Models of Bystander Behaviour

The decision model (Latané and Darley, 1968)

The factors which lead a person to decide whether or not to help in an emergency:

 1 Notice something is wrong. Darley and Batson (1973) showed that students who were rushing to a lecture were less likely to help a man moaning and many said it was because they had not noticed.

 2 Interpret it as an emergency (ambiguity). Shotland and Huston (1979) found that people were more likely to help in emergencies (e.g. a person needs an insulin injection) than non-emergencies (e.g. needing an allergy injection).~

 3 Decide whether to take personal responsibility (diffusion of responsibility), e.g. Darley and Latané (1968, above).

   4 Decide what type of help to give. Bryan and Test (1967) showed that where a man stopped to help a stranded woman motorist, observers were more likely to do the same for another driver 5 minutes down the road. This is social learning.

 

   5 Implement the decision. At any stage the decision may be ‘no’.

 

Evaluation

• This model is a rather mechanistic approach to behaviour.

• People may not have the time for such apparently logical decisions and are more likely to act impulsively.

• Doesn’t explain why people are helpful.

Arousal: cost-reward model (Piliavin et al., 1969)

The decision to help is based on a cost-benefit analysis, driven by arousal.

1 Physiological arousal. The primary motive is the need to reduce the arousal created by seeing someone in distress.

 

2 Labelling the arousal, e.g. as personal distress or empathetic concern

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3 Evaluating the consequences of helping, consider costs of helping (e.g. effort,

potential harm) and benefits of helping (e.g. social approval, self-esteem).

Evaluation

• Arousal has been shown to be an important component.

• This model does not explain selfless behaviour.