“Bystander Intervention in Emergencies” by Darley & Latane

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Method
Procedure
Results
Discussion and Evaluation
Reference

Introduction

Darley and Latane (1989) begin their work by describing a criminal case of a woman stabbed to death in the streets of New York while 38 witnesses aware of the attack that was going on for about half an hour failed to react. The authors present the opinions of the commentators on the case that associated the urban environments with the lack of humanity, alienation, and apathy (Darley & Latane, 1989). However, the perspective of the authors is different.

In the research, they explore the possibility of the presence of some other factors. Their hypothesis maintains that in the situation with many bystanders, the pressure to take action and the blame for not providing help in time is diffused among all of them. At the same time, when there is just one observer, all the pressure is focused on them. That way, the authors hypothesize that a bystander’s reaction to a situation is determined by the presence of the others.

Method

Participants

The study included 59 female and 13 male Psychology students of New York University.

Apparatus

The equipment used during the research included a record of a discussion created for the study and the microphones through which the students were supposed to talk to the imitated respondents of the discussion. The experiment took place in a room entered through a long corridor with some other doors. After the experiment, all the participants filled in a questionnaire with the scales of Machiavellianism, authoritarianism, anomie, social desirability, and responsibility, and shared their feelings about the test.

Procedure

During the experiment, the researchers observed the reactions of the subjects exposed to an imitated emergency through the record. One of the respondents was recorded to have an epilepsy seizure. The subjects believed it was a real event. The experiment included three different types of tests based on the sizes of the bystander groups. The data collected by the researchers demonstrated that the reactions of the subjects differed according to the number of perceived observers of the situation.

Results

The experiment demonstrated that in the groups of 6 and 3 people, the bystanders were less likely to react compared to the groups of 2 (the seizure victim and one participant). The people in the groups of 3 reacted with a higher likelihood than those in the groups of 6. Gender, occupation, and personalities of the subjects as well as those of their group-mates did not affect their likelihood to address the crisis.

Discussion and Evaluation

The independent variables in the study are the gender and occupation of the subjects, as well as the number of people in groups. The dependent variables are the rates of response to the situation by the subjects. The hypothesis that the witnesses of an emergency are less likely to react if they knew about the presence of other bystanders was supported by the data. However, the one about the impact of the group composition was not confirmed.

The researchers theorized that the subjects who failed to respond to the situation did so due to hesitation, but not indifference towards the victim. In my opinion, the study was comprehensive and took into consideration all the important variables and factors to address the hypotheses.

Reference

Darley, J. M., & Latane, B. (1989). Bystander Intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of responsibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 8(4), 377-383.

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