Darley and Latane

Darley, J.M., and Latane, B. (1968). Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of

resposiblity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 8(4), 377-383.

Darley and Latane (1968) conducted a study to see the reaction of bystanders if an emergency was to occur. The experiment showed if the bystanders were concerned with the other bystanders, than to the actual victim involved in the emergency. In the experiment they are finding out the actual response time before someone is thought out to seek help. The reason for the experiment is because a woman named, Kitty Genovese, was murdered in New York City, and out of 38 people no one acted upon calling for help.

The subjects picked were fifty-nine females and thirteen male. All were students taking courses at New York University, and were told to participate in an experiment, which was a course requirement.

All subjects were not to be met face to face. They were individually seated in separate rooms and all given headphones and a microphone. The reason for them in separate rooms and talking into microphones is so they can be recorded. In which they will measure the results from. After listening to the experimenter, which he explained that he would not be listening to their discussion. The reason for him not listening to the discussion is to take away the actual experimenter from the scene of the emergency. Next, the subjects began to start the discussion. The future victim spoke first, and then the other subjects followed. As the subjects spoke they had an idea of how many people were involved in the discussion. After the first round, the victim spoke again in which at this time he had a seizure. From the time the victim’s speech began is when they began the reaction time of the subjects response.

The actual group size variable was one of three: a two-person group, a three-person group, or a six-person group. Each group was performed during the experiment at separate times. The major