The bystander effect is a social psychology phenomenon that causes crowds not to offer help to a single person in trouble. The greater the number of bystanders the less likely it is that any one of them will come to help the victim.
Social psychologists Bibb Latané and John Darley popularized this concept following the infamous 1964 Kitty Genovese murder in New York City. Ms. Kitty was raped and stabbed in an incident that lasted for about 30 minutes. Although she screamed and begged for help none of the almost 40 people who have seen or heard the crime stepped in to assist or call the police.
In 2011, another horrible example happened in the city of Foshan, China. Wang Yue, a 2-year-old girl, was hit by a small van. Since she was not moved by any of the 18 witnesses she later got run over by a large truck. A total of 18 people ignored her, some going so far as to walk around her blood without helping the child. The toddler was left for seven minutes before a recycling vehicle picked her up and called for help. She died eight days later.
Although there are several factors contributing to the bystander effect, diffusion of responsibility is considered the most prominent one. If witnesses to an incident are in a large group they assume - or wish - that some of the others will take action. Their individual responsibility becomes group responsibility, and so they just pass by or observe thinking, "If everyone else is passing by or observing, it's okay for me to do the same".
To make things worse, not-so-few people actually enjoy watching (recently even filming) others getting hurt. Being a part of a group diminishes one’s sense of personal responsibility due to a feeling of anonymity. In this state, people are more likely to do things they would never do individually.
It is noted that when someone surrounded by a crowd needs help it can take a long time for someone to interfere, but once the first individual steps in many more will usually follow because they will be "awakened" by the action of the first individual. So be that first one and help!
I would like to conclude this grim post by sharing a short light-hearted experiment made by SoulPancake. Enjoy! : )
Have a wonderful day, week, and life!
Big thanks to @transcript-junky who provided a free post proofread.
People nowadays doesn't valued empathy and care for others. They were afraid to be involved in a certain accident... Unity and sympathy were not develop on this kind of person.Worst is they are filming the accident in order to have a clip then upload it on social media to collect more viewers amd subcribers on their own YouTube account 😣... Why can't help others when their help can save life? Aside from popularity, what did you get about filming that accident instead helping the person involve that accident? Do your conscience can neglect a dying person in front of you asking for your help? Does your conscience be in peace to be your own reporter in an accident instead a saver on someone's life? Come on people, God doesn't gave you eyes and ears to not use it from time to time.. Help others as long as you have a conscience in you👊
I agree, @dapmonylia, a conscientious person should take action and help even when others don't. That would not just help the person in trouble, but also set an example for others to follow. It is important to be aware of this problem. : )
Good post!
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Totally true, and you can appreciate the effect when you see the difference between large cities, where millions of people live, and small towns, where a few thousand live, in cities people are more "distracted" and can be appreciated much better their indifference towards the rest, but in the small towns and urbanizations, you see how people come and help in a much faster way.
Yes, the effect depends on a number of cultural factors too, with the size of the settlement being one of the most prominent. Also, the level of individualism/collectivism in the country/nation is another important factor.
If it interests you, United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Netherlands, and New Zealand are highly individualistic societies, while the countries of the Caribbean are generally the most collectivist ones. I might actually publish a whole article on this. : )
It would be interesting, practically most of the western countries are at the same time the most individualistic.
This is a nice example, @lifenbeauty. We are social animals after all, and want to be like the others to be accepted, so if we are the first person from the crowd to do something different and to help, we might be seen as 'different', 'awkward', like 'look at her what she's doing, is she crazy?!'. And that is what prevents people from helping in such situations. If any other people would be helping, most probably most of the crowd would try to get involved. There were also experiments with one person helping, and looking how many people would help if they see someone else helping - but I forgot the outcomes, I studied if a few years ago :D!
It has also been shown how the aggression can be disinhibited with the diffusion of responsibility. Like in this experiment: https://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2011/01/12/the-power-of-suggestion/
Hey, @katarinamiliv. Yes, group cohesiveness is an important factor too. An interesting study by Phil Zimbardo, thanks for sharing. It reminds me a bit on Die Welle. : )
would like to conclude this grim post by sharing a short light-hearted experiment made by SoulPancake. Enjoy! : )
@lifenbeauty
Hi @mhyeasin, I'm not sure what you meant by copy-pasting the last sentience of my post? : )
Things that make you go hmm...
In this modern life where every single person in the world has their smartphones etc., people often forget true values of life. I don't blame people always because the media is taking control of us and sometimes we forget how really valuable life is. We should help each other and make our lives better and easier. Association is way more powerful than individual. People open your eyes and take care of others around you.
Have a nice day - @tonac :D
Thank you for stopping by, @tonac, have a great day too!
It's nice to see someone with point of view you have. :)
You got a 14.51% upvote from @buildawhale courtesy of @lifenbeauty!
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So they need physical therapy
Not humanity
This is a very serious issue in the society. Some times i see some doom video.... Some one needing help but could not get it and yet some body video the event
Yes, the issue is getting more and more widespread. It's important to raise awareness about this phenomenon so that people don't act like a passive bystanders in such situations.
It's amazing how human brain works . I loved your article. If you can please take a look in my post called: Guess the differences b/w Child L1 acquisition VS Adult L2 acquisition. You may like it.
Thank you, I'll check it out if I get a chance. : )
Great post! Improve your posts payout reading