Apathy And The Bystander Effect

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Author, J.K. Rowling once stated, “Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.” Imagine you are waiting to cross a street, a blind man is standing in front of you.The begins to cross the street even though the light has not changed in his favor, he seems to be in no danger until you see a car about a half mile away speeding towards him. Totally unaware of the situation, the man continues walking across the street. As you and many others watch he is hit by the car. Although every single one of you had plenty of time to rescue him, you just watched, hoping that someone else would do it. After all, you don 't know him so it 's really none of your business. This is what is referred to as apathy. People close enough to see, hear, and possibly touch one another are socially distant and totally indifferent to …show more content…

Social media is prime place that produces apathy and the bystander effect. For example many of us have witnesed some sort of bullying online and do not intervene. Why is it that we do not include ourseleves? Personally I do not like to involve myself in something online in front of pretty much the world that has nothing to do with me, this is a key example of the bystander effect. The bystander effect occurs when the presence of others discourages an individual from intervening in a situation. Social psychologists Bibb Latané and John Darley popularized the concept following the infamous 1964 Kitty Genovese murder. (psychology today 1) Latané and Darley attributed the bystander effect to the perceived diffusion of responsibility onlookers are more likely to intervene if there are few or no other witnesses and social influence individuals in a group monitor the behavior of those around them to determine how to act. (psychology today 2) In Genovese 's case, each onlooker concluded from their neighbors ' inaction that their own personal help was not needed. (psychology today

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