Failure to Help When in a Hurry: Callousness or Conflict?

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that being in a hurry does not reduce helping, it forces the potential helper to decide whom to help. It was predicted that if others were dependent on a hurrying individual to get somewhere quickly he would not stop; if others were not dependent, he would. Male undergraduates were informed that their data either were or were not vital for successful completion of a research project. They were then sent to another building to participate in the project. Half were told that they were late and must hurry; half were told they had ample time. On route, all encountered a male confederate slumped on the stairs, coughing and groaning. Results indicated that, as predicted, the importance of their data to the experimenter had a significant effect on whether subjects in a hurry would offer aid to the victim.