Research on individual's response to emergency situations in the presence of others has produced conflicting results. The bystander effect is the label applied to inaction or the unlikelihood of assistance with others present. The social facilitation effect occurs when the presence of others energizes response; strong habit responses are facilitated by an audience, weak habit responses are inhibited by an audience (bystander effect). To account for both the action and inaction of individuals in an emergency, the effects on helping behavior of habit strength and the presence of an audience were evaluated. Registered nurses (N=28), assumed to have strong helping response habits, and 28 female, general education students were each asked to draw a figure to specifications. For half the subjects the drawings were completed in the presence of a confederate who evaluated the drawings and requested the subject to redraw the figure. Following the drawing task, the emergency (sound of a workman's pre-recorded fall) took place. Response times from the beginning of the recording until the subject opened (or not) the laboratory door, were recorded. Overall, 64 percent of the sample responded to the emergency within 180 seconds. Significantly more general education students (71 percent) offered aid when they were alone than in the presence of another student (36 percent). Nurses' responses were not adversely affected by the audience. When alone, nurses and general students offered help equally. (MCF)