Where does a person’s need to help someone come from? How easily can that need be affected? That is exactly what John Darley and Daniel Batson wanted to know when they did their Good Samaritan experiment. Those are also the questions John Campbell tries to explain and understand. Therefore, a better understanding of helping behavior can come from the “Jerusalem to Jericho” article on the Good Samaritan experiment and the “Altruism and the Experimental Data on Helping Behavior” article.
Literature Review
From Jerusalem to Jericho The Jerusalem to Jericho experiment is done to compare what individual traits determine helping behaviors, if any. This experiment put the example of the Good Samaritan to the test. Experimenters came up with three hypothesis to predict helping behaviors. First, the people who encounter a situation similar to the Good Samaritan while thinking religious and ethically will be no more likely to help than someone thinking about something else. Second, a person will be less likely to help when they are in a hurry. Lastly, a person who is religious in a Samaritan-like way is more likely to help than a person who is religious in a priest or Levite way. Sixty-seven students …show more content…
In the Good Samaritan experiment, students have the chance to do what is morally right, but the environment causes many subjects to avoid the problem. The second article goes on to explain that the subjects were not going anywhere important; they were only going to give a speech they volunteered to do. If the subjects had been late helping the person in need, there would have been no consequences. Therefore, understanding the Good Samaritan experiment in the “Jerusalem to Jericho” article and the “Altruism and the Experimental Data on Helping Behavior” article can help to form a better understanding of helping