Essay

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Aim
The experiment described below was aimed at investigating bystander apathy and try and relate to it to diffusion of responsibility. The bystander effect has been greatly examined and investigated leading to several conclusions, with diffusion of responsibility being one of the most prevalent. The theory holds that a person is more willing to assist another person in distress when he is alone. When a person is comes across a person in distress and there are other people around, he is less willing to help. This occurrence of this behavior has been theorized to stem from diffusion of responsibility. This theory suggests that as the number of people increases, the responsible to help in a situation reduces. As a matter of fact, the greater the number of people present, the more an individual is likely to assume that the victim is getting help, or help is on the way.
Procedure
I was the only participant in the experiment. The experiment involved me walking down a street and dropping a bundle of papers. I would then go about collecting the papers while observing if any of the people around me would offer help. The experiments were structured to take place in two particular times of day. I would walk down the street early in the morning, when it was more likely that only a single person would be walking down the street. This would allow me to observe if a solitary person would offer help. I also picked the early afternoons to walk down the street and drop the papers. This would allow me to observe whether people within the crowd would offer help, or the bystander effect would dominate the situation.
To empirically gather data that would qualitatively lead to unbiased results, I choose to conduct the experiment 10 times. This was d...

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...stressful situation. If they note that others around seem calm and are just standing around, then they also likely not to offer help, thinking that the situation is not an emergency (Darley, 1968).
Confusion of Responsibility: This theory suggests that thee bystander effect is occasioned by the fact that people refrain from helping victims so as not to be mistaken as the perpetrators of the suffering or and situation. It is possible, in some cases, that someone assisting a victim to appear as thee person causing the suffering of the victim.

Works Cited

Bickman, L. (1972). Social Influence And Diffusion Of Responsibility In An Emergency. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 8, 438–445.
Darley, M., & Latane, B. (1968). Bystander Intervention In Emergencies: Diffusion Of Responsibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 8, 377–383.

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