Drat and other comments… :smack:
And if I heard something without seeing it, I’d probably do a careful investigation and proceed from there as quoted above.
The absolute last thing I’d do is get in the middle of a fight. No way in hell. :eek:
For the record, I’ve summoned help on seeing a beating, jumped in the middle of an unarmed robbery (I wasn’t alone), and rushed to the rescue of auto accident victims.
Dear olivesmarch4th - I gave this a lot of thought and finally went back to the OP.
[ol]
[li]I’m quite certain I would’ve stuck my face out the door to see what the hell was going on. olivesmarch4th are you saying 75% didn’t even do that?[/li]
[li]Was the “victim” ambulatory or was the victim clearly immobilized i.e., prostate and attempting to rise, but unable to?[/li][/ol]
Because if the victim was vertical and not gushing blood or vomiting my assistance would’ve started with a question, “Do you want help?” If the answer was “No” I’d have backed off and not helped. If the answer was “Yes” or it was clear the victim was such a wreck they couldn’t answer I’d have rendered what assistance I could; call the police, an ambulance, first aid, etc.
So for the purposes of this study what category does that leave me in?
(N.B. my previous 2 posts. I’m willing to help people, but it depends on the circumstances and what exactly is meant by “help.” For the sake of discussion, I’m going to assume that violence was not something I came into contact with on a more-or-less weekly basis.)
I think I would listen for sounds of crying or distress, after the cry of “I’ve twisted my ankle!”. If I heard that, then I’d open the door (I’m assuming it’s closed) and take a look. This woman (for me it would have been a woman) is inside, in a place where she works–there are phones, people and support all around her. Put her in a parking lot, in sub-zero weather at night, and you might find people more helpful.
I don’t tend to help those in distress (not that I run across all that many in real life). One reason is that I am judged by higher standard than Joe Layman, since I am a nurse. I am not about to assess etc everyone that starts to cry or calls out. I am also usually alone (not the greatest in terms of my own safety) or with my kids–no way do I get involved if it could remotely hurt my kids in any way. I have attempted to return lost children to their mothers, and gotten little thanks and actual glares from those same mothers. Talk about negative reinforcement!
I will call 911 with no problem. I have stopped and asked EMS teams if they need help (big accident on a local road). I just gave a woman and her pre-schooler a ride home, since she had locked her keys in her car, even though she could have waited in the library (where this happened) for the locksmith. Offers of help and/or agreeing to help are very idiosyncratic.
To say that you might not help in this research scenario does not mean that you are cruel, hard-hearted member of society. It means that you have different criteria for judging when interference is needed. I don’t think this makes one narcissistic or callous–not from the data presented, anyway.