ABSTRACT
This chapter describes an experiment that is based on an actual parable, one that has no doubt inspired many a Sunday sermon: And who is my neighbor, Jesus replied, A man was going down from Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Darley and Latan had already conducted celebrated experiments on bystander intervention in emergency situations. Their investigation revealed that those who threw caution to the wind were relatively taller and heavier, had more life-saving, medical, or police training, and were more apt to describe themselves as strong and aggressive. In other words, these Good Samaritans were not more motivated by humanitarian concerns, just physically stronger and better trained. The causes of behavior are often to be found in the situation rather than the person, and sometimes it takes a kind of Sherlock Holmesian perspicacity, or the rigor of empirical science, to detect such causes.
