title: Are nonparticipants in prosocial behavior merely innocent bystanders?
abstract: Latané and Darley's (1970) bystander intervention theory was used to model individuals' participation in two prosocial behaviors (organ donation, green living). It is argued that nonparticipants in prosocial helping are innocent bystanders who likely fail to notice the need, do not interpret the cause as an emergency, do not accept responsibility for the need to help, and have little knowledge on how to help. Data in study 1 (n = 494) indicate support for the proposed innocent bystander path model (notice event → interpret event as emergency → accept responsibility → knowledge of how to help) in organ donation. Study 2 (n = 519) replicated the model in the context of green living and additionally found a direct path from noticing the event to knowledge of how to help. Implications of framing nonparticipation in prosocial behaviors as innocent bystander effects are discussed in context of campaign communication.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication, University at Buffalo-The State University of New York, NY 14260, USA. aeanker@gmail.com
authors.forename: Ashley E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Anker
authors.forename: Thomas Hugh
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Feeley
mesh_terms: D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D059027:Recycling / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012919:Social Behavior; D012931:Social Environment; D012941:Social Responsibility; D013334:Students; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement; D014495:Universities; D018505:Waste Management