The Bystander Effect

The Bystander Effect

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.

On March

13th, 1964, Catherine Genovese was coming back from work at 3:15am and was entering her apartment building when she was suddenly stabbed twice in the back by Winston Moseley (Staff). She screamed help and that she had been stabbed and several neighbors has heard the screaming (Staff). All one did was yell at Moseley to get lost but no one had called the police or went to go check up on Catherine (Staff). Winston ran off scared but returned about ten minutes later to find Catherine in the same spot because she was unable to unlock her door (Staff). He proceeded to stab her to death, raped her, and stole some money from her purse and the incident lasted for roughly thirty minutes (Staff). The murder was witness by approximately 12 people yet all assumed that someone had called the police but no one did and Catherine died (Staff). This could have been easily prevented if someone had called the cops but because of the diffusion of responsibility, the individual assumed that someone else had called the police (Staff). This was an extreme incident but Catherine could have survived if someone had called the police and checked up on her.
The Bystander Effect can be eliminated if we changed our thoughts and avoided diffusion of responsibility. The diffusion of responsibility can also attribute to social loafing. Social loafing is “the tendency for people to work less on a task the greater the number of people are working on that task” (Myers). Deindividuation can occur “during group work which is the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster anonymity and groupthink is the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives” (Myers). The Bystander Effect occurs on a daily basis and examples of this are bullying, car crashes, and fights in which can be surrounded by people. This is important because someone could take a stand, make a difference, and possibly save a life.