If someone was in distress - would you help? +rep

[buttons]

ive been reading up on the bystander effect which refers to how when there is a huge group of people around, we are less likely to help someone in distress and are more likely to take action if there are fewer of us. so my question is, would you help someone who is in distress? whether they're only crying, had a small trip or seriously injured? what if there were others around you? would their age/gender make a difference? why/why not? (obv don't have to answer all that)

also, i'm doing a research investigation on china's socialization process and comparing it to western cultures. i'm using the topic of the 2 year old chinese girl Yue Yue who was ran over twice in the middle of the street, 17 people walked past her before the 18th helped her (article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2050438/Yue-Yue-brain-dead-run-twice-ignored-18-people.html#)

i have a survey that i wanna use in my investigation which takes literally 2 seconds, it would be a massive help if you could do it.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/63JJGMK
+rep to all replies, if you don't want to answer the question but have done my survey then please post that you have. :D
ty

Thread moved here by Martin (Forum Moderator): As its more suited to the health/life forums.

[Swearwolf]

erm ive had a fair bit of paramedic training so id say yes, if there was a lot of people round and they seemed okay/ someone was helping already i probably wouldnt push in to help. also done yer survey lad :-0

[cocaine]

i did your survey. in all honesty i wouldn't help someone unless they looked like they were physically incapable of picking themselves up and carrying on with their day.

[Swearwolf]

id also like to add if it was clearly alcohol related i wouldnt bother with them at all

[=Lizzy]

An elderly person i definitely would help , but a younger person i would if they really needed the help. If they were drunk , being 15, i probably wouldn't as i don't know if they would be violent towards me or something
i dont know

[dirrty]

i wouldn't attempt to help a person if they were crying. i generally feel my age and ethnicity would 'get in the way' of everything. if i saw someone get run over, fell over etc. then i'd go and help them. this girl fell over in the past on the ice and my friends helped them, but i was a bit wary because i was laughing at the girl so i was like **** i hope she didn't hear me - but that was like 4 years ago. anyway, i could never walk past a 2 year old girl who was lying in the middle of the road. that's just plain evil tbf, but i really can't imagine anyone in the UK actually doing that (obviously there are exceptions, but i don't think people here are generally that bad to do that).

what i'd do probably wouldn't change if my friends were around me anyway because it's not like i'm the submissive friend of the group so they'd follow me whether they like it or not. and their age/gender wouldn't make too much of a difference, especially if it's obvious that the said person requires some help.

done the q btw.

edit; if they were drunk i'd be like 'lol' and carry on walking. unless they were literally passed out/injured or something then i'd call an ambulance/police etc. because i'd be worried the person would get mugged, raped etc.

[Inseriousity.]

Yeah I think distress with the definition given in the questionnaire was very wide (not trying to diss your research, if we tried to tighten all the negatives we'd never do any!). Crying I wouldn't because sometimes giving people space is the best help you can give. I'm also very wary of helping elderly people after a bad experience where I tried to help someone and they were really rude "I can manage, I can manage! Just cos I'm old doesn't mean... etc etc" so it would really depend on the situation. :D

[Chris]

Hmm it would depend on the situation and the age of the person. I think I'm more likely to help elderly people than I am someone who is younger and more capable, but as I said it would depend on the seriousness of the situation. :)

& I've done the survey! :)

[buttons]

Yeah I think distress with the definition given in the questionnaire was very wide (not trying to diss your research, if we tried to tighten all the negatives we'd never do any!). Crying I wouldn't because sometimes giving people space is the best help you can give. I'm also very wary of helping elderly people after a bad experience where I tried to help someone and they were really rude "I can manage, I can manage! Just cos I'm old doesn't mean... etc etc" so it would really depend on the situation. :D
aha yeah i know but i'm using these questions to compare with a survey by chinese citizens, there isn't need for in-depth explanations although i am personally interested :P kinda surprised that everyone so far has said yes they would help because whenever i see someone fall in town most people "turn a blind eye" while one or two will help out straight away and a few others will slowly approach. i don't like to admit it but i am one of those who turn a blind eye if it's in a public place with a lot of people because you think of it as "ah well, somebody else will help". i will offer help to someone no matter what it was if i was nearest them or if there weren't a lot of people about.



@dirrty (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=34856); i completely agree, i think that is inhumane and inexcusable even if there are cultural differences but that's what i have to research and explain. i read in the article about one of the guys who walked past and he said "it's not my child, so why should i?". there were 2 vehicles that ran over her and one of them reversed to make sure she was dead. it's cheaper to pay for the death of a person than it is to treat their injuries (no free health care there). people aren't willing to help because there have been instances where when someone has fallen, their helpers are sued and forced to pay for the treatment because they are blamed for the accident. as one judge once said to someone in this position; "why would you help if you weren't guilty?". so this is where the difference between us and them come in to it.

anyway thanks guys +rep although i have to spread for a few, will be back X

[GoldenMerc]

i stopped a mugging about 4 days if that counts?

[wixard]

on my phone don't wanna type long
when im drunk I'm the worst, i see people crying in the street rush over 'WHAT'S WRONG!!!!!' last time this girl just got mugged, her bag her phone couldn't find her friends and lived a 20 minute taxi ride away I GAVE HER A TENNER!!!! ugh regret that now

another time some homeless man collapsed on our main high street everyone just stood around so my mate put her jumper under his head and we called an ambulance, then all the idiots standing around watching blocked the ambulance....

my friend didn't want her jumper back heh

[David]

no not generally, maybe if they where severely injured and i was the only one who could help.

i'll do the survey now.

[Rozi]

If it was someone a similar age to me or a child I definitely would. I've offered a few people crying on public transport a tissue and the like. Being in london I am more wary of who I help out, there's no knowing how people are going to react to you.

[lizzieTBH.]

It would really depend on the person. If I thought I could be in danger by helping them (e.g if they were drunk, on drugs) then I wouldn't. If it was an incident like the link and I was with someone, not just on my own, then I think more than likely I would.

[Mark]

I think regardless of whether I was in a group or not I would still help anyone (more likely older people) who is injured. The only time I wouldn't help someone was if they're like 5 or something because I wouldn't know how to deal with them lol.

[Ellz]

in all honesty i wouldn't help someone unless they looked like they were physically incapable of picking themselves up and carrying on with their day.

yeah, i'm probably the same.

[brandon]

I would help anyone regardless of gender and age if I felt that that they needed my help. I did your survey too :)

[beth]

i did yr survey for you hun.

i would help anybody regardless of who they are/what they'd done unless i felt there was a danger to my own safety or well being. i say anybody because a couple of years ago my dad had a heart attack in the middle of birmingham city centre and no-one went over and helped him apart from these 2 young guys who had been skating and came across him. he'd been on the floor for literally 15 minutes and those were the first 2 there that rang an ambulance.

if i felt there was a risk to my own safety (for example it was someone who was in the street who was drunk and was abusive but clearly needed help) i would ring an ambulance and watch from a distance to make sure it arrived and they were seen etc.

[Roxy]

done your survey

it depends on the situation. if it's something minor like someones dropped money / their shopping then i'll stop and help them pick it up or there have been times where elderly people have tripped over in the street and i've stopped to help them up and check they're alright, but if it's anything more serious than that then i'm a lot more wary. i wouldn't help someone who was crying though, unless it was a small child who looked alone / lost or if they looked completely helpless & i'm much more likely to help the elderly.

i wouldn't feel comfortable helping someone who was seriously injured because i've never had any medical training and just generally wouldn't have a clue what to do. i'd still stop but i'd wait to see if anyone else stopped first and rather than helping them myself i'd try to attract other peoples attention who may know what to do & then call an ambulance. i wouldn't help someone who was drunk either because idk how they'd react.

the only time my decisions would ever be affected by who i'm with is if it was a situation where i was worried for my own safety as well. in those cases i wouldn't approach someone if i was by myself, however if i was with a group of people or there were a lot of people around then i'd be much more likely to. if they did look like they were in serious trouble i'd probably call an ambulance but watch from a distance or something instead

[Cerys]

It depends. If someone had just collapsed etc, I've had training so of course I'd help. Even without training I'd try and help. If they were crying, I'd definitely try and see what was up, like in the past I have.

But if someone was being attacked, I'd call the police but I wouldn't run up to them and stop it. I know it sounds mean, but you have to think if they have a gun or a knife.. wouldn't be nice trying to help someone out and then get shot or stapped, eh?

+Done the survey.

[Mathew]

we've discussed the bystander effect at great length in psychology and it just fascinates me. i think the issue is that we'd all like to think we'd help someone, but when actually faced with the situation then it may turn out to be completely different. there are countless times at rugby matches where there's two people screaming at each other, but you just don't step in because there's the potential you could get harmed. so yeah, i'd probably like to be a knight in shining armour but i can't really generalise all "old people" or all "people of the same gender" because it would just depend in the heat of the moment! :)

would be interesting to know your results at the end of all this! :)

[Sharon]

done the survey xxx

[FlyingJesus]

Interesting how no-one on the survey has put "no" for helping an elderly person despite it being pretty common to see or hear about such people being distressed in public and no-one actually doing a thing about it. I personally put "unsure" as it would really depend on what levels of distress they were showing, whether there were any other obvious problems (bleeding, scattered items, etc) but for children I had to put "no" because in our wonderful society any male seen with a child that isn't obviously theirs is open to abuse for being a paedophile despite an overwhelming majority of abusers being female, and also I would make the assumption that their parents/carers would be nearby whilst the elderly are often left to fend for themselves or are too proud to ask for help. In neither case would gender be an issue for me, for reasons obvious to anyone who knows me

[Mikey]

done :-)

[Catchy]

If it seemed like they genuinely needed help then I would it's just the sort of person I am. Even if a child drops their toy out of their pram I always pick it up and go and run after their parents to give it them back and let them know. So I'd say usually I'd help something, if they'd fallen over or hurt themselves something like that.

However I think if they were in distress because of an altercation with somebody e.g. being mugged or getting attacked I'd probably just phone the police, I wouldn't want to get involved because you don't know what could happen they could have a knife or anything at the end of the day the most important person is you and what help are you going to be if you're lying there bleeding to death?

It's quite a tough one to actually answer because like at my mums work place on the ward, if a patient was to fall over you're not supposed to help them or try to grab them you get told to just let them fall because like I said, the most important person is you and if you were to also get injured during the process of that, then you're not going to be much help.

Oh and I'll do your survey now, seems interesting :)

Oh and I've just thought of something else (lol edited this about 10 times) this thread has took me back to the time when I was about 13/14 and I'd just got a brand new Sony Ericson phone and I had just gotten off the bus and some boy asked me for the time, so me being the caring person I was got my phone out and told him the time... I was then mugged in broad daylight, so many people around and it was obvious I was in distress. Not one person bothered to help me whilst it was going on I only got help off this nice couple after and they phoned the police for me and made sure I was okay. I don't blame no one for not helping, like I said I wouldn't because you don't know what could happen.

[Jurv]

i've just done the survey :)

[dbgtz]

I'd hope I would but I can't really imagine how I'd be in situations where someone was in distress.

[Abbie.]

Yea I help old people across the road with they're shopping when I'm at work etc

And when I'm out, there's always a random girl sleeping on the floor or crying in the toliets and I always like to make sure they're ok!

[CaptainAce$$]

I would help the person if they obviously needed help. If someone was already there, I'd stand around for abit to see if there was anything I could do and if not, i'd go.

[Eric]

If i was the only person then i would help them out especially the elders. done the survey.