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Diffusion Of Responsibility In Lord Of The Flies

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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. …show more content…

An incident begins when the boys are assured to have found the ‘beast’, an imaginational monster who they believe roams the island. What the young boys were unaware of during the time was that they had ignorantly mistaken Simon, a young boy, for the beast. Throughout the episode of Simon's massacre neither Ralph or Piggy, who were spectators stepped in to attempt and stop Simons homicide. Darley and Latane diffusion of responsibility would serve a legitimate explanation for the boys actions. None of them stepped in to help to because they assumed and depended for someone else would now that they were now involved. Now on the other hand, based on the theory if it would have been the case where Simon was being attacked and there was only one witness instead of a group there is a higher chance he would have been

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