What is the bystander effect? - Sample Essay PDF

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What is the bystander effect, and how does the number of bystanders influence helping behaviour?

This essay will focus on what the bystander effect is and how it can happen. We will also explore the impact of a large or small number of people within the bystander effect and if it is changes the level of helping behaviour. To support this concept, we will be looking at the tragic case of Kitty Genovese and its importance in understanding the bystander effect while also exploring other social theories such as the diffusion of responsibility. Additionally, will also look at studies such as Darley & Latane (1968) and Haari et al. (---) to understand which number of bystanders is likely to have an influence on helping behaviour, small or large.

The social psychological theory of the bystander effect is when people choose not to help someone in an emergency situation, particularly when there are others around to witness the situation too. It’s a case of having to decide between helping someone in need at the cost of being involved or helping themselves and let someone else deal with the witness (Darley & Latane, 1968). As humans, we are able to empathise and sympathise someone’s suffering but find it difficult to intervene ourselves and help them from their discomfort. An example of this being presented is the case of Kitty Genovese and her tragic murder from a misogynistic sex crime. In 1964, Kitty was chased and approached by a man with a knife. As she ran towards her apartment, she was chased, and the male stabbed her. It was reported that during this there were 38 witnesses who could have helped but did nothing (Manning et al., 2007). There were claims that people had called the police, but as there was no system at that time the calls were ignored because they assumed it was domestic assault, which was a norm to that time. Unfortunately, people overshadowed the brutality of the

murder due to the bystander’s apparent inaction (Darley &Latane, 1968). When investigating this case, it is clear that bystander intervention was an existing social phenomenon. The idea that people would be influenced by their social surroundings and the impact it would have on whether they would help an innocent civilian who was in need of emergency help is something that social psychologists can explain through ideas such as social influence and the diffusion of responsibility.

The diffusion of responsibility is the idea that if there are other people around, they are likely to deal with the situation and help, which means that the person does not need to get involved and help. It can also be a case of ‘it is not my business’ and therefore they do not feel obligated to help. As a result of Kitty’s case, there was a vast amount of research conducted investigating this concept of diffusion of responsibility and why the helping behaviour is passed onto someone else, particularly when there are different numbers of people around. For example, study by Darley and Latane (1968) argued that if there were to be a larger number of bystanders, people would be less likely to notice the problem and even see it as an issue and therefore make them less likely to assume responsibility to help. They also argued that someone can assume other people around the person who is in need of help and therefore they do not need to put themselves in that situation and can justify it by assuming others can do it better than them.

The rationalisation of not helping could also be due to the urgency of the situation. For example, research has shown that while diffusion of responsibility is a clear idea that is initiated by participants, there is rationalisation when examining the level of urgency in the situation. If there is no emergency, people are unlikely to help and be concerned of the

situation whereas if it is a definite emergency, they are more likely to present helping behaviour (Bickman, ----). However, in this case it can come back to that it makes more sense to let someone else help assuming they can do it better.

On the other hand, if there is a need for a larger number of bystanders to help for a certain situation, then there is a likelihood that people would help. In a study, research had shown that men were more likely to help in groups of people than if they were on their own (Harari et al.,198-). The situation was a staged rape scene at night, and it was found that a large number of men helped. The men who helped in groups may have done this because they felt safer within their own group and also subconsciously knew it was the right thing to do. Whereas those who were on their own, perhaps did not want to get themselves involved as they knew the expense could be themselves getting hurt.

In conclusion, it can be stated that the bystander effect is a social situation that can happen every day and can take place in both emergency and non-emergency situations. It cannot be fully determined whether there would be a larger number of people presenting helping behaviour when there is a smaller number of bystanders or a larger number of bystanders as research has shown it can depend on the nature of the situation. As Harari et al. found that larger groups of men were more likely to help the victim in the nature of it being night-time, Darley & Latane (1968) found that people were more helpful in the situation of someone having a seizure when they were the only one there. In fact, their study had found that with fewer bystanders, their response time to help was quicker. The diffusion of responsibility also effect outcome of situation and who would engage in helping behaviour....