Getting by With a Little Help from Bystanders: Group Versus Individual Helping in the Presence of Alcohol Primes

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

Department 1

Psychology

Abstract

The bystander effect is a social phenomenon in which individuals are less likely to exhibit helping behavior when others are present. This effect has been examined in many studies, some of which looked at the impact of alcohol and disinhibition processes on helping behavior. This study expands upon literature examining alcohol and disinhibition processes by introducing an alcohol (alcohol bottles) or non-alcohol (water bottles) prime in a paradigm in which individuals and group members can help an unknown other. The literature suggests that a group of bystanders should provide less help than an individual, and that the presence of an alcohol prime should produce more helping behavior in groups of bystanders. Undergraduate students at a university in the U.S.A. (n = 108) participated in this experiment. The time taken to help with bystanders present (groups) and bystanders absent (individuals alone) with an alcohol or non-alcohol prime was recorded. Counter to some expectations, groups exhibited faster and overall more helping behavior than individuals. No difference in helping behavior based upon the alcohol or non-alcohol prime was observed. We discuss social normative and social influence explanations for these atypical results as well as the contributions of this research for the study of the influence of bystanders.

ISBN/ISSN

1527-7143

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