Drury et al (2009)
Uses: social identity theory, helping behaviour
Aim: to investigate the role of SIT on helping.
Procedure:
Either a part of a group or as an individual
40 students from the University of Sussex with an age range of 20 to 25 years. Seven participants were male - the remainder was female.
VR to simulate emergency in London Metro. Escape a fire, either help people or push them out of their way as they tried to make it to safety.
Before starting, primed by thinking about an emergency situation. Read a news report about a fire at the King Cross. Close their eyes and imagine the sights, noises, smells, and other sensations.
Group identification was given this scenario:
You have just been to an England football match at Wembley Stadium and are now on your way back to Brighton as you have university in the morning. You and the other England supporters are making your way through the local rail station to the Underground, from where you can get the train back home.
You are just about to board the underground train when you hear someone shout “There’s a fire, get out, get out!” You look behind you and see large flames at one end of the platform with people running away from the fire. Everybody around you looks scared, and you feel yourself starting to sweat and sense your heart pumping faster. The fire seems to be getting bigger rapidly and you start to choke on the smoke. You realize that you may only have a few minutes to get back up to ground level and away from the fire in order to survive.
Individual group was given this scenario:
You have spent a long day shopping in central London and are now on the way back to Brighton as you have university in the morning. You are making your way through the local rail station to the Underground, from where you can get the train back home. (the rest of it is otherwise the same as the first)
To make sure that social identity was salient, in the group-identification situation, the "people" in the VR simulation wore vests of the same colour, but in the individual identification, the vests were of different colours. To also make sure that it was not simply the size of the crowd that affected the participants, in one condition there was a small crowd (8 other people) and in the other, it was a larger crowd (32 other people).
Results:
It was found that those participants with a high in-group identification gave more help and pushed others less than did those who did not have in-group identification. Crowd size did not affect the amount of help given.