Preview

Bystander Effect

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
636 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Bystander Effect
THE BYSTANDER EFFECT

The bystander effect is the name given to a social psychological phenomenon in cases where individuals do not offer help in an emergency situation when other people are present. It is a situational ambiguity; when we are confused about a situation and unconsciously interpret the event as if nothing is happening unusual. Some researchers have found that onlookers are less likely to intervene if the situation is ambiguous. We usually develop an illusion of normality. Because of the ignorance of other people in emergency situation; we also feel that nothing is so serious and it will be fine. One major factor of bystander effect is busy life and too much introvert behaviour. We rarely give a thought to stop and judge the situation and react accordingly. Some researchers have found that onlookers are less likely to intervene if the situation is ambiguous.

There are couple of more reasons which are cause of bystander effect. One of them is feeling of being unqualified to interfere in such situation. We think that our knowledge for such situation is not enough to jump into and a fear arises inside which pushes us away from the situation. Because in first place we always want to put ourself in safe place. Also, we generally try to look the behaviour of other people to get tan idea of seriousness of the situation , other people’s reaction or action in emergency situation usually effects our thinking . This is called as social proof which we look for before getting into the situation. Social influence on our mind is the factor which plays critical role in our life.

There are two major factors that contribute to the bystander effect. First, the presence of other people creates a diffusion of responsibility. Because there are other observers, individuals do not feel as much pressure to take action, since the responsibility to take action is thought to be shared among all of those present.The

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The bystander effect, bystander effect is a social psychological that refers to cases where people do not offer help to someone who needs help in front of other people. Usually when a person sees someone in danger or someone that needs help, they try and avoid or stay away from the situation so they don’t get in the middle or get hurt. The more bystanders there are most likely the victim will be severely hurt or even killed (Wikipedia Contributors).…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bystander Effect

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The bystander apathy, or bystander effect is a social psychological phenomenon that happens when somebody doesn't offer help to a victim when other people are present. There is an inverse relationship between the number of bystanders and the probability of help. This implies that the likelihood of receiving help reduces with an increase in the number of bystanders. There are several explanations for the bystander effect. Although social psychologists have focused on two leading explanations: social influence and diffusion of responsibility. This paper discusses the psychology behind the bystander effects and its impacts on society. (Wikipedia Contributors)…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Actually bystander effect is an example case under the topic of Prosocial Behavior (Kendra, n.d.). It indicated a extensive scope of actions that people behave as a person who kindly to help, share and collaboration with others (Kendra, n.d.). The bystander effect is a social psychological phenomenon illustrate even a person at the scene of the dangerous, he/she still not give a hand to the victim when there are other people present. The…

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many types of bystander effects that differentiate from one another, but first we shall go over what a bystander effect is intentively about. Normally a bystander effect refers to a large phenomenon that occurs in that of a social gathering, this particular gathering overviews the necessity of a victim in vain of assistance. It’s an usual phenomenon that particularly renders the the probability of help is inversely related to the number of bystanders. This negative phenomenon has impacted that of many individuals, although it can be overlooked upon, there are many ways to overcome this crude obsession of disregard and assist those in despair (Wikipedia Contributors).…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bystander Effect Essay

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Bystander effect is also known as bystander apathy is a social psychological phenomenon when individuals don't help someone that has been injured. Bystander effect is getting more and more common in day to day life. Less people want to help innocent injured bystanders. several variables help to explain why the bystander effect occurs (Wikipedia Contributors).…

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Bystander Effect has been used as an explanation for many events throughout history, but I believe that the true motivation behind bystander apathy is not the quantity of people, but the attitudes of those people. Humans mirror the emotions they see in others, and they follow the actions of the loudest person; if one neighbor had reacted to Kitty Genovese’s murder, it is very possible that the reactions of the other neighbors might have been more alarmed than they…

    • 1675 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The bystander effect is associated with the phenomenon, which states that when a larger amount of people are present, the less likely people are to help a person in need of assistance. When an emergency occurs, people are more likely to help when there are little or no other people. A summary about this study as well as an explanation of the results and how the concept of situationism relates to the study will be discussed.…

    • 1160 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    From the Holocaust to bullying, people just watch instead of taking action against the horrible acts that are occurring right in front of their eyes. In looking at the definition of a bystander, the bystander effect, the relationship between bystanders and bullying, and how indifference and fear play a role in the bystander effect, the reasoning and enabling behind bystanders will be revealed through their explanations.…

    • 1262 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Bystanders are very different from either victims or oppressors mainly because they make a decision to stay on the outside of the situation. Whereas victims and bullies are directly involved, bystanders think that avoiding the conflict altogether is either the right move or the best thing for them personally. Although they may ponder on the idea that they are not involved in it, they are wrong it affects everyone around them and demolishes relationships as well as trust and integrity.…

    • 428 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Bystanders are people who stand by and do nothing as they see others being oppressed.…

    • 377 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Social psychology first examined the phenomena later termed “bystander effect” in response to a 1964 murder. The murder of a young woman with as many as 38 witnesses and none who helped until it was too late. The bystander effect is individuals seeing an emergency situation but not helping. There are many reasons why individuals do not respond: diffusion of responsibility, not noticing or unsure if it is an emergency, and not wanting to be liable if the person still dies are a few.…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The factors that lead to the bystander effect transpiring are firstly, if the individual bystander notices the person in needs, interprets the event to be an emergency and they themselves assume the responsibility to take action or if they follow another’s cue.The death of Kitty Genovese in 1964 inspired research into the bystander effect, 38 people had witnessed Genovese’s attack but no one had taken it upon themselves to call the police who were only called after the attacker had fled. John Darley and Bibb Latane extrapolated the characteristics of Kitty Genovese’s case at New York University to study the occurrence themselves. A woman would seizure in a controlled environment and it would be left to the subjects to decide how they react. Subjects who believed others had heard the same woman’s cry for help would help only 31% of the time whereas subject who believed no one was listening would seek help 85% of the time.A form of discrimination is the reluctance to help, this discrimination may stem from prejudices which then results in the bystander…

    • 1459 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    All across the world, there are many events that get overlooked by thousands of people. Most people believe that being the bystander of something is okay. Being in between the wrong and the Wright (indifference) is still wrong because not doing something makes things worse and just standing there watching what is going on creates more problems.…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In chapter five of Opening Skinner’s Box, “In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing”, John Darley and Bibb Latene’s experiments help to explain the theory of the bystander effect and whether or not it is true that an individual is more likely to act with or without an authority figure. Darley and Latene performed a series of tests that showed that the bystander effect may just be a real occurrence among the general public and others in crisis in general. They seemingly proved the conclusion of their work to be true, their conclusion should be taken into account due to the fact that knowing more about this can save lives. Being well educated about the bystander effect can help to avoid it completely when in a stressful situation. The interesting…

    • 213 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Bystander Effect is occurs when the presence of others discourages an individual from intervening in an emergency situation (Bystander Effect, 2015). Social psychologists Bibb Latané and John Darley popularized the concept following the infamous 1964 Kitty Genovese murder in New York City. She was stabbed to death outside her apartment while bystanders who observed the crime did not step in to assist or call the police (Bystander Effect, 2015). The reasons why bystanders avoided helping others was the fear of becoming a victim themselves. During the Holocaust, the Nazi’s were in full control of everything that occurred and people were scared to intervene in anyway. Majority of the Germans were the Bystander and did not do anything to helped the victims of the…

    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays