Costs, diffusion, and the stigmatized victim.

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Tested 2 aspects of the J. A. Piliavin and I. M. Piliavin model of bystander behavior in emergencies. Ss were New York City subway riders ranging in age from 6-72 yrs. A total of 166 trials were run at all hrs of the day. The average number of persons in the car when the victim fell was 11.5. 2 manipulations of personal costs to the helper were predicted to affect speed and likelihood of helping. One, placement of the emergency in the middle (low cost) or at the end (high cost) of a subway run, was ineffective. The other, presence (high cost) or absence (low cost) of a "port wine stain" birthmark on the face of the man who collapsed, had a strong effect. Then, in a test of a specification of the diffusion of responsibility effect, it was predicted and found that only in a demonstrated high-cost situation was less help given if an intern was present than if he was not. A very large serendipitous effect of victims' natural appearance on the rendering of help was also found. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: