson study

Psychological Problems

Topic overview Symptoms of depression and addiction Incidence and effects of mental health problems Explaining depression Explaining addiction Treating depression and addiction Key studies and the nature–nurture debate

The Brain and Neuropsychology

Topic overview Lobes of the brain and the effects of damage Lateralisation and Sperry's split-brain study Neurons, synapses and the central nervous system Phineas Gage and how brain research has changed

Social Influence

Topic overview Conformity to majority influence Obedience to authority Bystander intervention Crowd behaviour, society and culture Piliavin's subway study and the Stanford prison study

Criminal PsychologyOptional topic

Topic overview Operant conditioning and social learning explanations of crime Eysenck's criminal personality theory Punishment, recidivism and rehabilitation Bandura's Bobo doll study and Charlton's St Helena study

The SelfOptional topic

Topic overview Self-concept and influences on self-esteem Erikson's identity stages and belief in free will Rogers' and Maslow's humanistic theory Measuring personality and trait theory Vohs and Schooler's cheating study and Van Houtte and Jarvis's pet study

PerceptionOptional topic

Topic overview Depth cues, visual illusions and constancies Gibson's direct theory and Gregory's constructivist theory Perceptual set The Haber and Levin and Carmichael studies

Sleep and DreamingOptional topic

Topic overview Sleep stages and the sleep cycle Influences on sleep and sleep disorders Freud's theory of dreaming and activation synthesis theory Freud's Little Hans and Siffre's cave study

Language, Thought and CommunicationOptional topic

Topic overview Piaget and Vygotsky on language and thought Linguistic relativism and determinism Human and animal communication Non-verbal communication and Darwin's evolutionary theory The Yuki and Boroditsky studies

Research Methods

Topic overview Variables, hypotheses and controls Sampling methods Experiments and experimental designs Interviews, questionnaires and types of data Correlations, case studies and observations Ethical issues in psychological research Evaluating studies and the core areas of psychology Averages, calculations and graphs

Social Influence

Piliavin's subway study and the Stanford prison study

3 things to know
Paper 1

Overview

Piliavin's field experiment on helping ill and drunk victims on a New York subway, and Haney, Banks and Zimbardo's Stanford prison study, with their ethics.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Key term

Where and how was Piliavin et al.'s study carried out?

Evaluation

What are the weaknesses of Piliavin et al.'s study?

Key term

How were participants chosen for the Stanford prison study?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What was the aim of Piliavin et al. (1969)?
Model answer
Piliavin and colleagues aimed to find out how the type of victim affects helping in a real emergency. The study also tested the effects of the victim's race, a helpful model and group size.
2
Where and how was Piliavin et al.'s study carried out?
Model answer
The study was a field experiment on a New York subway train. The chosen stretch ran for about seven and a half minutes without stopping. Around 4,450 passengers were unknowingly involved.
3
What happened during each trial of Piliavin et al.'s study?
Model answer
A male student acting as the victim collapsed about 70 seconds after the train left the station. Two female observers recorded how passengers responded, and a male model helped if nobody else did.
4
How did Piliavin et al. vary the type of victim?
Model answer
The ill victim appeared sober and carried a black cane. The drunk victim smelled of alcohol and carried a bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag.
5
What did Piliavin et al. find about helping the ill and drunk victims?
Model answer
The victim with a cane received spontaneous help on 62 of 65 trials. The drunk victim was helped on 19 of 38 trials, and help came more slowly.
6
What did Piliavin et al. find about who helped and about group size?
Model answer
Most first helpers were men, and there was a slight tendency to help a victim of the same race. Larger groups did not help less, so diffusion of responsibility was not found.

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