The responsive bystander: How social group membership and group size can encourage as well as inhibit bystander intervention.

Four experiments explored the interaction of group size, social categorization, and bystander behavior. In Study 1, increasing group size inhibited intervention in a street violence scenario when bystanders were strangers but encouraged intervention when bystanders were friends. Study 2 replicated and extended these findings to social category members. When gender identity was salient, group size encouraged intervention when bystanders and victim shared social category membership. In addition, group size interacted with context-specific norms that both inhibit and encourage helping. Study 3 used physical co-presence and gender identities to examine these social category effects. Increasing group size of women produced greater helping of a female victim, but increasing group size of men did not. Additionally, increasing numbers of out-group bystanders resulted in less intervention from women but more intervention from men. Study 4 replicated these findings with a measure of real-life helping behavior. Taken together, the findings indicate that the bystander effect is not a generic consequence of increasing group size. When bystanders share group-level psychological relationships, group size can encourage as well as inhibit helping. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The responsive bystander in emergencies: Some preliminary data.

The bystander-intervention literature has seemingly neglected the responsive bystander in emphasizing the absence of helping behavior. In reversing this trend, some characteristics of two groups of responsive bystanders were examined. The sample included 101 Carnegie Hero Medal recipients and 147 Toronto Metropolitan Police Civilian Citation recipients. The data indicated that males directly intervened in emergencies more often than females and that the responsive bystander tended to act alone. The Carnegie analysis suggested that rural people were more heroic than urban people, although possible confounding factors were considered. Some future research suggestions were offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Group cohesiveness, social norms, and bystander intervention.

Previous research suggests that the larger a group of bystanders is, the less likely any one bystander is to offer a victim help in an emergency. Nearly all of this research has been conducted with unacquainted bystanders, and thus, an important group characteristic—cohesiveness—may have been held at a low level. Two studies with 192 male undergraduates assessed the impact of group cohesiveness on the bystander effect. Study 1 found support for the hypothesis that group size inhibits helping in low-cohesive groups but facilitates helping in high-cohesive groups. Study 2 found support for the hypothesis that the effects of cohesiveness on bystander intervention depend on the salience of the social-responsibility norm: Cohesiveness facilitated helping more when the social-responsibility norm was salient than when it was not. Thus, group cohesiveness is a theoretically critical variable for understanding bystander effect. Results suggest that the effects of group and situation variables depend on the group's meaning to the individual. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Variation in bystander behavior related to sexual and intimate partner violence prevention: Correlates in a sample of college students.

Objective: Innovations in violence prevention mobilize peers as active bystanders, yet little is known about what motivates helping in such contexts. We examined correlates of actual helpful behavior (rather than only attitudes) related to the prevention of sexual and intimate partner violence among college students at one university in the United States. Method: Four hundred and six (406) undergraduate students at the University of New Hampshire completed self-report surveys. We assessed attitudes (e.g., rape myth acceptance, bystander confidence) in relation to self-reported helping behavior. Results: Different predictors were significant for the self-report measures of attitude compared to behaviors. Students who self-reported a greater sense of responsibility for ending sexual and relationship violence and greater expressed confidence as a bystander and perceptions of greater benefits of stepping in to help, self-reported greater helping behavior. We found some differences in correlates of helping behavior by type of helping behavior. Conclusions: Correlates of helping differ when actual behaviors performed in the community compared to attitudes were assessed. Prevention strategies that increase community members' sense of responsibility for ending violence, build confidence in helping, and support norms that encourage active bystanders are needed to increase helping behavior to ameliorate this widespread community problem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bystander anonymity and reactions to emergencies.

Two experiments with 179 undergraduates investigated the impact of anonymity on bystander reactions to emergencies and on the timing of bystander decision making. The experiments differed in the nature of the emergency (violent assault vs seizure) and in the speed with which the emergency developed from relative ambiguity to unequivocal clarity concerning the victim's need for help. In both experiments, an additional bystander's awareness of the emergency and the S's anonymity were crossed in a 2?×?2 factorial design. Anonymity vis-à-vis the victim had no effects on helping. Anonymity vis-à-vis the other bystander did affect helping, apparently by reducing evaluation apprehension. Whether evaluation apprehension enhances or inhibits helping depends on the expectations attributed to other bystanders. The timing of effects suggests that when emergencies are ambiguous, anonymity (through reduced involvement) delays making the decision regarding whether help is appropriate. Once emergencies are clear, anonymity (through evaluation apprehension) influences the decision regarding one's own obligation to intervene. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bystander response to arterial bleeding: Helping skills, the decision-making process, and differentiating the helping response.

Explored the impact of variables on 2 different decisions in the decision-making process leading to help, using a mock injury involving arterial bleeding and 163 university students (100 females and 63 males). Expertise (Red Cross training), ambiguity, and number of bystanders were manipulated in a 2?×?2?×?2 design. The following responses were observed: nonhelp, ineffective direct help, indirect help, and direct help. The decision to help or not was affected by ambiguity, sex, and the presence or absence of other bystanders. Greater ambiguity led to less help; women helped less than men; fewer people helped when other bystanders were present. Expertise affected the decision leading to the type of help used but not the decision to help. Although training did not raise the intervention rate, it did dramatically change the effectiveness of the help used and could yield as many as 28 more saved lives out of 80 such incidents. Ineffective direct help occurred most frequently when the bystander was alone. The presence of other bystanders affected the type of indirect help that was used. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bystander intervention: Experimental test of a formal model.

Experiments testing the effect of group size on the likelihood that at least one person in a group of bystanders will intervene and offer help in an unexpected situation have produced inconsistent results. Some experiments show that the likelihood of intervention decreases with group size; others show that group size makes no apparent difference. The 1st author and R. K. Leik have proposed a model integrating the various results, and an experimental test of the model involving 166 male undergraduates is reported here. Groups of 3 different sizes were exposed to a helping situation under 2 different cost conditions. Under the baseline condition, group size had no apparent effect on length of time before someone intervened, but when the individual cost of intervening and the benefits to noninterveners were increased, response latency increased with group size: The more people present, the longer it took before anyone intervened. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do dogs (Canis familiaris) seek help in an emergency?

The question of whether dogs recognize an emergency and understand the need to seek help from a bystander was tested in two experiments. In the first experiment, dogs' owners feigned a heart attack in an open field, and in the second experiment, dogs' owners experienced an accident in which a bookcase fell on them and pinned them to the floor. In these experiments, one or two bystanders were available to which dogs could go for help. The dogs' behavior was taped for 6 min after the owner had fallen and was later scored for the frequency and time the dogs spent performing different behaviors. In no case did a dog solicit help from a bystander. It is concluded that dogs did not understand the nature of the emergency or the need to obtain help. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Who will help prevent sexual violence: Creating an ecological model of bystander intervention.

Given the prevalence of sexual and relationship violence in communities, innovations in prevention are sought. One promising line of inquiry directs efforts not at victims or perpetrators but at community members who are potential witnesses to high-risk events along the continuum of violence or who may need to support victims after an assault. To date, the main organizing framework for understanding bystander behavior is the work of Latane and Darley (1970), who described a series of stages that lead to an individual's decision to intervene or not when someone needs help. Yet this model focuses mainly on factors within the individual or his or her immediate context. In the current review, I use ecological models by Bronfenbrenner (1977, 2005) and Kelly (2006) to expand our view of key factors that help promote and may serve as barriers to helpful bystander intervention. For example, ecological theories suggest important community-level variables, such as campus size or cultural values, that may influence the degree of helping and may, in some instances, be leverage points for creating change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

I know what you did: The effects of interpersonal deviance on bystanders.

Using social information processing theory, we explore how interpersonally directed deviance affects work group members who observe or are aware of these insidious behaviors. In a field study, we find that indirect knowledge of work group member interpersonal deviance leads to subsequent interpersonal deviance of a focal individual. We also find that when work group cohesion is high, direct observation of deviance is more likely to result in subsequent bystander deviance. These findings add concretely to theory and research on the bystander effects of workplace deviance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal employment and children's achievement in context: A meta-analysis of four decades of research.

This meta-analysis of 68 studies (770 effect sizes) used random effects models to examine whether children's achievement differed depending on whether their mothers were employed. Four achievement outcomes were emphasized: formal tests of achievement and intellectual functioning, grades, and teacher ratings of cognitive competence. When all employment was compared with nonemployment for combined and separate achievement outcomes without moderators, effects were nonsignificant. Small beneficial effects of part-time compared with full-time employment were apparent for all achievement outcomes combined and for each individual achievement outcome. Significant sample-level moderators of the associations between maternal employment and achievement for all outcomes combined included family structure, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status; associations were positive when samples were majority 1-parent families and mixed 1- and 2-parent families, racially/ethnically diverse or international in composition, and not middle-upper class. Analyses of child gender indicated more positive effects for girls. Children's age was a significant moderator for the outcome of intellectual functioning. The identification of sample-level moderators of the relationship between maternal employment and children's achievement highlights the importance of social context in understanding work-family linkages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emergencies: What are they and do they influence bystanders to intervene?

Empirical literature does not seem to be available on what factors bystanders use to define an emergency nor the effect of such a decision on the rate of helping. A series of 4 studies, employing 1,232 undergraduates, sought to answer these questions. Results show the following: (a) Emergencies are a subclass of problem situation that usually result from accidents. (b) There is a high degree of agreement concerning what problem situations are definitely emergencies. (c) Emergency situations are differentiated from other problem situations by threat of harm or actual harm worsening with time, unavailability of an easy solution to the problem, and necessity of obtaining outside help to solve the problem. (d) Disagreement on whether a problem situation is an emergency or not results from differing perceptions of the degree to which threat of harm or actual harm worsens with time. (e) Bystanders are more likely to help in emergency than in nonemergency problem situations. Results indicate that the need of the victim is a salient feature used by bystanders in determining whether or not to help. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ten years of research on group size and helping.

Reviews research that attempts to replicate and extend B. Latané and J. M. Dabbs's (1970) discovery that the presence of other people inhibits an individual from intervening in an emergency. Particular attention is paid to the nature of the precipitating incident, the ambiguity of the helping situation, laboratory vs field settings, characteristics of the Ss, victims, and other bystanders, and the amount and kinds of communication among bystanders. It is concluded that, despite the diversity of styles, settings, and techniques among the studies, the social inhibition of helping is a remarkably consistent phenomenon; however, victims are more likely to receive assistance when only a single individual witnesses the emergency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Masculinity inhibits helping in emergencies: Personality does predict the bystander effect.

Tested 4 competing hypotheses (masculinity as enhancer, femininity as enhancer, interactive, masculinity as inhibitor) regarding the potential effects of dispositional sex-role orientation on bystander intervention in emergencies. 20 undergraduates, classified on the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, participated in a simulated group discussion via headphones. One member of the group apparently had a choking fit and called for help. Highly masculine Ss were less likely to take action to help the victim than were other Ss. Femininity and actual gender had no effect on likelihood of helping. Results are interpreted according to past research evidence that highly masculine Ss fear potential embarrassment and loss of poise, so they may be reluctant to intervene in emergencies. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Why what we teach depends on when: Grade and reading intervention modality moderate effect size.

Despite impressive advances in the science of reading intervention, how to best help at-risk readers remains a point of contention. Because reading represents the synthesis of background factors and language and reading skills—all of which develop with age and experience—this meta-analysis investigated whether development (as approximated by grade) and intervention modality are key moderators of intervention effect size for disadvantaged readers. Eighty-five experimental or quasi-experimental studies with 116 treatment–control groups (N = 7,522) were selected from preschool to Grade 7. Analyses accounted for intervention length, instructor-to-student ratio, measure design, experimental design, attrition, intervention language, and publication bias. Between-group comparisons suggested that effect sizes were larger for older students, comprehension interventions, quasi-experimental studies, and samples at greater risk. In hierarchical regression analyses, intervention modality alone did not explain additional variance in effect size; however, when interacting with grade, intervention modality did explain additional variance. Phonics interventions were more effective until Grade 1, after which comprehension and mixed interventions, in particular, tended to be associated with greater effect sizes. These results highlight the importance of a developmental understanding of reading remediation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The concentration of responsibility: An objective self-awareness analysis of group size effects in helping situations.

On the basis of the Gestalt figure-ground principle, an objective self-awareness theory interpretation of group size effects in helping situations was proposed. From this perspective, the diffusion of responsibility effect commonly observed in helping research is the decreasing likelihood of bystander objective self-awareness, and hence bystander intervention, that accompanies increases in the size of the bystander group. A complementary concentration of responsibility hypothesis derived from this analysis states that an increasing likelihood of bystander objective self-awareness, and therefore of bystander aiding behavior, is associated with increases in the size of the victim group. An experiment with 48 undergraduates tested this hypothesis in a 2–2 design varying number of potential helpers (1 vs 3) and number of victims (1 vs 3). Results show that straightforward appeals for help were more likely to be met with assistance when there were fewer potential helpers or more victims; thus, both the diffusion and concentration of responsibility were observed. Ratings of attentional focus obtained from 126 observer-Ss in a simulation of this experiment further substantiated the contention that these effects are attributable to variations in self-focused attention experienced by potential helpers. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reward, punishment, and cooperation: A meta-analysis.

How effective are rewards (for cooperation) and punishment (for noncooperation) as tools to promote cooperation in social dilemmas or situations when immediate self-interest and longer term collective interest conflict? What variables can promote the impact of these incentives? Although such questions have been examined, social and behavioral scientists provide different answers. To date, there is no theoretical and/or quantitative review of rewards and punishments as incentives for cooperation in social dilemmas. Using a novel interdependence-theoretic framework, we propose that rewards and punishments should both promote cooperation, and we identify 2 variables—cost of incentives and source of incentives—that are predicted to magnify the effectiveness of these incentives in promoting cooperation. A meta-analysis involving 187 effect sizes revealed that rewards and punishments exhibited a statistically equivalent positive effect on cooperation (d = 0.51 and 0.70, respectively). The effectiveness of incentives was stronger when the incentives were costly to administer, compared to free. Centralization of incentives did not moderate the effect size. Punishments were also more effective during iterated dilemmas when participants continued to interact in the same group, compared to both (a) iterated dilemmas with reassignment to a new group after each trial and (b) one-shot dilemmas. We also examine several other potential moderators, such as iterations, partner matching, group size, country, and participant payment. We discuss broad conclusions, consider implications for theory, and suggest directions for future research on rewards and punishment in social dilemmas. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of psychological flexibility on work redesign: Mediated moderation of a work reorganization intervention.

This quasi-experiment tested the extent to which an individual characteristic, psychological flexibility, moderated the effects of a control-enhancing work reorganization intervention in a call center. Results indicated that, compared with a control group, this intervention produced improvements in mental health and absence rates, particularly for individuals with higher levels of psychological flexibility. Findings also showed that these moderated intervention effects were mediated by job control. Specifically, the intervention enhanced perceptions of job control, and hence its outcomes, for the people who received it, especially for those who had greater psychological flexibility. Discussion highlights the benefits of understanding the processes (e.g., mediators, moderators, and mediated moderators) involved in work reorganization interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Stability of Vocational Interests From Early Adolescence to Middle Adulthood: A Quantitative Review of Longitudinal Studies.

The present meta-analysis examined the stability of vocational interests from early adolescence (age 12) to middle adulthood (age 40). Stability was represented by rank-order and profile correlations. Interest stability remained unchanged during much of adolescence and increased dramatically during the college years (age 18-21.9), where it remained for the next 2 decades. Analyses of potential moderators showed that retest time interval was negatively related to interest stability and that rank-order stability was less stable than profile stability. Although cohort standings did not moderate stability, interests of the 1940s birth cohort were less stable than those of other cohorts. Furthermore, interests reflecting hands-on physical activities and self-expressive/artistic activities were more stable than scientific, social, enterprising, and clerical interests. Vocational interests showed substantial continuity over time, as evidenced by their higher longitudinal stability when compared with rank-order stability of personality traits. The findings are discussed in the context of psychosocial development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dialectical behavior therapy for borderline personality disorder: A meta-analysis using mixed-effects modeling.

Objective: At present, the most frequently investigated psychosocial intervention for borderline personality disorder (BPD) is dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). We conducted a meta-analysis to examine the efficacy and long-term effectiveness of DBT. Method: Systematic bibliographic research was undertaken to find relevant literature from online databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, PsychSpider, Medline). We excluded studies in which patients with diagnoses other than BPD were treated, the treatment did not comprise all components specified in the DBT manual or in the suggestions for inpatient DBT programs, patients failed to be diagnosed according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and the intervention group comprised fewer than 10 patients. Using a mixed-effect hierarchical modeling approach, we calculated global effect sizes and effect sizes for suicidal and self-injurious behaviors. Results: Calculations of postintervention global effect sizes were based on 16 studies. Of these, 8 were randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and 8 were neither randomized nor controlled (nRCT). The dropout rate was 27.3% pre- to posttreatment. A moderate global effect and a moderate effect size for suicidal and self-injurious behaviors were found, when including a moderator for RCTs with borderline-specific treatments. There was no evidence for the influence of other moderators (e.g., quality of studies, setting, duration of intervention). A small impairment was shown from posttreatment to follow-up, including 5 RCTs only. Conclusions: Future research should compare DBT with other active borderline-specific treatments that have also demonstrated their efficacy using several long-term follow-up assessment points. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)