Question

while driving to work, marcias car started smoking and broke down on a road with a lot of traffic. her cell phones battery was dead, so she could not call for help. she was unsuccessful in getting someone to stop to help for more than 2 hours until a police officer offered assistance. marcias difficulty in getting someone to help is an example of:

• diffusion of responsibility.
• social facilitation.
• the reciprocity norm.
• the just-world phenomenon.

Explanation:

• Diffusion of responsibility: Occurs when the presence of others reduces an individual's sense of personal responsibility to act. In Marcia's case, with many people passing by (high - traffic road), each driver might have assumed that someone else would stop to help, leading to no one stopping initially.
• Social facilitation: Refers to the tendency for people to perform better on simple tasks and worse on complex tasks in the presence of others. This is not relevant to Marcia's situation of getting help.
• The reciprocity norm: Is the expectation that if you help someone, they will help you in return. There is no indication of this norm being relevant here as the focus is on getting help, not on an exchange of help.
• The just - world phenomenon: Is the belief that people get what they deserve. There is no information suggesting that Marcia was thought to "deserve" her situation by the passers - by.

Answer:

diffusion of responsibility.