Preview

Bystander Effect Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
707 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Bystander Effect Essay
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).
On Friday 13 March in 1964, 28-year-old Catherine Genovese was coming home to her neighbourhood in Queens, New York late at night. She was suddenly attacked with a knife by a man named Winston Moseley. She screamed aloud “Oh my God, I've been stabbed! Please help me!” people heard her say this but didn't bother to react. People just didn't want to “get involved” which the said to the police.
…show more content…
Sometimes just seeing other people doing something kind or helpful makes us more willing to help others. People setting good examples of service can inspire for others to help, someone just has to break the ice..One of the key reasons people often fail to take action when help is needed is that they do not notice what is happening until it is too late. It may also be hard to know when someone actually needs help. Another tip to help with this is to have some kind of training of CPR or the Abdominal Thrust by taking first aid classes. People are most likely to help if they are prepare deal with potential emergencies (“How to Overcome the Bystander Effect”).
Prosocial behavior and antisocial behavior are opposites. Prosocial behavior is when you act selflessly or Altruistically on behalf off the whole group. However, when judging why someone’s motivations for prosocial behavior can lead to finding a non-altruistic motivations. In order to clarify, scienctists have moved on to studying animals. Can prosocial behavior be found in animals and if so, is there a negative motivation for it? Is it a good thing or a bad thing to be able to step back and remove themselves from any personal

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The Bystander Effect

    • 3347 Words
    • 14 Pages

    In 1968, Bibb Latané and John Darley were the first to demonstrate the bystander effect. Darley and Latané arrived at the conclusion that the number of people within an area influences the likelihood of intervention during an emergency (Latané and Darley, 1968). Emergency, in this definition, refers to a number of situations such as a murder, someone that is homeless, or a person being ridiculed or discriminated against. It could be a person that was hit by an automobile or a child that was abandoned from a car and left to walk home. The bystander effect also influences the likelihood of someone reporting an emergency such as smoke coming from another room or a vent. After this phenomenon was introduced, Latané and Steve Nida (1981) explained it was the most replicated effect in social psychology according to their review (p. 305). Many factors are taken into account as to why this social phenomenon exists. Diffusion of responsibility and pluralistic ignorance, to name a few, describe how…

    • 3347 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Selfish or Selfless

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Queens Woman Shocks Inspector 37 SAW MURDER BUT DIDN 'T CALL Path of Victim: Stabber 's Third Attack Was Fatal. ”New York Times (1923-Current file) 27 Mar. 1964, ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 -…

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bystander Effect

    • 1779 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The bystander effect is how a group of people will react when a social situation (usually emergency or panics) requires them to choose whether or not to help. Basically, it helps us understand who helps who and what circumstances. The main prediction is the more people present when a situation is…

    • 1779 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Born in New York City, Catherine “Kitty” Genovese was the eldest of the 5 siblings. She graduated high school and decided to rent an apartment with her friend in Queens, New York. One day when she was on her way home from working late night at a bar, she was approached by a stranger, Winston Moseley. Frightened, she began running toward her apartment and Winston quickly went after her. It was not long before Winston caught up to Kitty and stabbed her twice in the back. When Kitty screamed, “Please help me! Please help me!” her neighbors were startled. About 38 people, either from their windows or from the street, saw a man chasing and stabbing Kitty. Because of the neighbor’s glowy lights and loud chatters, Moseley was frighted twice but every…

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On March 13, Catherine Genovese was murdered in front of her apartment building, after being stabbed twice in the back for a man named Winston Moseley. She screamed and asked for help, several of her neighbors heard her cries but none of them helped her unless for one who shouted at the criminal: ¨let that girl alone!¨, Winston went away but, after a while Catherine was still there, lying in the ground,…

    • 167 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Bystander Effect

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Sam Kotowski 10-29-2010 Psychology Bystander Effect Essay In New York City around 1964, a 29-year-old woman named Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death. Despite hearing cries nobody reported this incident to the police; only because they assumed that someone else would or has already done it. Although murders in New York are not uncommon, the circumstances surrounding Kitty’s death have saved her story to be a strangely literal illustration of what is now a well-known psychological effect: the Bystander Effect.…

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Discuss factors that facilitate or impede helping behaviour Pro-social behaviour can be defined as 'any actions that benefit another regardless of the benefits or self-sacrifices of the actor' (Wispe 1972, as cited in Collins 2004). A subcategory of pro-social behaviour is helping behaviour, which can be defined as an intentional behaviour or act that benefits another human being. There are many factors that can facilitate or impede helping behaviour and it is important to recognise the situations in which this may occur.…

    • 2379 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this world today People are being bullied and people are getting hurt and people won’t intervene daily. We as a society need to be courteous to others in need of help,help all together.We don’t need a Good Samaritan law cause we all know it would be a flaw. In 1964 a mad story dropped upon New York City And a girl named Kitty Genovese was brutally murdered, she was stabbed repeatedly while 38 people were watching. There was a man that shouted out there window and said leave her alone. Two people afterward came out to aid Genovese, but it was too late. The bystander effect can hurt emotionally because the victim Only wants to help if they were alone because they don't want to stand out. The people around the victims are using Diffusion of…

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In March 13, 1964 28 year-old Catherine Genovese was brutally stabbed to death by a man who was later identified as Winston Moseley. This crime took place nearby Genovese’s apartment, and spanned for about 30 minutes. During this time, Genovese attempted to yell and shriek for help, but despite her desperate cries, none of the dozen people or so in the apartment decided to call the police. This is one of countless examples of the bystander effect. Consequently, this effect can lead to negative occurrences, but could be prevented by behavioral processes.…

    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I had always wondered why people wouldn’t help someone in need. For example, when a kid was bullied in a school, none of the students surrounding stepped in to lend a hand; when someone got assaulted on the streets and asked for help, people walked away pretending not seeing it; when there was a car accident, no one stopped and called the police. After the learning about the Bystander Effect, I realized that the examples above are the phenomenon that individuals are less likely to help a victim when some other people are present. One of the many explanations of the Bystander Effect is that we like following the group, in other words, we feel secure when conforming. The Bystander Effect is prevalent in today’s society, from school bullying…

    • 293 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    before Amber Jones Abnormal Psychology 9-22-15 Reactions to videos The Bystander Effect The bystander effect is where the bystander doesn’t do anything to help people in need.…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As a certified Wilderness First Responder, I can definitely say that I have seen the Bystander Effect demonstrated first hand. On one specific occasion, I was at an outdoor event and woman began having a seizure. Everyone around the lady, including both close friends and the security guards for the event, stepped back and did nothing, seemingly waiting for someone else to step in and handle the situation. I noticed what was happening and stepped in to provide her with medical assistance, but not before I noticed that none of the hundreds of bystanders had taken the initiative to make sure that she was alright. Because there was such as large group of people around, everyone was waiting for someone else to spring into action, rather than doing it themselves, thereby demonstrating the bystander effect.…

    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Altruism could be explained as a kindness, or a willing to treat others under any circumstances. Taking care homeless people or donating money to in the efforts to help recover after disasters is an example that people can do to help each other. I also believe that altruism could be expressed as an intrinsic trait or human nature because we do not acquire through educating. It is obviously in children who have not gotten the practical experience than the adults tend to help if someone needs them even a stranger. Affecting by many social factors, adults may think carefully about the decisions whether to help others in many situations because their kindnesses may cause more troubles as the result in return, such as the possible to be in the dangerous situations like we can see on the articles of the newspaper and news. These social factors influence the kindness or the willing of individual to help other are gender, the presence of other people, the timing, or the culture, etc. Therefore, altruism is a flexible behavior that may change the way we help depending on the…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    This article talks about how the bystander effect works and how it affects people in certain situations. The bystander effect happens when a person sees an emergency situation and does nothing, thinking someone else will help. In experiments done by John Darley and Bibb Latane, when a room that contained one subject and two calm non subjects, as smoke filled the room “only 10% left to get help” (Burkley). To avoid the bystander effect a bystander must recognize the diffusion of responsibility. Diffusion of responsibility makes the witnesses believe they are partially responsible for helping and not full responsible. To combat this, a witness must realize their first instinct “will be to deny responsibility for helping the victim” and the bystander…

    • 387 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Someone that is more likely to help another person in an emergency is someone that is happy, shares similarities with the person in need, feels guilty, will benefit from the situation, feels personally responsible, or it could affect their self-presentation. All of these contribute to whether or not a bystander will take action. The thought process of a bystander begins at noticing the situation; when a bystander is in a larger group it takes longer for them to notice and then register an emergency. After a bystander has decided the situation is an emergency they have to decide if at their responsibility to act. A larger group decreases the chance someone will act due to the diffusion of responsibility. If the bystander decides to act they have to know the proper way to help. Trained medical professionals are more likely to help in an emergency. Today helping in an emergency can be as simple as making a phone…

    • 474 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays