Psych.

2, Experimental Psychology, Tricia Casey, LBCC, Spring 1990 (Later she remarried and her new last name is Alexander and she has a Ph.D. now. She did not have a Ph.D. when I was in this class.) I typed this copy and saved it in my computer on 18/19 Mar. 2008.

Diffusion of Responsibility

By: Jan Ballard Karolina Gage James Walker Jonathan

Long Beach City College Psych. 2, Experimental Psychology Professor Tricia Casey May 22, 1990

22 May 1990

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Psych. 2, Experimental Psychology, Tricia Casey, LBCC, Spring 1990 (Later she remarried and her new last name is Alexander and she has a Ph.D. now. She did not have a Ph.D. when I was in this class.) I typed this copy and saved it in my computer on 18/19 Mar. 2008.

Abstract
The diffusion of responsibility was investigated by observing the reactions of subjects across twenty treatments. Each treatment was applied to either all male or female individuals or groups of two or four. This study was based on prior research by Latane, Darley and Rodin. A condition requiring responsibility was created by asking the subject(s) to watch a backpack while the owner left for a short time. Two minutes later an experimenter assumed the role of a thief and stole the backpack. The subject had a choice of either trying to stop the thief or not responding to the thief either consciously or unconsciously. This reflected the presence of absence of responsibility, respectively. Our study found that the most significant factor in assuming responsibility for anothers possessions was not the size of the group, as we anticipated, but the gender of the group. It was found that males assumed responsibility for the backpack more often than the females.

Diffusion of Responsibility
This research paper is based on the study of diffused responsibility. Studies of diffusion of responsibility have shown that group size can have a considerable effect on individual response. Our hypothesis states that the greater the number of assembled people the less responsibility they are willing to express. The study was conducted at Long Beach City College and the Lakewood Mall.
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Psych. 2, Experimental Psychology, Tricia Casey, LBCC, Spring 1990 (Later she remarried and her new last name is Alexander and she has a Ph.D. now. She did not have a Ph.D. when I was in this class.) I typed this copy and saved it in my computer on 18/19 Mar. 2008.

Our investigation of three studies (Latane and Rodin, Darley and Latane) found that the more people assembled the less likely they were to respond to stimuli requiring responsibility. Darley and Latane did an experiment in which a student in a booth apparently was having a seizure. The subjects could hear the student having a seizure over some headphones. The study showed that the subjects who thought they were the only witnesses to the seizure reported the emergency every single time. Those subjects who believed they were with a larger group responded more slowly and were less likely to offer aid. In another study, Latane and Darley had subjects filling out questionnaires in a waiting room. They arranged it so that smoke would start coming out of a wall vent. This experiment also diffusion of responsibility because the smoke was not reported as often when subjects were a part of a group. In another experiment by Latane and Rodin, subjects heard a female experimenter fall off a ladder in another room. Those who were alone were more likely to respond than those subjects in groups. To test our hypothesis, which originated from the studies conducted by Latane, Rodin, and Darley, we created a situation, which tested the subjects acceptance of responsibility.

Method
Subjects We tested 20 groups, which were exclusively male or female. These consisted of individuals, groups of two, or groups of four. Their estimated
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Psych. 2, Experimental Psychology, Tricia Casey, LBCC, Spring 1990 (Later she remarried and her new last name is Alexander and she has a Ph.D. now. She did not have a Ph.D. when I was in this class.) I typed this copy and saved it in my computer on 18/19 Mar. 2008.

ages ranged from 18 to 40 as they occurred at Long Beach City College and the Lakewood Mall. The subjects were randomly selected in the target area according to their sex and group size. A female experimenter approached the group and directly requested each and every person to watch her backpack while she momentarily left. At this point, she would leave the area, completely out of sight from the subjects.

Apparatus and Material We used a small black backpack with blue and pink stripes make by JanSport. This type of backpack is commonly used by college students and the general public. This type of backpack was used in this experiment because people generally leave them temporarily unattended in public areas.

Procedure We conducted our study at Long Beach City College and the Lakewood Mall. While at the college, we used the cafeteria and library as our treatment environments. Inside the Lakewood Mall, we used the northeast benches next to Olgas Kitchen. Our treatment began with our female experimenter approaching the subject(s) and asking them if they would please watch her backpack. Two minutes later a male experimenter, dressed in attire typical to the general public, approached the table and picked up the backpack. He continued walking completely out of sight of those who were left responsible for the backpack, while an observer watched from a discrete distance. We observed
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Psych. 2, Experimental Psychology, Tricia Casey, LBCC, Spring 1990 (Later she remarried and her new last name is Alexander and she has a Ph.D. now. She did not have a Ph.D. when I was in this class.) I typed this copy and saved it in my computer on 18/19 Mar. 2008.

the subjects and recorded their response. In our study, a positive response consisted of ether a verbal or physical effort to stop the thief. Any other reaction other than that aforementioned constituted a negative response. After the subject(s) did or did not respond, one or both of the experimenters would commence to debrief them. If the backpack was successfully stolen without a response then the female experimenter would return to the table and inquire, Where is my backpack? After a brief period (approximately 30 seconds) of confusion and/or astonishment by the subject(s), the experimenter proceeded to debrief. If the thief encountered a response either verbally or physically, then he would proceed to debrief the subject(s). The debriefing itself consisted of an explanation of the experiment along with a thanks for their cooperation. In addition, we informed the subject(s) of the class name and the teachers name in case they wanted to discuss the procedure further.

Results Our hypothesis states that response is contingent upon group size. Our nominal measure of response/non-response dictates the use of chi-squared in determining our observed value. The chi critical value, with a degree of freedom of one, equaled 3.841. Our observed value was 1.003. The following graph shows the amount of groups that responded to the stimuli and the chisquared expected response in parentheses. Group Size and Response Comparison
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Psych. 2, Experimental Psychology, Tricia Casey, LBCC, Spring 1990 (Later she remarried and her new last name is Alexander and she has a Ph.D. now. She did not have a Ph.D. when I was in this class.) I typed this copy and saved it in my computer on 18/19 Mar. 2008.

Interestingly enough, we did observe significance when response was contingent upon gender. We compared total male responses to total female responses using the chi-squared with a significance level of .05 and a degree of freedom of 1.0. Chi-squared observed was 4.0, and our critical value of 3.841. Gender and Response Comparison

The value in each square represents the number of observed responses without regard to group size. Our chi-squared expected values are in parentheses.

Discussion
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Psych. 2, Experimental Psychology, Tricia Casey, LBCC, Spring 1990 (Later she remarried and her new last name is Alexander and she has a Ph.D. now. She did not have a Ph.D. when I was in this class.) I typed this copy and saved it in my computer on 18/19 Mar. 2008.

Although our study did not support our hypothesis, we did find a correlation between gender and response. Men showed an apparent high degree of responsibility when charged with a strangers belongings. Women appeared to be, for the most part, engrossed in conversation lending to nonresponse. While men appeared not to pay any more attention to the backpack than the women, the men reacted with far more attention and aggression, with either vocal or physical actions as described in the procedure. For example, two women left the table only seconds after they promised the backpack owner that they would guard her property. In this case, the thief did not even have a chance to pick it up. We did not include this in our calculations because they did not undergo the entire treatment, but we thought it was important enough to discuss here. We also found that within the responses, the males were more assertive than the females. Except for one female, all to the females were verbal, whereas most of gave chase (there was no actual violence of any kind). Those people who were fooled into assistance were also those most annoyed by our experiment, probably because we interrupted their normal routine, whether it was studying, conversation or eating. This noticeable irritation we believe happened because the people were annoyed at being manipulated for a disingenuous reason. Those who did not respond often acted confused or baffled when debriefed. We believe that because they offered no effort in responding they found the debriefing mostly amusing. One male, practically crawled under the table looking for the backpack when the female experimenter asked him where the backpack was. It had, in fact, been
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Psych. 2, Experimental Psychology, Tricia Casey, LBCC, Spring 1990 (Later she remarried and her new last name is Alexander and she has a Ph.D. now. She did not have a Ph.D. when I was in this class.) I typed this copy and saved it in my computer on 18/19 Mar. 2008.

left on top of the table and when our thief took it away, the subject gave absolutely no indication of response. When questioned by our experimenter he did not realize where she had left the backpack, so we discounted this one and din not use it in our data. The limited number of treatment locations decreases extrapolation. Also, an element of emergency was missing from our manipulation of the independent variable, as in the study conducted by Darley and Latane, where they had an emergency. With a greater sense of immediate emergency, group size may play as a more relevant determinant in the dependant variable. In any event, gender, regardless of group size, would most likely be a source of significant outcome. The following are recommendations for further studies that we feel would be useful, based on the results from our study. The first recommendation is the reversal of the roles played by gender, for example, women stealing the backpack with men placing it down. Measurement of the specific responses verbatim of the subjects through a questionnaire to determine annoyance factor and the idea of deception and how it affects the future reactions of the subjects. We also feel a mixed sexes study would be interesting. A cultural reaction taken by conducting the study in areas of concentration of specific ethnic groups. Finally, it would be of great interest to determine why females appear to be less attentive to anothers articles than males. In conclusion, though our hypothesis was not supported by our study, we did find a correlation between gender and assumption of responsibility.
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Psych. 2, Experimental Psychology, Tricia Casey, LBCC, Spring 1990 (Later she remarried and her new last name is Alexander and she has a Ph.D. now. She did not have a Ph.D. when I was in this class.) I typed this copy and saved it in my computer on 18/19 Mar. 2008.

We feel we gathered other interesting data such as the annoyance factor, which can be studied further. Certainly, the experiment has increased our awareness of responsibility to our fellow man/woman. We have all noted where and when we leave our own articles, paying greater attention to whom we entrust our articles. In some cases, our group has found that we do not leave our articles, that we instead take them with us rather than entrusting someone to watch them.

Works Cited

Latane, B., & Rodin, J. (1969). A Lady in Distress: Inhibiting Effects of Friends and Strangers or Bystander Intervention. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 5, 189-202. Schwartz, Steven. (1986). Diffusion of Responsibility. Classic Studies in Psychology, 125-128.

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Psych. 2, Experimental Psychology, Tricia Casey, LBCC, Spring 1990 (Later she remarried and her new last name is Alexander and she has a Ph.D. now. She did not have a Ph.D. when I was in this class.) I typed this copy and saved it in my computer on 18/19 Mar. 2008.

22 May 1990

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