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Bystander effect in social psychology
An overview of the bystander effect
Bystander effect in social psychology
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The purpose of this paper is to analyse how the bystander effect, “the likelihood that an individual will intervene in an emergency goes down as the number of bystanders increases” (Olson, Breckler, Wiggins, 2008, p.482), occurs in chosen an emergency situation (Appendix nr1). I am going to show why and how participant’s behaviour confirms or not that effect.
There are many interactions among people witnessing an emergency situation. Behaviours of witnesses are influenced by occurring psychological reactions and responses to situation. “A false impression of how other people are thinking, feeling and responding” (Karn, 2010,) creates a common ignorance and influences bystander’s behaviours. Interpretation of situation as a nonemergency is based on other bystander’s reactions or their no reactions. The presence of others diminishes a feeling of personal responsibility (Karn, 2010).
Because an emergency case chosen for analysis contains an element of aggression I introduce now the social psychological definition of aggression that is: “behaviour that is intended to injure someone physically or psychologically” and a special kinds of aggression, such as a hostile aggression:”harm-doing that arises out of negative emotions such as anger, frustration, or hatred” (Olson and all, 2008, p. 419). I use also the GAM (General Aggression Model) theory: ”a broad theory that conceptualizes aggression as the result of a chain of psychological processes, including situational events, aggressive thoughts and feelings, and interpretation of the situation” (Olson and all, 2008, p. 423), and frustration-aggression hypothesis, “proposition that frustration always leads to some form of aggression” (Olson and all, 2008, p. 425).
I also apply Latane and Darley’s decision tree “that specified a series of decisions that must be made before a person will intervene in an emergency” (Olson and all, 2008, p. 479). Five different processes should occur for intervention to happen, such as: (1) the event must be noticed (if an individual do not notice he/she will not help), (2) the event must be interpreted as an emergency (witnesses fail to intervene, because they do not interpret the event as an emergency), (3) a personal responsibility must be accepted (if other people are present a witness can assume that others will help), (4) an appropriate form of assistance needs to be chosen, and finally (5) the action has to be implemented. If a negative response occurs at any stage of the process the bystander will not intervene.
As a passenger of TAXI I observed two drivers before the emergency situation began.
In any major accident, it is important that everyone involved in the co-ordinated planned response liaise with all Health services, Traffic control, Police, Fire services, ambulance and hospital. The action at an accident starts as: assessing the situation, in the management of an incident one of the most important steps is evaluating the scene accurately.
The bystander effect refers to the tendency for an observer of an emergency to withhold aid if the:
The bystander effect is a the phenomenon in which the more people are are around the less likely someone will step-in or help in a given situation. THe most prominent example of this is the tragic death of Kitty Genovese. In march of 1964 Kitty genovese was murdered in the alley outside of her apartment. That night numerous people reported hearing the desperate cries for help made by Kitty Genovese who was stabbed to death. Her screams ripped through the night and yet people walked idly by her murder. No one intervened and not even a measly phone call to the police was made.
In a study conducted by Barratt, Stanford, Dowdy, Liebman, and Kent (1999), a group of 216 college students were asked to evaluate their own aggressive acts with a self-report survey. The resulting aggressive acts committed were divided into the two categories of impulsive and premeditated aggression. Impulsive aggression was frequently followed by feelings of remorse and confusion after
Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.” We are All Bystanders by Jason Marsh and Dacher Keltner is an article that reflects on the psychological and social phenomenon that refers to cases in which people do not offer any assistance or help to a victim. Studies say that a person's personality can determine how they react to a bystander situation. In a book called, The Heart of Altruism, author Kristen Monroe writes the altruistic perspective. Altruistic people are strongly connected to other humans and have a concern for the well-being of others. Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief exemplifies the bystander theory through Liesel and
Latane and Darley (1968) investigated the phenomenon known as the bystander effect and staged an emergency situation where smoke was pumped into the room participants was in. Results showed that 75% of participants who were alone reported the smoke, whereas only 38% of participants working in groups of three reported (Latane & Darley, 1968). Their findings provide evidence for the negative consequence of the diffusion of responsibility. In line with the social influence principle, bystanders depend on reactions of others to perceive a situation as an emergency and are subsequently less likely to help. Latane and Darley’s findings were also supported in recent research: Garcia and colleagues (2002) found that even priming a social context by asking participants to imagine themselves in a group could decrease helping behaviour. It can be contended that these findings are examples of social proof where individuals believe actions of the group is correct for the situation, or examples of pluralistic ignorance where individuals outwardly conform because they incorrectly assumed that a group had accepted the norm (Baumeister & Bushman,
Bystander effect and obedience to authority are theories that can be compared and contrasted. Bystander effect is, for example, when someone is publicly in need and even though there are many people passing by or in the area, no one stops to help because they’ve seen no one else stop to help. In a video called The Bystander Effect they did an experiment to test the theory by having an actor lay by the steps of a busy area in Liverpool and moan “Help me”. The actor, Peter, was passed by many people who glanced his way, but didn’t stop to help even after 20 minutes of him yelling for help. Next they had a lady lay on the steps and after 4 minutes and 30 seconds a man finally comes over to help and forms what a narrator refers to as a new group with new rules to actually help. After the man comes to her assistance so does another lady and then more people follow. In the next part of the experiment they have Peter come back dressed as business man and it only takes 6 seconds before someone comes to help him. A real life example of bystander effect is the police brutality incident that happened at Spring Valley High School where a 15 year old girl was tackled and assaulted by a police officer for no reason that justified that treatment. In the video her peers and teacher just stood by and watched it happen without stepping in or speaking up. I think even
Relationships are an important focus in the subject of bystander intervention, as interactions with others will influence the decision making of a person in terms of a decision to intervene, in part. The severity of a situation is related to this decision-making, and may lead to a person who will potentially intervene in forming a conclusion of if the event if an emergency. Additionally, both the previous and following studies involve undergraduate students as participants. This is helpful, as an undergraduate student is generally eager to express an honest opinion, which may lead to a more valid
Aggression is a sub-field under social psychology because social psychology is the study of how individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior changes in groups while interacting with other people. In comparison, aggression falls directly under this category because psychologist’s main goal is to try to understand how aggressive people tend to change in their behavior and mentality when their objective is to cause pain. People who are aggressive either physically or psychological educe pain and suffering upon an individual by verbally assaulting someone, berating them, spreading vicious rumors, or even name calling. Everyday schoolchildren are getting bullied, spouses are facing domestic violence, families encounter arguments, and the list continues because everyday aggressors react negatively to these scenarios. However, they are levels of extreme aggressive behavior compare to the others, such as violence being the highest form of aggression. Kassin et al. states compared to violence, the other forms of aggression, such as anger and hostility are less harmful compare to violence because “people can be angry with others and regard them with great hostility without ever trying to harm them” (2014). When someone is angry, they are usually experiencing irritation, hate, or other displeasing feelings. Similarly, those who express hostility, which are negative feelings the aggressor
In a study done by both Bibb Latane and John Darley, they measured the amount of time it took individuals to respond and act in a given situation based on the number of people present in the room (Bystander). They found that when individuals were in rooms by themselves and smoke filled the room, there was a 75 percent chance of the person reporting the smoke (Bystander). Whereas, when people were placed in rooms which contained other participants there was only a 38 percent chance of the people reporting the incident (Bystander). This unfortunately is not the only study which comes to a similar conclusion. A social experiment done by teenagers at a local high school shows the same thing. The students went around the school and asked their classmates and teachers if they would help a student that was found passed out in the halls (YouTube). All of those who were interviewed said yes they would. When this situation was tested, it proved the students to be liars. Over 70 (if not more) students walked over the body of the passed out girl (YouTube). Some even took pictures and laughed (YouTube). No one helped the girl because they all believed that it was not their job due to the presence of others. Looking at everyday life it is easy to see how the bystander effect can not only be applied to big situations such as the ones listed above, but also, to small ones. Such as, walking down a hall and walking by a piece if trash someone dropped. Most people (if not all) will continue walking and refuse to pick up the trash because it was not their doing. Perhaps this is a contributing factor to the fact that many people go without help in emergency
...though the researchers weren’t looking for it, he results represent ideas that can help the bystander effect in a situation. Smaller numbers increase the percentage of realization when it comes down to an emergency. The victim, if cohesive, actually plays a big role in causing the bystander effect as well. When a victim is unable to verbally communicate with bystanders, it lessens the chance of help. If a victim is capable of communicating, the help given could be more efficient. This is because it can help break the diffusion of responsibility. A victim looking a bystander directly in the eyes can even spark a quicker reaction in them. These are all ideas that psychologists still study today, and many even consider learning about this phenomenon a requirement.
A bystander is a person who is present and overlooks an event but takes no part within it. If someone was to be lying on a sidewalk unconscious and another person walked by and ignores the fact that there is a human being lying passed out in front of them, it makes them a bystander. However, bystanders are present in many different varieties. A possible bystander could be someone who hears a conversation occurring about breaking into a house, if the person decides not to say anything and later the house gets broken into it makes them a bystander. A psychological study done by Bibb Latané and John Darley discovered that “…people are less likely to offer help when they are in a group than when they are alone” (Burkley). This discovery can be
Fischer, P., Krueger, J., Greitemeyer, T., Kastenmüller, A., Vogrincic, C., Frey, D., Heene, M., Wicher, M., & Kainbacher, M. (2011). The bystander-effect: A meta-analytic review on bystander intervention in dangerous and non-dangerous emergencies. Psychological Bulletin, 137, 517-537.
Darley, J.M., Latane, B. (1968). Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of responsibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 8 (4), 377-383.
Darley, J. M. & Latané, B. (1968) Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of responsibility, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 8, 377–383