“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to
me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping’”(qtd. in “The History
of Mister Rogers' Powerful Message”). Mr. Fred Rogers reflected on advice his mother had once
given him; however, this advice contains a few absolutes and may not ring true in today’s
society. A question is raised, scrutinizing the accountability of civilians and whether or not their
civic duty is to help. This is an ethical dilemma everyone could potentially face. When
witnessing a crime or act of bullying, just how responsible is a bystander to act? We don’t have
to put ourselves at danger necessarily, but calling the police or just saying, “Stop that!” could go
a long way.
The choice to act or not to act when crisis strikes lies within a person’s psyche. This
dilemma is a widely known trend called the bystander effect. As authors and psychological
researchers Jason Marsh and Dacher Keltner describe in their article “We Are All Bystanders,”
“When study participants thought there were other witnesses to the emergency, they felt less
personal responsibility to intervene.” The article featured in Changing Minds, an online center
focused on educating people on every side of controversial topics, called “The Bystander Effect”
describes the occurrence as, “[witnesses] assume nothing is wrong because nobody else looks
concerned.” Both of these definitions sound very similar to excuses as to why people don’t take
actions. Onlookers simply stand by when they receive social cues that the norm is to mind one’s
own business. The thought process seems to be, “If I can’t fight off a thief stealing a woman’s
purse, then I shouldn’t d...
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Bystander inaction is more influenced by the bystander’s response to other observers. The experimenters hoped to inform people of the situational forces that affect people’s behaviors in emergency situations in order to help people overcome forces that result in inaction.
Echterling, Presbury and McKee (2005) define crisis as a turning point in one’s life that is brief, but a crucial time in which, there is opportunity for dramatic growth and positive changes, as well as the danger of violence and devastation. They further state that whatever the outcome, people do not emerge from a crisis unchanged; if there is a negative resolution, the crisis can leave alienation, bitterness, devastated relationships and even death in its wake; on the other hand, if the crisis is resolved successfully a survivor can develop a deeper appreciation for life, a stronger sense of resolve, a mature perspective, greater feelings of competence, and richer relationships.
caution as to whether not people would judge him ;"Well, I did. I said I wouldn't, and I'll stick
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
The bystander effect plays a key role in society today. More and more people ignore a person in distress.
The Bystander effect can be described as the apathy to help others in distress situations. The higher the number of bystanders facing an emergency situation, the less likely are them to help. This is a demonstration of how others influenced the way we act in different situations. As we learned in class, many factors influenced our apathy to help others in distress situations. “The bystander effect contains different components related to the assistance of the bystanders helping behavior, as well as different social and cultural manifestations and their relevant causes (Rodarte, 2015).” One of the main reasons why the Bystander Effect occurs, it is that sometimes we do not perceived the situation as an emergency. Nowadays,
Lieberthal, Kenneth (2003). Governing China: From Revolution to Reform. New York City: W.W.Norton and Company
Brown, Lester R. Who Will Feed China? Wake-Up Call for a Small Planet. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1995.
The Bystander Effect is a “social psychological aspect that refers to cases in which individuals do not offer any help to a victim when others are present” (Myers). Social psychology is a “branch of psychology that studies persons and their relationships with others and groups with society as a whole” (Myers). The Bystander Effect is possible because of the diffusion of responsibility. Diffusion of responsibility is the “reduction in sense of responsibility often felt by individuals in a group” (Myers). When more people share the responsibility to help, any single observer is less likely to help in that situation. This is important because the Bystander Effect occurs on a daily basis and can be easily prevented.
Since the initial warming of U.S.-China relations in the early 1970’s, policymakers have had difficulty balancing conflicting U.S. policy concerns in the People’s Republic of China. In the strange world of diplomacy between the two, nothing is predictable. From Nixon to Clinton, presidents have had to reconcile security and human rights concerns with the corporate desire for expanded economic relations between the two countries. Nixon established ties with Mao Zedong’s brutal regime in 1972. And today Clinton’s administration is trying to influence China’s course from within a close economic and diplomatic relationship.
Wei-Wei Zhang. (2004). The Implications of the Rise of China. Foresight, Vol. 6 Iss: 4, P. 223 – 226.