Race of Victim, Nonresponsive Bystanders, and Helping Behavior

Summary The effects of the presence of other bystanders, race of victim, and prejudice of the S on emergency helping were investigated. Ss (43 white female college students), either alone or in the face-to-face presence of nonresponsive bystanders, viewed an emergency involving a black or white female victim. It was hypothesized that white bystanders would succumb to conformity pressures not to intervene more readily for black than white victims. As predicted, Ss, especially those high in prejudice, in the presence of passive bystanders helped blacks more slowly than whites; high-and low-prejudice-scoring Ss believing themselves to be the only witnesses helped black and white victims equally quickly. Ss’ self-reports of severity of the victim's injury and heart-rate response, monitored by biotelemetry throughout the study, supported the view that the inhibition effect was due to susceptibility to normative pressures not to intervene.