20th Annual Student Research Conference
Social Science
Electronic Helping Behavior as Related to the Bystander Effect
Lauren A. Kienstra* and Robbie Pacanowski
Dr. Robert Tigner, Faculty Mentor
Previous research has shown that as the number of perceived bystanders increased, helping behavior decreased (Darley & Latané, 1968). For our study, 360 participants were randomly assigned to one of six conditions. Participants were sent an e-mail containing a low or high emergency message. In addition to this, the e-mails were addressed to one, five, or ten participants. There was a statistically significant main effect of emergency F(2,360) = .54, p = .58. However, there was not a statistically significant main effect of number of people, F(2,360) = .32, p = .73 or interaction between emergency and number of people F(2,360) = .54, p = .58. Our results suggest that the bystander effect does not occur in electronic situations.
Keywords: bystander effect, helping behavior
Topic(s):Psychology
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 48-1
Location: VH 1010
Time: 1:15 pm