Levine et al. (2001)

Cross-cultural differences in helping strangers.

Background and Aim: Many studies have demonstrated that helping rates differ between communities in a single country, but few have systematically compared any of the explanations for the differences. Most of the studies of community differences in helping have focused on population size, most often testing the popular hypothesis that the tendency to help strangers declines as the size of a city increases. However, population size is only one of many factors that define a city. This study investigates other factors that might influence helping behaviour.

The aims of the study were:

1. To determine if a city’s tendency to offer non-emergency help to strangers is stable across situations over a wide range of cultures.
2. To research whether substantial variation exists across the cultures studied.
3. To identify country-level variables that might relate to differences in helping.

Method: Three measures of helping were sampled in a large city in each of 23 countries. The measures were:

1) Accidentally dropping a pen. 214 men and 210 women were passed in the street. Participants were scored as having helped if they called back to the experimenter that he had dropped the pen and/or picked up the pen and brought it to the experimenter.

2) Experimenter walking with a limp and wearing a leg brace dropping magazines and struggling to pick them up. He came within 20 ft of passing pedestrians. A total of 253 men and 240 women were approached. Helping was defined as offering to help and/or beginning to help without offering.

3) Experimenter dressed as a blind person in dark glasses and with a white cane, waiting to cross the street.Experimenters stepped up to the corner just before the light turned green, held out their cane, and waited until someone offered help. A trial was terminated after 60 seconds or when the light turned red, whichever occurred first, after which the experimenter walked away from the corner. A total of 281 trials were conducted. Helping was scored if participants, at a minimum, informed the experimenter that the light was green.

All experimenters were male, of college age and dressed neatly and casually.

The variables by which the culture of each city was measured were:

• Population size – over 230,000.
• Economic indicator – how much the average income earned in each country is capable of purchasing.
• Individualism-collectivism rating
• Downtown walking speed – as an informal measure of the “pace of life.”

Results: Cross-cultural differences in helping strangers:

1) The only cultural variable that showed a significant correlation to helping behaviour was economic productivity. Countries where residents had higher per capita purchasing power tended to be less helpful overall. None of the other relationships was statistically significant.

2) Cities from Latin America (Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, El Salvador) and Spain were all above the mean in overall helping, and on average were more helpful than the other international cities.

Conclusion: The helping of strangers is characteristic of a place, there are large cross-cultural variations in helping rates.Countries with less economic productivity may sometimes be accompanied by a traditional value system. These traditional value systems often include ethical guidelines that mandate assisting strangers.

The cultural behaviour of being simpatia (Spanish) and simpatico (Portuguese) emphasise prioritising amiable social behaviours and being friendly. This could explain the helpfulness of the cities from Latin America and Spain.Slower cities are more helpful, but the link between economic health and helping is not a by-product of a fast pacein more affluent societies. The collectivism or individualism of a culture is not related to helping behaviours.

Evaluation

Validity: This research included a large series of field studies where variables were highly controlled. Using pace of walking as a measure of pace of life is innovative and probably as accurate a measure as any. Extraneous variables, such as gender, were controlled by having all-male experimenters, therefore increasing the internal validity of the study. Furthermore, the ecological validity was high, as the tasks were true to life in their natural environment.

Reliability: The study was low in internal reliability - with such a large series of studies, it is impossible to control for standardisation of procedure or experimenter effect. The large overlap found by the researchers between speed of walking, individualism and economic productivity means that these variables may not have been the best to use as separate factors affecting helping behaviour. However, Levine et al. did try and increase the reliability by training the experimenters to try and make the experiences as similar as possible.

Sampling Bias and Ethnocentrism: A strength of this study is that there was a large random sample of participants. The samples were also reasonably well matched between the different cities, including the districts. Because of the wide range of different cultural contexts the participants were taken from results are generalisable. The study is therefore not biased or ethnocentric.

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