The study that I will be reviewing for this assignment is the Bystander Effect. This particular experiment struck my interest a lot more than the other options presented to us and I definitely wanted to look more into it. According to psychologist the bystander effect is a social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases in which individuals do not offer any means of help to a victim when other people are present. The probability of help is inversely related to the number of bystanders. This experiment took me back to the Asch Conformity experiment and showed very similar characteristics.
Social psychologists Bibb Latané and John Darley accepted the concept following the well-known 1964 Kitty Genovese murder in New York. To summarize the event that took place that night; Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death outside her apartment while onlookers who witnessed the crime did nothing to assist. Both social psychologists credited the bystander effect to the supposed flow of accountability. In Genovese's case, each spectator concluded from their neighbors' inaction that their own personal help was not needed. This is a prime example of the social-cognitive perspective mentioned in our text book. The social-cognitive perspective on personality proposed by Albert Bandura emphasizes the interaction of
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The level and state of consciousness tends to vary. Different states of consciousness are associated with different brain wave patterns. When it pertains to the bystander effect I would have to say that self conscious is the key consciousness presents. Dissimilar to mindfulness, which in a philosophical setting is being aware of oneself as an individual, self-conscious, being too much aware of one's appearance or way, can be an issue on occasion. Hesitance is frequently connected with timidity and shame, in which case an absence of pride and low self-esteem can come
The bystander effect refers to the tendency for an observer of an emergency to withhold aid if the:
Researchers have studied the bystander affect for many years now and have found out a few reasons why it happens. The bystander affect is important in night because of how people act in groups. Germans watched the Jews go by and didn’t say anything some even threw bread at them (night). Night shows that the more people that are around the less likely people are to help. Kitty was killed in front of 30 some people and no one did anything to help (the death of kitty Genovese.) During her murder people sat and watched out there window thinking someone else had called or helped her. Also, the bystander affect was shown in knight because as the Jews were being mass murdered not one person stood up to try and help until it was too late. Likewise,
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.
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
As our textbook describes the bystander effect as the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present. To put it into my own words, I think that bystander effect is where people are less likely to help because of the diffusion of responsibility. We are more likely to help: the person appears to need and deserve help, if the person is in some way similar to us, the person is a woman, when we have just observed someone else being helpful, if we are not in a hurry, if we are in a small town or rural areas, when we are feeling guilty, when we are focused on others and not preoccupied, and when we are in a great/good mood (Myers).
...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.
In 1951, Solomon Asch carried out several experiments on conformity. The aim of these studies was to investigate conformity in a group environment situation. The purpose of these experiments was to see if an individual would be swayed by public pressure to go along with the incorrect answer. Asch believed that conformity reflects on relatively rational process in which people are pressured to change their behaviour. Asch designed experiments to measure the pressure of a group situation upon an individual judgment. Asch wanted to prove that conformity can really play a big role in disbelieving our own senses.
Fischer & Greitemeyer (2013) studied the how the positive bystander effect was impacted in a field study. There had been a substantial amount of laboratory studies done on the subject, and field studies were lacking. They observed individuals at a subway station in a Germanic city. This field experiment was used to find the interaction of a passive bystander in a set situation of bike theft with no victim on site.
One of the strengths is providing a new insight into bystander effect. The study argued that researchers have previously neglected the potential benefit of bystanders and thus, the study provided a new horizon by proving reversed bystander effect through experiment. This allows us to be aware of the fact that someone may be providing help merely due to impression management. This arouses a doubt on whether the one who provides help is genuinely concerned about the needs of the victims, or one is just motivated by upholding his/her reputation when surrounded by a crowd. Besides, carrying out a manipulation check right after this experiment is beneficial to this study as well....
Personality is patterns of thinking, behavior and emotional responses that make up individuality over time. Psychologist attempt to understand how personality develops and its impact on how we behave. Several theories attempt to explain personality, using different approaches. The social-cognitive and humanistic approaches are two of many theories that attempt to explain personality. This essay will identify the main concepts of social-cognitive and humanistic approach, identify perspective differences and discuss approach limitations.
Personality can be defined as an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and acting. Many personality theorists have put forward claims as to where personality is derived from and how it develops throughout an individual’s life. The two main personality theories this essay will be focusing on is the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) (Bandura, 1986) and the Trait Theory – Five Factor Theory (FFT) (McCrae and Costa, 1995). The SCT allocates a central role to cognitive, observational learning and self-regulatory processes (Bandura, 1986). An individual’s personality develops through experiences with their sociocultural environment. Whereas the Trait Theory proposes that all individuals are predisposed with five traits (Extraversion, Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness and Neuroticism) which determines our personality. This theory also puts forward that personality is stable and cannot change as it’s biologically determined.
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
Schultz, D.P. & Schultz, S.E. (2009). Theories of Personality, Ninth Edition. US: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
A Comparison of the Main Approaches to Personality Psychology Psychology of personality is a difficult concept to define and quantify, therefore most personality theories, however different they may be in other respects, share the basic assumption, that personality is a particular pattern of behaviour and thinking, that prevails across time and situations and differentiates one person from another. Most theories attempting to explain personality represent part of the classic psychological Nature verse Nurture debate. In other words, is personality “inherited”, or developed through our interactions with the environment. In addition, we shall compare and contrast two of the main approaches to personality psychology by concentrating on Psychoanalytical Theory (Freud) and Social Learning Theory (Bandura). By looking at the Psychodynamic approach, developed by Freud, we can argue that it emphasizes the interplay of unconscious psychological processes in determining human thought, feelings, and behaviours.
Magnavita, J. J. (2002). Theories of personality: Contemporary approaches to the science of personality. New York: Wiley.