didn?t like. In collectivist cultures everybody lives together to survive and
support each other. In individualist cultures e.g. a large city everybody goes about
their own business and gets on with their own lives. They are, therefore,? less likely to ask for or receive help
because it is seen as interfering and infringing on a person?s privacy
especially as it is hard to find in a large city (Milgram, 1977). The findings of the laboratory and field studies on
helping behaviour are conflicting. Laboratory studies especially those done
with Americans, show that people will go out of their way to avoid seeking help
from others. Field studies, on the other hand, show that people, especially
Asians, will go out of their way to seek help. This is not down to cultural
differences alone. People in a laboratory situation will interpret the
situation differently to people in a natural setting. The natural setting will
reduce demand characteristics and has more ecological validity therefore this
will be reflected in the findings. In the real world people actively seek out
the help of others to extend their social relationships (Moghaddam, 1998) Different cultures expect different things and
people within these cultures are brought up with different values that comply
to ?the norm? of that particular culture e.g. females are ?in need? and males
are ?tough? and ?independent?. In other cultures, women are expected to work for
a living e.g. Israel but in more European cultures, women are expected to stay
at home and look after the children. The expectations of a particular culture
will influence whether a person helps another or not and whether they seek
help. The person?s personality, both the potential helper and the ?victim? will
also influence the helping behaviour and the extent of the helping behaviour.