Helper-Sufferer Similarity and a Specific Request for Help: Bystander Intervention During a Peace Demonstration

Eighty randomly selected male participants in the April 1971 pcace demonstration in Washington, D.C. were approached by a young women E v ho asked them to help her friend who was feeling ill. The "friend" was a young male E , in either conventional or "hip" clothing, who was displaying either a "Support Nixon" or a "Dump Nixon" sign. The dependent variable was a 5-point ordinal scale of cooperation with a series of specific requests, which ranged from going over to the distressed E to providing bus fare and help for both Es to leave the area and go home. All 80 Ss went to the E and 79 helped to some extent. There was more helping behavior in the morning than in the afternoon, when the program of activities had intensified; with Ss who were tested in the afternoon, the E displaying a "Support Nixon" sign attracted less helping behavior than the "Dump Nixon" condition. The dress manipulation (implicit attitudinal similarity) had no effect.