Question

Latané and Darley (1968) conducted their “seizure” study in the aftermath of the Kitty Genovese incident. Why did they conduct this study, and why is this study considered to be high in internal validity?

Answer 1

Answer.

The bystander effect, as defined by Darley and Latané (1968), is the phenomenon in which the presence of people (i.e., bystanders) influences an individual’s likelihood of helping a person in an emergency situation. The violent murder of Kitty Genovese in New York City prompted the research on the bystander effect. Specifically, Darley and Latané believed that as the number of people who are present in an emergency situation increases, the less likely it is that any single individual will help someone in need.

An empirical study is said to be high in internal validity if the method of collecting the data supports the conclusion that the independent variable caused observed differences in the dependent variable. the only difference between Darley and Latané’s conditions was the number of students that participants believed to be involved in the discussion, this difference in belief must have been responsible for differences in helping between the conditions.