2025 Volume 41 Issue 2 Pages 117-124
Helping strangers plays a crucial role in maintaining social cohesion. However, research suggests that Japanese people are generally less willing to assist strangers compared to individuals in Western societies. Previous studies have demonstrated that social factors, such as the presence of bystanders as well as prevailing social norms, can influence an individual’s willingness to help. However, relatively few investigations have examined how these dynamics operate in non-Western contexts. This study tested whether bystander behavior influences people’s likelihood of helping strangers in Japan. A total of 289 passersby were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) a cooperative condition, in which a confederate passerby agreed to participate in the survey; (2) a non-cooperative condition, in which the confederate refused participation and walked away; and (3) a control condition, in which the confederate was not present. Consent rates across the conditions by Bayes factor hypothesis testing. As expected, participants in the cooperative conditions were more likely to consent than non-cooperative conditions. However, contrary to our expectations, no significant differences were observed between the cooperative and control conditions. We suggest that the relatively low base rate of helping in Japan may account for this pattern of results.
