A Good Citizen Helps Others in the Community

The bystander effect is a social psychological scenario where a person who is in an urgent situation is not given any help by the people around due to the discourage from the presence of others (whatispsychology.biz, 2017). Social psychologists, John Darley and Bibb Latane, introduced the bystander effect in the 1960s after the murder of Kitty Genovese, a young woman who was stabbed to death outside her home in New York City. It took her attacker more than half an hour to kill her, and during that time, thirty-eight people saw her being murdered, and they did nothing to help her. “The responsibility for helping was diffused among the observers” (Darley & Latane, 1968).

The general statement made by the author, Anna Quindlen, in her work Getting Involved, is that it is vital for human beings to be apathetic, and care for one another. More specifically, the author argues that isolating oneself from local conflict will not resolve any issues. She writes, “Neighbors heard screams and shouts and the unmistakable sound of something hitting a human being…But nothing was really done until…[the] little girl was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.” In this passage, the author is suggesting that being a bystander is detrimental and can lead to severe, preventable outcomes. In conclusion, the author’s belief is a topic that need to be spoken upon more often, the society is in desperate need of compassion

The Bystander effect is a controversial theory given to social phenomenon where the more potential helpers there are, the less likely any individual is to help. A traditional explanation for this Bystander Effect is that responsibility diffuses across the multiple bystanders, diluting the responsibility of each. (Kyle et al.) The Bystander effect, also known as the Genovese Syndrome, was created after the infamous murder of “Kitty” Catherine Genovese in 1964, on the streets of New York in front of thirty-seven witnesses. After studying the Genovese syndrome and doing research on how this phenomenon occurs today, it is clear The Bystander effect is not theory, but actually fact.

When children become more aware of the violence and have a better understanding, they may take it upon themselves to intervene in the violence, something more common for older children (Mullender et al., 2002). This can come in the form of verbal distractions, such as

Being a bystander does not help for for the good, but it only helps the bad. In the Elie Wiesel Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, he said, “Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could the world remain silent?” The United States waited about twelve years to stop the holocaust. We need to learn about this because we cannot just watch and do nothing if people are in danger. Many people died in those twelve years, if they never stop the holocaust it could lead to more deaths even could conquering the world. Let everyone be equal so help others who are in

It would be totally unfair to those people who are going through a hard time if we don’t help them. It may seems like helping a person wouldn’t create that much of a difference, but maybe to that person, they would probably remember what you did. Taking sides is all about perspective and how you really sees things. We need to use our knowledges, wisdoms and actions to do what is right. We need to right the wrongs.

On March 13, 1964, Catherine Susan Genovese, better known as “Kitty” Genovese was murdered outside her apartment building in New York. Kitty screamed for her life as she was stabbed repeatedly; reportedly 38 of her neighbors heard her cries. The shocking part of this tragedy is that none of the neighbors called the police as Kitty experienced torture for more than a half-hour. Her death although tragic, was a key event is psychological history by demonstrating the sad reality of the bystander effect, the swaying of an individual to help someone due to the presence of others. * Additionally, her death displays the importance of being educated on bystander intervention and speaking up when you notice a potentially harmful event occurring.

People tend to feel safer in groups or with people they know nearby, knowing that you’re close to others makes you think that if something happened at least one person would probably come to help you, but this wasn’t the case for Kitty Genovese. This murder case drew huge amounts of attention when it was discovered that nearly 40 of her neighbors heard her being attacked the night she was killed, but none of them did anything to help her. They had all assumed that someone else would do something to help her or that someone else would’ve called the police and that their was no reason for them to call.

When it comes to intervening in a dangerous situation, most people are too afraid to stand up for what is right. There are some clear steps as to how to intervene in a dangerous situation such as sexual assault. According to the Marine Corps Community Service website article,(“Master The Three “D’s” To Bystander Intervention”) “Bystander intervention is one of the most effective ways to prevent sexual assault.” There are 3 D’s that help an individual intervene in a dangerous situation. According to the article, the three “D’s” are “ To delegate, direct, and to distract.”

Hi Shlanda- Thank you for your response! Yes, you are correct in any situation that bystanders are more likely to help because they are dealing with just one individual and a medical condition being present, but when more individuals are already present to help out I can agree with you that most individuals at that point would mind their own business and go on with their

Darley and Latane, use the concept of diffusion of responsibility to explain the psychology behind why no one stepped in to help in either scenarios. According to Slater, diffusion of responsibility is explained as “The more people witnessing an event, the less responsible any one individual feels and, indeed, is because responsibility is evenly distributed among the crowd” (Slater, 102). Basically, the greater amount of spectators decreases the chances for the an individual to aid the victim in an emergency situation. A sole witness is less likely to respond if there are multiple witnesses around in comparison to scenario being one on one. The reason being that, the individual no longer feels as though they are the only ones responsible considering multiple witnesses are now as involved as they are.

In this country we live in a republic, with that comes the responsibility of civic duty. Fulfilling your civic duty means doing things like registering to vote, registering for the draft and being a productive and responsible citizen. Fulfilling your civic duty is the responsibility of all citizens.

Everyday there are countless of people getting hurt physically, emotionally, or mentally whether by a conducted crime, a bully, or a text assault. When those things are happening, often there are people on the scene with opportunities to act upon the problems -- step in to stop the conflict, call the police, or speak up to defend those in need. They can prevent a crime, help support the victim, or even save a life if they choose to intervene. People are accountable for one another to do everything they can to save each other’s life. Therefore, bystanders should be interveners because they will never know what positive effects their actions might bring.

According to Aronson, Wilson, and Akert (2013) prosocial behavior is defined as an act performed for the benefit of another person. Altruism is referred to as the want to help another individual even if it means no benefits, or possibly a cost, for the helper (Aronson, Wilson, & Akert, 2013). One particular factor, the bystander effect, has a profound impact on whether or not people help others. The bystander effect states that as the number of people who witness an emergency increases, the likelihood that any of those people will help decreases (Aronson et al., 2013). Processes associated with the bystander effect such as pluralistic ignorance, diffusion of responsibility, and victim effect all impact the likelihood of prosocial

Being an active citizen is something that everyone in the United States is required to be, yet not everyone actually is one. Many people may believe that just voting is enough to be a good citizen, but voting is actually the least of their duties. Citizens have a set of rights and responsibilities, including the right to participate in decisions that affect public welfare. Being an active citizen means that people get involved in their local communities and democracy at all levels, from their town to nationwide activity. This can be volunteering to clean up the park or street, or educating students on democratic values, skills and participation. Active citizenship is a mixture of knowledge, attitude, skills and actions that aim to contribute to building and preserving a democratic society. When citizens speak up about problems in their communities, public officials take notice and may take action to answer their concerns, which empowers the citizens of the community.