Leen,+Annalise,+David,+Katie

= __**Basics **__ = = = **A Big Picture Question: **Do different cultures have different values in helping people?

**Specific Question:** Will people stop and help or will they walk away when a high schooler falls and drops their stuff?

**Who:** 1 actor in each location, 14-17 years old. Strangers. **Where:** Outside a popular shopping center.ISA location: Quarry shopping center, San Antonio. KIS location: Coex mall, Seoul. **When:** a Sunday afternoon; 1 to 3pm **How:** Have an actor drop their belongings and record (video and written) who helps **What:** -Step One: Have an actor trip and drop items.  These items included: 1 book, pens/pencils, and lipgloss.

-Step Two: Record with a video camera each different interaction (covertly; shop windows, behind cars, etc.)

-Step Three: Conduct experiment 10x and record data taking note of the defining characteristics of the people who stop to help (gender, approx. age, race, etc.)

** __Specifics:__ **

Why We Chose This Topic: We thought it would be an interesting idea. In every culture, we value the ideas of kindness and empathy. We would probably all like to say that in a situation where someone needs help, we wouldn't hesitate to give it. However, in reality, this is not the case. People don't always help; in fact, many times they just walk by. We were interested in seeing what affects who helps and who doesn't, and how they differ between the countries. We will be conducting an experiment in both the United States and Korea. Our goal is to see if different cultures have different values in helping others.

Tentative Hypothesis: We believe that the majority of people in both cultures will not stop to help. Why We Believe This: In articles we have read, we deduced that the more people in the area, the less likely it is someone will help. We also consulted on our topic during a livechat, and we both observed that the majority of people we encounter don't show basic acts of courtesty such as holding open doors for people, and we believe this will transcend into our experiments.

Plan of Action: We will be conducting the experiment in a shopping center in both countries. We will be moving around the center to limit the chance that a bystander will witness the experiment more than once. For ISA, we will film at the Quarry, a popular shopping center. We will use one actor in each country. The ISA students will be using Dani Cohn, a 16-year-old girl. Dani will be carrying a bag filled with numerous items. She will be walking and then trip and fall; in the process, her bag will be dropped and, as it will be open, items will spill out. **Note:** The plan was originally to carry a bag filled with numerous items. However, right before we actually conducted the experiment, we changed the plan to the actress only carrying a few items, such as a book, pens and pencils, lipgloss, etc.

__**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Literature: **__

**<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;">Katie: ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Article 1: The Bystander Effect <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;">How It Relates: According to this, the bystander effect shows that the greater amount of people nearby, the less likely it is that anyone will help. We might wish to take this into account when conducting the experiments; if the area is too busy or populated, then we might get different data.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;">Article 2: [|Psychology Today] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;">How It Relates: This article is a bit dense, but there is information that relates to the experiment. It discusses the variables that could affect who helps and who doesn't, and it would be interesting to consider when conducting our experiments and taking the data on those who help/don't help.

**<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;">David: ** Article 1:<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[|Good Samaritan Experiment]  <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;">How It Relates: This article brings the variable of what bystanders are busy doing when they witness the fall and if that will have an effect on whether or not they will stop to help. The results of this experiment showed that people who are occupied with other things are far less likely to offer aid, or even notice a person who has fallen.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Article 2:[|The Good Samaritan Effect] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">How It Relates: This article is about how the number of bystanders that witness a person falling down has an effect on if people will stop to help or how many people will help. I learned that people are less likely to help if more people are around, but if no other people are present, people are more likely to offer assistance.

**<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;">Annalise: **<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Article 1: [|Bystander Apathy] <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">How It Relates: According to this, bystander apathy is when there are more people in a situation where a person needs help, the less likely the are to help. We might need to take this into account when conducting the experiments; there can't be too many people because we need to record the number of people. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Article 2: [|What Would You Do in a Hit and Run]How It Relates: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">In this way, responsibility is unconsciously spread between several people, each of whom may believe that others know better than they do, and so fail to offer any help themselves. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">**Leen:** <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Article 1:[|if you saw a lost child, what would you do?] How It Relates: It relates because they are experimenting how people would react if a stranger needs help. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Article 2:[|What would you do if you saw a crime, and when the police come around would you get involved?] How it Relates: In this the girl that is telling what she has been through and that she helped by calling the police is related because she was getting involved in the situation.


 * Basic Data: **

**ISA** Number of times experiment was conducted: 6 Number of times people helped: 4 Number of people who helped: 7 Number of times people ignored the actress: 2

**KIS** Number of times experiment was conducted: 6 Number of times people helped: 1 Number of people who helped: 1 Number of times people ignored the actress: 31



__ Research Paper and Presentation Links __

Click here for our research paper.

Presentation: [|Sociology.ppt]