Interpersonal Influence and the Reporting of a Crime
Leonard Bickman · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · 1979
A study was conducted to examine the relationship between interpersonal influence and bystander intervention in a crime. In this study, the subject witnessed a shoplifting while waiting in a supermarket checkout line. A confederate then tried to influence the subject in one of the five following ways: (1) to notice the incident, (2) to define it as a shoplifting, (3) to define it not as a shoplifting, (4) to report it, ( 5 )not to report it. It was found that the confederate affected both the subject's definition ot the situation and actual behavior.