The proposed negative effect of city size on helping behavior has been difficult to confirm empirically. However, city size has been found to be correlated with immediate pedestrian density, which in turn has been a reliable predictor of nonhelping behavior. This pattern was confirmed in the present study on the retrieval of lost letters, where it was observed that variations in general population density accounted for less than one-sixth of the variance accounted for by immediate pedestrian density where both covaried. It is proposed that the diffusion-of-responsibility model offered by Latane and Darley gives a good account of the available data on helping behavior in the street.
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