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  • Essay / Darley and Batson: Overview of the Samaritan Study

    In 1973, John Darley and Daniel Baston of Princeton University decided to research the effects of different time constraints on a person's willingness to help someone in need. In their study "From Jerusalem to Jericho: A Study of Situational and Dispositional Variables in Helping Behavior", they choose to study a group particularly known for caring for the "least among these", the students of seminar (Darley & Baston, 1973). These students were tasked with preparing a message on the biblical story of the Good Samaritan and were then convinced that they were under a certain time constraint, whether they were in a hurry or not. The experimenter then observed how many people in these groups stopped to help a stranger clearly in need while they were on their way to deliver the message. Their results showed that even seminary students, when in a hurry, stopped only ten percent of the time to help a stranger in need (Darley & Baston, 1973). The main hypothesis tested in this study is that "people encountering a possible helping situation when they are in a hurry will be less likely to offer help than people who are not in a hurry." (Darley & Baston, 1973, p.101-102). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay This experiment is part of a broader area of ​​social psychology, the study of helping behavior. Helping behavior is a branch of social psychology that studies the reasons why people voluntarily help an individual or group (Darley & Baston, 1973). This hypothesis examines how this behavior is altered when different levels of precipitation are imposed on a subject. Understanding the implications of being rushed or constantly busy on other members of society can help explain some of the reasons why people interact in the ways that they do. The results of this hypothesis may even provide insight into how homeless people and others in need are treated in contexts such as cities, environments in which interacting people are typically more rushed or busier . In social psychology, this can help develop new theories in the study of helping behaviors that focus more on external factors and less on individual personality. The operationalization process defines the measurement of variables that are not quantitative in nature (Darley & Baston, 1973). “The independent variables in this study were the extent to which the subject had to hurry to reach the other building and the speech he had to give upon arrival” (Darley & Baston, 1973, p. 102). For the first independent variable, the level to which the subject had to hurry, one of three scripts was read to determine the level of time constraint imposed on the subject. The level of precipitation was measured as low, intermediate or high (Darley & Baston, 1973). The second independent variable was whether the subject was assigned to give a lecture on the Good Samaritan or on careers after seminary graduation. “The dependent variable was whether and how the subject helped the victim” (Darley & Baston, 1973, p.102). The level of help was dichotomized into a score of 0 to 5 based on how much help, if any, was provided to the person perceived to be in need (Darley & Baston, 1973). Helping the victim was considered a score of 2 to 5 and not helping was 0 or 1 (Darley and Baston, 1973). As shown.