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Cited by 1,665Psychology of Social InfluenceSocial and Intergroup PsychologyLeadership, Courage, and Heroism Studies

"From Jerusalem to Jericho": A study of situational and dispositional variables in helping behavior.

Darley, John M., Batson, C. Daniel·1973·Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
DOI 10.1037/h0034449
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Abstract

The influence of several situational and personality variables on helping behavior was examined in an emergency situation suggested by the parable of the Good Samaritan. People going between two buildings encountered a shabbily dressed person slumped by the side of the road. Subjects in a hurry to reach their destination were more likely to pass by without stopping. Some subjects were going to give a short talk on the parable of the Good Samaritan, others on a nonhelping relevant topic; this made no significant difference in the likelihood of their giving the victim help. Religious personality variables did not predict whether an individual would help the victim or not. However, if a subject did stop to offer help, the character of the helping response was related to his type of religiosity. Helping other people in distress is, among other things, an ethical act. That is, it is an act governed by ethical norms and precepts taught to children at home, in school, and in church. From Freudian and other personality theories, one would expect individual differences in internalization of these standards that would lead to differences between individuals in the likelihood with which they would help others. But recent research on bystander intervention in emergency situations

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Crossref · 10.1037/h0034449

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  • Social psychology studies show that people often act dishonestly when given the opportunity, including cheating, fraudulent accounting despite honesty values, failure to help when in a hurry, and lying for small money.

    “The field of social psychology is replete with studies showing how difficult individuals find it to exercise qualities such as honesty. When given the opportunity to cheat in the knowledge they will not be found out, people have been found to be dishonest (Mazar et al. 2008); people will engage in fraudulent accounting despite having strong values around honesty (Brief et al. 1996); trainee”

    From Having Burned the Straw Man of Christian Spiritual Leadership, what can We Learn from Jesus About Leading Ethically? (2017) · cites this paper as Darley and Batson 1973

  • Situationists concluded that the seminarians' helping behavior was caused by the situation rather than by pre-existing internal mental states or character traits.

    “Absent any features of character that might explain the covariance of helping behavior and degree of hurry, situationists concluded that the seminarians' behavior was engineered by the situation, not by their pre-existing internal mental states or traits of character.4”

    From Virtue Ethics and Moral Psychology: The Situationism Debate (2009) · cites this paper as Darley and Batson 1973

  • Milgram's Obedience Experiment, Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment, and Darley and Batson's Princeton Theological Seminary Experiment are notable for methodological rigor and for the morally disturbing behavior their subjects displayed.

    “S. Milgram's Obedience Experiment, P. Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment, and J. Darley and C. Batson's Princeton Theological Seminary Experiment are all notable not only for their methodological rigor, but also for the morally disturbing behavior their subjects display (Milgram 1974;Haney et al. 1973;Darley and Batson 1973).”

    From Virtue Ethics and Moral Psychology: The Situationism Debate (2009) · cites this paper as Darley and Batson 1973

  • In Darley and Batson's experiment, 63% of early students helped the confederate, 45% of on-time students helped, and 10% of hurried students helped.

    “Sixtythree percent of students who were early helped the confederate, but only 45% of students who were on time helped, while a paltry 10% of students who were in a hurry helped.”

    From Virtue Ethics and Moral Psychology: The Situationism Debate (2009) · cites this paper as Darley and Batson 1973

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Authors
Darley, J. M., & Batson, C. D.
Affiliations
Princeton University (US)
ORCID
Batson, C. Daniel
Venue
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
1973-07
Volume
27
Issue
1
Pages
100-108
ISSN
  • 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1315
DOI
10.1037/h0034449
OpenAlex
W2056224157
Cited by
1,665
References
13
Citations by year
2026: 23 · 2025: 40 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 55 · 2022: 57 · 2021: 94 · 2020: 122 · 2019: 131 · 2018: 71 · 2017: 70 · 2016: 66 · 2015: 69 · 2014: 66 · 2013: 50 · 2012: 96
FWCI
49.32
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Psychology of Social Influence
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Leadership, Courage, and Heroism Studies
Keywords
helping behavior, situational variables, dispositional variables, religiosity, parable of the Good Samaritan, emergency situations, religious personality

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