The Bystander Effect

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).

“What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of the bystander.” -Elie Wiesel

Ultimately this paper would be covering from the viewpoint of a problem statement that states, George Zimmerman outstepped his boundaries by abusing his power. The police told him to step down, but he pursued Trayvon Martin anyways. Zimmerman was partially or mostly responsible to the Teen’s death. The extent of which is still up for debate in social settings. This researcher will also answer

One of the most recent national conflicts deals with the shooting and killing of Michael Brown (a black man) by a white police officer ("Holder Announces Ferguson Probe, Review of St. Louis County Police Practices."). Sense Perception and Emotion should be considered when evaluating this situation at Ferguson. The sense perception of the witnesses as well as that of the two involved in the physical conflict needs to be taken into consideration. The police officer could have believed he was defended himself, and Brown could have thought the same. The witnesses and the surrounding population’s opinions should also be considered. St. Louis County is notorious for their crime rate and their protest/ riot like movements. These riots can probably be credited for getting this situation national attention because of the actions and the

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.

Flanagan shot himself during the car chase with police officers that ensued following the attack and died of his injuries. As previously mentioned, there has since been discussion surrounding the appropriateness of the coverage that followed these attacks. It is relevant to analyse and examine the media coverage of the tragedy in order to gain a thorough understanding of how this incident is indeed an ethical dilemma.

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

This essay aims to explore and describe some of the key studies within Social Psychology and show why social psychology is still important within the science of psychology today. Social psychology was once described by Allport (as cited in Lindzey & Aronson, 1985, p.5) as, “the scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others”. One of the first psychologists to study social psychology was Kurt Lewin. Lewin is considered the “father of social psychology” by many as he took a stand against the dominant behaviourist approach during the 1920’s through his belief that interaction between the individual and their environment is key to affecting behaviour, rather than environment alone. His revolutionary ideas matured into the study of group dynamics, which is widely used by many organisations today (Collin, 2012).

The bystander effect, is a “social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases in which individuals do not offer any means of help to a victim when other people are present”(Weiten). Such reactions usually occur when individuals do not want to risk getting involved in the situation. In Chronicles of a Death Foretold, even though the townspeople do not desire the murder of Santiago Nasar,their unwillingness or lack of courage to take action in preventing this “foretold murder” consequently allows for the murder to happen. The idea of disturbing the status-quo and risk of involvement overshadows the Sucré citizens’ moral values. Even though a scale of individual willingness to avert the crime is presented such as Colonel Lazaro Aponte’s fulfilling his duty ,Clotilde Armenta’s multiple attempts and Father Armando’s total indifference; none of the townspeople want to be directly implicated in the matter.

Oscar Grant was reported to be rowdy on the train and was shot at point-blank range. The policeman later revealed he was trying to grab his Taser not his handgun. While reading this review, the author was using present day situations such as the Zimmerman case to reflect on how two different cases can be the same but in different standpoints. Trayvon’s incident was not recorded, but Zimmerman was reported to be running behind an unarmed suspected to have a gun. The author wanted to say that cases are similar considering that both officers were not prosecuted. A better example he could have used was the Walter Scott shooting. Both men were believed to be causing a disturbance, the policeman was trying to grab their Tasers, and someone was

On February 26, 2012, one of the cases that made a disturbance in many communities occurred. George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman in Sandford, Florida called police to report a suspicious individual in the area. According to a Feb. 7, 2016 CNN report, while Zimmerman is on the phone with a dispatcher, the dispatcher “asked him if he was following the teen. When Zimmerman replied that he was, the dispatcher said, ‘We don 't need you to do that.’ Zimmerman was instructed not to get out of his SUV or approach the person”, but Zimmerman disregarded the instructions given to him by the police dispatcher (CNN, para.4).

" For more than half an hour thirty-eight respectable, law-abiding citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens” (Gansberg # ). He had three chances to kill Miss Genovese. The police questioned some of the neighbors why no one called the police when they heard her first cry out. The responses that were given were, “I did not want to get involved” and “We thought it was a lovers’ quarrel” (Gansberg 128-129). These neighbors were fine individuals that were frightened, lazy, or just didn’t know why they did not do something. Their excuses indicate that something does not concern them or affect them why should they bother. These thirty- eight neighbors should have taken immediate action when witnessing these brutal

The bystander effect is both a social and psychological phenomenon in which an individual’s inclination towards showing helping behaviours are minimised by the influence of other people. Research has found that the more people acting as bystanders in a situation, the less likely it is that helping behaviours will be demonstrated. However in the correct conditions, where conditioned cues increase self-awareness, it is possible to reverse the bystander effect phenomenon. The bystander effect is prevalent in everyday life, and often decorates the news, shocking the world, especially when authority figures such as police men and women succumb to the effect. Diffusion of responsibility, ignorance of others interpretation of an event and self-consciousness are all social processes which appear to lead to social inhibition of helping behaviours and one of the main theories of the bystander effect is provided Latané and Darley (1970) whose cognitive model provides a series of decisions that can lead to social inhibition. The bystander effect is influenced by the conditions an individual is in when an event occurs, for example the bystander effect appears to be most dominant when an individual is in a group of strangers with low group cohesiveness. FINISH

When faced with intense and quick decisions, many individuals fail to take immediate action. During the attack of Catherine Genovese, not one witness acted upon the easy task of phoning the police. Since reaching the police was easy and even a small child could perform the task, people wondered why such an easy task did not get performed. Gansberg reinforces the ease of calling the police by stating, “The police may be reached by

The Effect of Personal Characteristics on Prosocial Behaviour In this essay, it will be first looked at the effect personal characteristics have on Prosocial behaviour including the level of moral reasoning of individuals, vicarious emotional reactions, altruism, guilt, self concern, the Just World hypothesis and also the biological approach. Secondly it will be looked at how being part of a group can effect an individuals Prosocial behaviour. Intra-group factors that will be covered include the Bystander Effect, modelling and norms. Finally, factors concerning immediate and larger context will be covered.