Question: What will happen if more people are watching a traumatic event?
Hypothesis: The more people are watching something take place, the less likely they are to take action.
Study type: This is an example of Naturalistic Observation.
Ethical issues and problems: A Good Samaritan in a large group might take action and lead others to follow suit therefore changing the results of the experiment.
Description of study: In order to test the Bystander Effect scientists John Darley and Bibb Litane staged several emergency situations and studied how long it took for one or more people to act, or not act. They found that when there are more people in the room observing the situation, it takes longer for people to act or not act because they think that they do not need their help. If the bystander is the only one witnessing the scene they are more likely to help the victim. One specific example occurred when participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire. The number of people in the room varied. As the participants filled out the questionnaire smoke began to fill the room. More people reported the smoke if they were taking the test alone.
Author: Brittany Shreeve
No comments:
Post a Comment