Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Of 75 letters “lost” in Florida, 41 were returned in the mail (the helpful response). Immediate pedestrian density was significantly related to nonhelping responses. The greater the number of subjects passing by a lost letter, the less likely any one of them would respond to it. The rates of return did vary with the addressees' affiliations. Returned responses for the affiliates, Y2K Arkbuilders and the Believers of God's Judgement Against Homosexuals: Y2K Millennium Bug, were substantially lower than for the affiliate, Y2K Computer Repair & Programming, Inc. Returns for the Believers of God's Judgement Against Homosexuals: Y2K Millennium Bug affiliate were significantly lower than for the Y2K Arkbuilders affiliate. Variables such as sex, race, and estimated age of subjects were not associated with helping to return a lost letter. The rate of return of lost letters is not the only important measure to be examined in studies using lost letters.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Amato

P. R.

(1980) City size, sidewalk density, and friendliness toward strangers. Journal of Social Psychology, 111, 151–152.

Amato

P. R.

(1983) The helplessness of urbanites and small town dwellers: a test between two broad theoretical positions. Australian Journal of Psychology, 35, 233–243.

Bridges

F. S.

(1996) Altruism toward deviant persons in cities, suburbs, and small towns. Psychological Reports, 79, 313–314.

Bridges

F. S.

Clark

S. M.

(2000) Differences in lost letter responses from smaller rural communities. North American Journal of Psychology, 2, 121–126.

Bridges

F. S.

Rodriguez

W. I.

(2000) Gay-friendly affiliation, community size, and color of address in return of lost letters. North American Journal of Psychology, 2, 39–46.

Bridges

F. S.

Welsh

R. L.

Graves

B. S.

Sonn

M. B.

(1997) Differences in lost letter and postal card returns from cities and smaller urban communities. Psychological Reports, 80, 363–368.

Iwata

(1977) Effects of bystander density upon altruistic behavior. Japanese Psychological Research, 19, 49–55.

Johnson

K. R.

Powell

T. R.

(1975) Levels of response to stimulus letters. Psychological Reports, 37, 378.

Kammann

Thomson

Irwin

(1979) Unhelpful behavior in the street: city size or immediate pedestrian density? Environment and Behavior, 11, 245–250.

10.

Korte

Ypma

Toppen

(1975) Helpfulness in Dutch society as a function of urbanization and environmental input level. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 996–1003.

11.

Lantane

Darley

J. M.

(1970) The unresponsive bystander: why doesn't he help? Appleton-Century-Crofts. (now Prentice Hall)

12.

Levinson

K. S.

Pesina

M. D.

Rienzi

B. M.

(1993) Lost-letter technique: attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. Psychological Reports, 72, 93–94.

13.

Milgram

Mann

Harter

(1965) The lost-letter technique. Public Opinion Quarterly, 29, 437–438.

14.

Newman

McCauley

(1977) Eye contact with strangers in city, suburb, and small town. Environment and Behavior, 9, 547–558.

15.

Schwartz

S. H.

Ames

R. E.

(1977) Positive and negative referent others as sources of influence: a case of helping. Sociometry, 40, 12–21.

16.

Waugh

I. M.

Plake

E. V.

Rienzi

B. M.

(2000) Assessing attitudes toward gay marriage among selected Christian groups using the lost-letter technique. Psychological Reports, 86, 215–218.

Y2K Affiliation,Immediate Pedestrian Density,and Helping Responses to Lost Letters

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References