bystander effect
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
Reporting Mechanisms &
the Bystander Effect
Alice Fang and Sam King
Bystander effect
a social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases in which individuals do not offer help to a victim
Our question
How can the design of reporting systems impact the bystander effect?
text voice call web form
Parallels to HCI
- the power-law distribution of contribution
- “Simple requests lead to more compliance than do lengthy complex ones for decisions about which members do not care strongly” [Kraut and Resnik 2011].
1. A text-based system for reporting will increase the likelihood of reporting compared to a traditional voice-based system
2. The web form will have more reports than either phone cases, because it doesn’t require a change in form factor
( || )
Our hypothesis
Methods
- Chatroom!
Using chatrooms
- Easy to set up
- Simulation of extreme circumstances
- Standardized
- Scalable
Results
• Phone
• SMS
• Online
Results
• Phone: 0/6
• SMS: 0/7
• Online: 2/7
Results
• Phone: 0/6
• SMS: 0/7
• Online: 2/7
Hypothesis 1: Voice v Text?
Hypothesis 1: Voice v Text? False!
Clarity• Not ambiguous
• Users weren't nervous
Spam!• "i don't really trust those things anyway...phone
numbers seem suspicious."• "I prefer not to use my cell to call or text unidentified
numbers. It seems like I would be inviting spam into my phone."
Hypothesis 2: Phone v Online?
Hypothesis 2: Phone v Online?????
P = 0.13... but it seems like online helps.
Hypothesis 2: Phone v Online?????
P = 0.13... but it seems like online helps.
On the other hand...
Not Serious• "it happens a lot on the internet"
• "did not see any use that I would have defined as abusive."
Selfish• "I was not an active member of the chat so I didn't really
see how the asshole commentator affected me."
Ecological Validity
• Chat rooms have bystanders
• Voice is a good control
• Medium severity works
Ecological Validity: Bystanders
Is there danger?
• "I wasn't sure if this was just an experiment or if it was a real chat room."
Is it My Responsibility?
• "actual participants of the conversation have the power and the right to respond to what is being done in the conversation."
Can I help?
• "it doesn't seem like the action would be useful"
• "I didn't think it would make a difference whether I reported abuse or not."
Ecological Validity: Physical?
Conclusion
• We measured how much people were jerks
• People are jerks
• People are jerks over SMS, too
• People are worse jerks on their phones
(probably)
• People are jerks in chatrooms like in real life
• Researchers can study jerks in chatrooms