Darley and Latané (1968) thought that people fail to help due to the bystander effect, where the failure to help is the result of the situation. Darley and Latané’s (1970) theoretical model aimed to explain the underlying reasons to why the bystander effect occurred, and why people sometimes fail to help. There have been other explanations regarding the occurrence of prosocial behaviour such as the bystander-calculus model, reciprocal altruism, social exclusion and mood states which will be discussed in this essay.
Darley and Latané’s (1968) study is a classic psychological paper, that is renowned for the phenomenon known as the bystander effect. The bystander effect is that the more people that are present in an emergency situation the number …show more content…
Their cognitive decision-making model (1970), in which individuals go through before any helping behaviour occurs. This model is a 5-stage linear model in which non-helping behaviour occurs when one of the stages is interrupted or not complete. For a bystander to intervene in an emergency situation, they first must be aware of the event and then interpret the event as an emergency. Not only must the bystander interpret the event as an emergency they must also feel personally responsible and have the ability to intervene, and actually implement the helping behaviour. If the bystander goes through these 5 stages successfully then, Darley and Latané predict that the bystander in any capacity intervene and help. If one of the linear stages are not complete, then the bystander would not help according to the …show more content…
Amata (1986) supports a general model linking negative emotional arousal to helping behaviour. Respondents reporting negative emotional states in response to a major bushfire donated more than those who did not report negative mood states (Amato, 1986). Just like positive mood states there is conflicting research about the effect of negative mood states. Some research has shown that negative mood states decrease the occurrence of helping behaviour for example Darley and Batson’s (1973) seminary student study. The students were on the way to a speech they were giving and were either early, on time or late when they had the opportunity to help a man. Darley and Batson found that that the students were more likely help the man if they were in a good mood, such as being early or on time (Darley & Batson,
Darley and Latané’s (1968) study is a classic psychological paper, that is renowned for the phenomenon known as the bystander effect. The bystander effect is that the more people that are present in an emergency situation the number …show more content…
Their cognitive decision-making model (1970), in which individuals go through before any helping behaviour occurs. This model is a 5-stage linear model in which non-helping behaviour occurs when one of the stages is interrupted or not complete. For a bystander to intervene in an emergency situation, they first must be aware of the event and then interpret the event as an emergency. Not only must the bystander interpret the event as an emergency they must also feel personally responsible and have the ability to intervene, and actually implement the helping behaviour. If the bystander goes through these 5 stages successfully then, Darley and Latané predict that the bystander in any capacity intervene and help. If one of the linear stages are not complete, then the bystander would not help according to the …show more content…
Amata (1986) supports a general model linking negative emotional arousal to helping behaviour. Respondents reporting negative emotional states in response to a major bushfire donated more than those who did not report negative mood states (Amato, 1986). Just like positive mood states there is conflicting research about the effect of negative mood states. Some research has shown that negative mood states decrease the occurrence of helping behaviour for example Darley and Batson’s (1973) seminary student study. The students were on the way to a speech they were giving and were either early, on time or late when they had the opportunity to help a man. Darley and Batson found that that the students were more likely help the man if they were in a good mood, such as being early or on time (Darley & Batson,