Be Responsible? Priming “Responsibility” and the Bystander Effect in a Field Setting
Roles
Student Authors:
Danielle Kupersmith '20, Gettysburg College
Nevada Keyton '20, Gettysburg College
Matthew Simmers '22, Gettysburg College
Sara Walker '20, Gettysburg College
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-18-2021
Department 1
Psychology
Abstract
The bystander effect reveals that people are less likely to help a person in need when others are present. We examined the impact of priming the concept of responsibility on the bystander effect in a field study. Lone pedestrians (N = 259) were randomly assigned to a two (Bystanders: none and three nonresponsive bystanders) by two (Shirt: blank shirt and shirt with “Be Responsible” written on the front) design. A researcher dropped eight pens approximately 15 ft from a lone pedestrian, while wearing one of the two shirts in the presence/absence of bystanders (confederates). The bystander effect was found: Pedestrians helped pick up pens more frequently in the no bystanders condition (59.05% helped) compared to the nonresponsive bystanders condition (41.67% helped). The responsibility prime tended to boost helping rates, but it did not significantly increase helping rates either as a main effect or as part of an interaction term. The bystander effect was replicated in a field setting, but priming the concept of responsibility did not appear to reduce it.
DOI
10.1027/1618-3169/a000513
Recommended Citation
Meier, Brian P., Michael B. Kitchens, Danielle E. Kupersmith, Kristie E. Houck, Nevada S. Keyton, Sydney E. Petrasic, Ethan H. Schultz, et al. “Be Responsible?” Experimental Psychology 68, no. 2 (August 18, 2021): 107–12.
Required Publisher's Statement
This article is available from the publisher's website.