Bystander Effect

People have a tendency, known as social proof, to believe that others' interpretation of the ambiguous situation is more accurate than their own. Hence, a lack of response by others leads them to conclude that the situation is not an emergency and that response is not warranted. Finally, empirical evidence has shown that the bystander effect is negated when the situation is clearly recognized as an emergency. In a 1976 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Lance Shotland and Margaret Straw illustrated that when people witnessed a fight between a man and a woman that they believed to be strangers to each other, they intervened 65 percent of the time. Thus, people often do not respond appropriately to an emergency situation because the situation is unclear to them and as a result, they have misinterpreted it as a non-emergency based on their own past experience or social cues taken from others.

First ‘The Bystander Effect’, states ‘that individuals are less likely to intervene in emergency situations when other people are present’. Latne & Darley, (1970) cited in Byford J.( 2014 pp 232). Simply put, where emergency situations arise, if more than one person is present the likelihood of someone in distress being helped reduces. This is the ‘diffusion of responsibility’ effect were each bystander feels less obliged to help because the responsibility seems to be divided with others present’. (Byford J., 2014 pp233) An example of Bystander Apathy shown within a video (The Open University 2016).

If you find yourself in a disaster, helping others is most likely not your first thought. The more rational look for a way to make it safely, worrying about themselves first, and others second. In the Novel Hiroshima by John Hersey even though many of the main characters are hurt, run to assist others. These people who were in the thick of it lacked any real reason to help others, yet they still made the effort to try. The disaster that befell Hiroshima was an atrocity, however, it did bring the community closer. Compassion in all forms enthralls those who have nothing to gain to help others, regardless of the repercussions or sacrifices.

different times) act as if they were is a lot of pain or a drunk. The test was to see how long it took

Throughout life, one is to see many people they don’t know Humans walk past each other and no interaction occurs. Depending on a particular situation one might be in, it can change the ability to react, help and care for a stranger in need. In the article “We are all bystanders”, by Jason Marsh and Dacher Keltner, it shows how in certain settings people don’t act to help another, even though one might want to. “Everyday Stuart would board the bus and a couple of boys would tease him. I would sit silent and watch. I wish I would’ve helped” (Marsh/Keltner 3). People develop a feeling that prevents them from caring for strangers. This is due to a thought of peer pressure or judgement that could be given to an individual for taking action.

Another example of the bystander effect in everyday life happened this year in New York City. A homeless man rushed to assist a woman who had been attacked. He was representing the good side of the bystander effect. He saw someone in need and immediately reacted to help that person. In his attempt to save this woman from this beating, he was stabbed. As he was lying on the street dying in a pool of blood, people walked by and did nothing to

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.

People may argue that being indifferent or ignorant on what is going on around them will keep them safe, because they do not feel responsible for helping others, mainly because they think they will be right in harm's way. No Matter how many good people there are in the world or if the world is all good, there will always be a at least one bad/negative person to go against the good people. By people showing some moral obligations in the world, the Earth would be

In the 2007 article “the bystander effect” the author Dorothy Barkin’s was talking about the reasons why most people decide not to get involved in complex situations. Many think that the reasons maybe very obvious such as the fear of possible danger to one’s self or having to go through long legal proceedings. However, the author talks about two main reasons for such actions. The first being ambiguity, the fact the most people do not know how to evaluate different situations and there lays most for the decision making. As knowing what the problem that you are facing in that moment, that alone creates a high-pressure environment that most people would not like to be involved in. Not to mention, being able to help effectively

Darley and Latane begin their essay by using solid examples of when the bystander effect presented itself, and why people were harmed because of it. They explain why nice people do not help in certain situations, and why someone can pass by a person in distress when others are around, and why more people respond when no one is around. Darley and Latane show what it takes for people to respond; they have to actually realize that it is an emergency and not a ruse or a normal occurrence. Sitting idly by while a dangerous situation is happening does not make someone a bad person, it just reveals their humanity.

There are times when a disaster for horrific event brings out the best in people not the worst. We see this right here at home when there is a tornado or a hurricane. Many times people band together to help others through the hard times. People will donate clothes, food, blankets, all to families who have lost everything and have nothing. Also as i said before families did take jews in to protect them. An article from healthland.time.com in 2011 says, “Everyone is on edge, of course, but it also pulls people away from a lot of trivial anxieties and past and future.”(Solnet) Sometimes disasters bring us together as communities in a way nothing else can. Our first reaction is to take care of ourselves but when the smoke clears we tend to help each other out. However this is rare it always seems to be that more people take care of themselves first and that's why it is such a big deal when people put others first. Whenever somebody does something good there is extensive news coverage and a large amount of conversation about it. This shows that it is not the normal thing. We are so used to people not helping but hurting others that we are blown away when somebody does something good. Really bad things tend to take our minds off the everyday problems and stresses that we have. We put all of our effort and attention into the bigger problem and tend to stop solving our smaller ones. This can be a good thing because it relieves our stress but it also helps us procrastinate and let some of our responsibilities

In the face of the fall of passers-by on the road, we should immediately go to help, but nowadays more and more people choose to ignore. What makes the society begin to disregard life? What is it that causes humanity to start missing?

For some reason many people are afraid to stand up for others. They think, “If I try to help I will just make it worse” or “I could get myself into trouble.” Instead of standing up they avoid the problem, like it’s not even happening. These people are just as guilty as the person doing the evil. Unfortunately, this happens to many people. Most of us have had a time in our life where we’ve been afraid to stand up for someone, especially in a situation where we could be put in danger. It’s also difficult to stand up when you’re standing alone. Just because this happens to many people doesn’t make it okay though. If you are in a situation where something is not right, you can’t just ignore it. If you don’t take action you are just as guilty. You

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

Altruistic behaviour tends to decline as crowding increases. The results of these studies confirmed that the likelihood of aid being given was inversely linked to the number of people present. One possible reason for this phenomenon is diffusion of responsibility. The more the people that eyewitness an emergency, the less responsibility any particular person will feel for giving help. If only one person is in attendance, then they are the only person that might probably help and thus accept all the responsibility for doing so. However, if two people are present then each known that the other could help out and therefore feels less responsibility for helping themselves.