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/arti...8-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.
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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.

[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.

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 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; 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?