The Bystander Effect and Altruism
Learning Objectives Explain the factors that influence human altruism, including reciprocal altruism and diffusion of responsibility. Go to YouTube and search for episodes of “Primetime: What Would You Do?”
Khaseen Morris: Teen held for killing that bystanders filmed
Image copyright Nassau County Police A New York teenager has been charged with the fatal stabbing of a 16-year-old boy whom bystanders filmed bleeding to death. Tyler Flach, 18, is accused of second-degree murder in the deadly after-school brawl that broke out not far from the victim's Long Island school.
Pluralistic Ignorance (SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY) - iResearchNet
Pluralistic Ignorance Definition Pluralistic ignorance occurs when people erroneously infer that they feel differently from their peers, even though they are behaving similarly. As one example, imagine the following scenario: You are sitting in a large lecture hall listening to an especially complicated lecture.
Kitty Genovese
The Kitty Genovese murder in Queens, New York, in 1964 is one of the most famous murder cases to come out of New York City and into the national spotlight. What propelled it wasn’t the crime or the investigation, but the press coverage that alleged the murder had many witnesses who refused to come to the Kitty Genovese’s defense. This has been disproved over time, but not before it became part of the accepted lore of the crime. Kitty Genovese was returning from work home at around 2:30 a.m. on March 13, 1964, when she was approached by a man with a knife. Genovese ran toward her apartment building front door, and the man grabbed her and stabbed her while she screamed.
What Is the Bystander Effect?
If you witnessed an emergency happening right before your eyes, you would certainly take some sort of action to help the person in trouble, right? While we might all like to believe that this is true, psychologists suggest that whether or not you intervene might depend upon the number of other witnesses present. What Is the Bystander Effect?
The Bystander Effect is about more than the diffusion of responsibility
Inspired by the shocking murder of a woman in New York in 1964, reportedly in front of numerous witnesses who did nothing to help (although this was exaggerated), the Bystander Effect is a well-researched phenomenon that describes the diminishing likelihood that any one person will help as the number of other people available to help increases. The most popular and widely researched explanation is that people experience a diffusion of responsibility when in the company of other bystanders. We don’t help the person who is being assaulted in a busy street because we assume that someone else will. But a new study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General provides evidence that there is much more to it than this – in particular, when deciding whether to help, we take into account the perspective of the other bystanders – whether they know that help is needed, whether they know that we know that help is needed, whether they know that we know they know that help is needed, and so on.
How the Social Context Influences Helping – Principles of Social Psychology – 1st International Edition
Review Bibb Latané and John Darley’s model of helping behavior and indicate the social psychological variables that influence each stage. Although emotional responses such as guilt, personal distress, and empathy are important determinants of altruism, it is the social situation itself—the people around us when we are deciding whether or not to help—that has perhaps the most important influence on whether and when we help. Consider the unusual case of the killing of 28-year-old Katherine “Kitty” Genovese in New York City at about 3:00 a.m. on March 13, 1964. Her attacker, Winston Moseley, stabbed and sexually assaulted her within a few yards of her apartment building in the borough of Queens. During the struggle with her assailant, Kitty screamed, “Oh my God!
The 21st century bystander effect happens every day online
If you’re going to fall, injure yourself and need help, where is a good place to do it? Should you choose a busy thoroughfare or a deserted backstreet? Statistics and experiments in social psychology will tell you that if you need help, you should avoid dropping in a busy street, even if hundreds of people are passing through. This is because of a phenomenon known as the bystander effect. The more individuals gathered in one place, the less chance there is of one of them coming to the aid of a person in need.
Why and How Do We Help?
Source: Bystander effect research was stimulated, in part, by the infamous case of a young woman named Kitty Genovese, who was raped and murdered on the streets of Queens, NY. The crime happened late one night when Genovese's neighbors reportedly stood by and did nothing to intervene in the brutal attack despite hearing her screams. Many introductory psychology classes still use this case to illustrate the bystander effect. Because the story was so widely told to hundreds of thousands of psychology students, and accepted as fact by virtually all professors teaching about the case, it might surprise you to learn that the details of the story weren't 100% accurate. Some neighbors did try to help but many simply didn't hear or see the crime and there literally was nothing they could have done to save her life.
How to Break the Bystander Effect
They could have left it to someone else. An Army veteran blocked a shooter in Oregon from entering his classroom. Three friends on a high-speed train from Paris to Amsterdam helped stop a gunman wielding an AK-47. This past spring, an Army captain in North Carolina pulled a couple to safety after a fiery car crash.
Reducing the Bystander Effect
As discussed, there are a number of factors that magnify the Bystander Effect. Fortunately, there are also a number of factors that weaken it. Once again, factors can be divided into characteristics of the situation, and of the people. Situational characteristics
Bystanders effect at Singapore after a fetal accidents in lucky Plaza
I refer to the news reports of the fatal traffic accident on Sunday (Dec 29) at Lucky Plaza. I applaud the Good Samaritans who unselfishly helped to lift up the car, pulled the victims out and attended to them. These are acts of true heroism.
Active Bystander: Safety Net Coalition: Loyola University Chicago
Be direct. Address the person being targeted or the problematic behavior directly. Things you can say to the person being targeted: “Do you need help?” “Do you want me to call someone for you?” “What can I do to help you?” “Can I walk you home?”
Bystander effect
Bystander effect, the inhibiting influence of the presence of others on a person’s willingness to help someone in need. Research has shown that, even in an emergency, a bystander is less likely to extend help when he or she is in the real or imagined presence of others than when he or she is alone. Moreover, the number of others is important, such that more bystanders leads to less assistance, although the impact of each additional bystander has a diminishing impact on helping.
