wrong number technique
a method for assessing individuals’ willingness to help members of specific social groups and categories. Researchers call participants on a telephone and emphasize their identity as members of a particular social or ethnic group, such as male or female, Black or White. They claim that they are experiencing a minor emergency (e.g., an automobile breakdown), that they have mistakenly dialed the wrong number from a payphone, and that they have now used the last of their coins. The researchers then ask the participants to place a call for them (e.g., to an auto repair shop). Willingness to help is indicated if the participant makes the call. [first used by U.S. psychologists Samuel L. Gaertner (1942– ) and Leonard B. Bickman (1941– ) and described in their 1971 research report]