Fucker

situational

conditions may influence prosocial behavior.

The bystander reporting rate varied in

every study, ranging from 2 percent to 72 percent.

Manipulations to increase reporting levels were

successful in some cases. Bickman (1975) found

that although less than 6 percent of subjects

reported a shoplifting incident, 54 percent of the

subjects acknowledged that they had observed

the theft when a store clerk asked them to confirm

her suspicions. Dertke et al. (1974) similarly

found the reporting rate to increase from 6.7 percent

(unprompted reports of thefts) to 51.3 percent

(confirmations of a clerk's direct question).

Bickman and Rosenbaum (1977) found that a few

verbal comments by a confederate increased

reporting of a shoplifting incident from 41 percent

to 72 percent of subjects.

These field experiments did not allow measurement

of subject personality variables because

of the short time allowed in the postexperiment

subject interviews. The subjects were actual store

customers. The importance of these experiments

lies in their successful manipulation of crime

reporting behavior by varying situational stimuli.

Social encouragement or direct appeal for confirmation

may therefore increase the incidence of

whistle-blowing.

Moral Conflict

Moral conflict (Schwartz, Feldman, Brown, &

Heingartner, 1969) exists when either: (a) Persons

recognize that their inclination to act might

lead to a violation of fundamental norms of their

reference groups or (b) persons are motivated to

act in mutually exclusive ways that differ in their

outcomes for others' welfare. Whistle-blowers

may experience moral conflict. For instance, Bok

writes:

Conflict between responsibilities is reflected in

conflicting messages within many professions: The

professional ethic requires collegial loyalty, while

the codes of ethics often stress responsibility to

the public over and above duties to colleagues

and clients (1980, pp. 277-278).

Schwartz et. al....