Bystander Effect Essay

When there is an emergency, why is taking out our phones to take a picture or video the very first thing we want to do? Why do we casually walk by a person who is in trouble, and go about our business as if we did not anyone? Why do we not help or act when someone is getting, but instead we just stand in a crowd and watch? Why do we bury our moral instincts during emergencies? “We witness a problem, consider positive action, and respond by doing nothing. Why do we not help in these situations and put our moral instincts in shackles” (Keltner & Marsh, 2017). We as people are bystanders to the world around us daily, but the question is why? The answer to all the “why” questions is the bystander effect.

The bystander effect also arises from a diffusion of responsibility as each bystander can better rationalize his or her lack of action. In some cases, people assume that in a large group, there will be someone else that is more qualified to help and therefore, each person feels less obligated to act. For example, a doctor is far more qualified to provide medical assistance to a victim and likewise, a police officer or stronger-bodied man can better subdue a perpetrator. If the crowd of bystanders is large,

In this same journal researchers found that 41% of students say that they would step in and help a fellow classmate in need. However, in reality only about 1 in 4 actually do intervene (Flanagan and Stout, 2009). There is obviously some discretion between intention and behavior. Researchers are not sure what makes children decide to help or not to help. These young students are demonstrating the bystander effect. This journal also talks about bullying and why students will not tell teachers when a student is being bullied. Not much study has been done on this, but researches believe that it has much to do with the bystander effect.

The bully is normally very well known; someone who is just as, if not more, guilty is nearly undetectable. This person is a bystander, and according to Tales of Bullying, being a bystander is just as bad as bullying. Bystanders just join in on the laughing. They don’t even help; they just watch bullying like it’s some sort of comedy show. Bystanders can also be people who are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. They can just as easily turn into a person who stands up to bullies, but they don’t. In the end bystanders are just as, if not more, guilty than the

So what exactly is a bystander? What goes on in a bystander’s mind? How does a bystander affect their surroundings? The Oxford English Dictionary defines a bystander to be “A person who sees something that is happening but is not involved.”(Bystander) Under this definition, I can say that everybody has been a bystander at one point in their life, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. This definition considers you to be a bystander if you

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.

This essay will ‘compare and contrast’ two approaches made in investigating the ‘bystander effect’. It will discuss in some depth as to what exactly is meant by the bystander effect, illustrating when this concept was first shown and why. An outline will be made of the different methods used, those being experiments and discourse analysis, explaining each one in turn, within the framework of two cases. The first being the murder of ‘Catherine Genovese,’ 1964.and the second ‘James Bulger’ 1993. The essay will then show examples of the differences and similarities between each method. Concluding with a summary of findings into the two approaches to investigating the Bystander Effect.

The bystander effect is defined as the higher the number of people who notice an emergency, the less of a chance that those bystanders will help the victim (as cited in Aronson, Wilson, Akert, & Sommers, 2015). The importance of the bystander effect is unparalleled because it determines whether humans will still help in a situation when there are other people available. Bystanders can deal with situations ranging from the mundane to the dire, but what matters is the number of those who take action.

In the book "Bystander", written by James Preller, it talks about not just the bully and victims but the other roles, such as Bystanders and allies. In chapter 20, a gathered group of boys discuss their responses to Griffin's unreasonable and illogical behavior. Their reasons for doing nothing include "The unreliability of authority figures to respond", "The threat of retaliation", "The victim, at least on some level, deserves it" , "It is human nature, the law of the jungle, and it will always persist", "It's better to stay out of it", "No one should rat out another student". These are ridiculous and absurd reason to be a bystander to such a unspeakable act. The main idea I would like to another reader to consider is advise others to not

Children were put to work, and had many cruelties done to them if they were to

Today a lot of individuals are praised for their bravery and their heroism. A lot of

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends" (King, n.d.). King's (n.d.) statement demonstrates the major internal impact bystanders can have on others. As a matter of fact, most people do not think about the possible long-term effects of not standing up for someone or something. Although it may not seem like a big deal to one person, it could be life changing to another. Many just consider a bystander to be someone who is present at an incident and doesn't take action, but there is actually much more to it. The term 'bystander' can be defined as someone who is present during corruption, does not speak up, and seems not to care about others.

“The Bystander effect” is the psychological occurrence that is related to the social intervention among people. It is filled with anecdotes of people of who stood back when help is needed, preferring to wait for someone else to act. According to author, the probability of accepting help decreases with an increment in the quantity of spectators. There are different causes of the bystander effect and these causes only depends on the perception of the individual and the way people take up the situation. Most common causes are diffusion of responsibility, symbolic interactionism and fear of becoming target or getting indulged in criminal case.

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends" (King, n.d.). King's (n.d.) statement demonstrates the major internal impact bystanders can have on others. As a matter of fact, most people do not think about the possible long-term effects of not standing up for someone or something. Although it may not seem like a big deal to one person, it could be life changing to another. Many just consider a bystander to be someone who is present at an incident and doesn't take action, but there is actually much more to it. The term 'bystander' can be defined as someone who is present during corruption, doesn't speak up, and seems not to care about others.

The by stander effect is a term that came to fruition when Kitty Genovese was brutally raped and murdered in front of her apartment, and 38 individuals witnessed the entire tragedy and turned a blind eye. Researchers were interested in this phenomenon and set out to research the bystander effect further. The bystander effect occurs when an individual’s likeliness of helping decreases when in the presence of others in an emergency situation (Fischer, Krueger, Greitmeyer, Vogrincic, Kastenmuller, & Frey, 2011). The purpose of this study is to measure the level of helpfulness among college age students with emphasis on the bystander effect. The model that this study follows is the Bystander Intervention Model by Latane and Darley. A series of five steps must be followed while intervening in the case of an emergency, the stages are again as follows: (1) noticing the event, (2) interpreting the event as an emergency, (3) making the choice to intervene, (4) knowing how to provide help, and (5) applying the behavior (Jenkins & Nickerson, 2016). As a group, we set out to analyze the bystander effect among college age students, while focusing on how gender impacts the given scenario.