To Get Involved or Not To Get Involved

Have you ever found yourself in a position in which you’ve seen something (like a crime) that shouldn’t take place and you didn’t intervene or do anything about it because you thought that someone else out of the good amount of people who were around you would take action? Has there been an emergency type situation that’s occurred and you didn’t assist because you thought another witness to the situation would handle it first? The textbook talks about the “bystander effect” which is the phenomenon in which “people are less likely to help in an emergency when other bystanders are present” (Gruman, Schneider, Coutts, 2016). This ties into the “diffusion of responsibility”, which refers to an individual’s sense of responsibility being diminished because they have the belief that other people will or should intervene in the situation at hand (Gruman, Schneider, Coutts, 2016).

When the topic of the bystander effect comes up, the murder of a woman named Kitty Genovese is usually connected to the discussion. This tragedy is known to be shown as a huge example of what the bystander effect is. Kitty Genovese was a 28-year-old woman who had come back from work to her home in Queens, New York (History, 2018). As she was across the street from her apartment, a man attacked her with a knife and stabbed her as her neighbors did nothing to help her as she screamed. The man left and as she tried to make it to her front door, the man returned and stabbed her more and raped her as more witnesses watched from afar. The police were eventually called and Kitty ended up dying en route to the hospital. None of the witnesses did anything to stop the man or help Kitty because they all thought that someone else out of the group of witnesses would do something about it. One of the witnesses later claimed that he didn’t want to get involved at the time. It is said that this tragedy that occurred played a role in being one of the factors in which the 911 emergency system was set into place.

There’s a show that I used to watch called “What Would You Do?” that was hosted by a man named John Quinones. The show involved using actors to portray characters to create dilemmas in public places (like parks, restaurants, etc.). Then, with the usage of hidden cameras, John would observe individuals and see what they would do in the midst of that dilemma. He wanted to see if they would take action and do something, or if they wouldn’t do anything about it and keep to themselves. There was an episode where a young teenage girl (an actress) was sitting at a table at a restaurant and a male (also an actor) who is way older than her, approaches her and compliments her. He tells her that he’s a professional photographer and he can take great pictures of her and turn her into a star. At this point you can see people at the tables around this girl eavesdropping on the convo and most look very uncomfortable by this creepy man. People are wide-eyed and look at each other in disbelief that they’re witnessing this and that the teenager seems to believe what the man is saying, especially when he says that he’ll take her back to his place where he shoots the pictures. The man then goes to the bathroom for a second and that’s when John watches for the witnesses to see if they’ll do anything. Some of them actually went to the teenager and told her that she should be careful because the guy might not actually be a photographer and that she shouldn’t go with a stranger to his house. The teenager says things like “oh but it seems like a good opportunity” or something along those lines. Some of the witnesses respond by saying they’re not telling her what to do but are just giving her a heads up that it’s a bad idea. In some scenes, witnesses don’t say anything at all. Eventually when the man comes back, he beckons her to go with him and she proceeds to follow him. This is where John observed the most. Would these people mind their business and risk letting this young girl go with this strange alleged photographer man to his home? Or would they stop it? There were a few people who were so creeped out by what was happening that they followed the two actors outside to confront the man and pull the girl aside and begged her not to go with him. One lady told him to get lost and that she wouldn’t allow the girl to go with him. Soon after, John comes out and reveals that it’s a show and asks witnesses why they reacted the way they did or why they didn’t react.

There was an experiment done where actors were used to conduct a kidnapping in public, to see how people would react. A young girl was “kidnapped” by an older male and she is seen screaming for someone to help her as she says the man isn’t her dad, as he drags her by the arm (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJKgA9b_5p8). You can see people in the video seeing what’s happening, looking, and walking past. A woman is interviewed and she says that it’s one of those situations where you think that someone else will do something. Then you see three other men who hear the girl’s pleas and run together toward the man to stop the kidnapping. They’re then told that it’s an experiment. One of the men say that his friend wasn’t reacting so he thought not to, especially because he thought maybe the child was just being disobedient but then after constantly hearing the little girl scream, he couldn’t stand by and risk it so him and his friends ran after the guy.

It’s sad that this mentality that “someone else will do something, so I won’t/don’t have to”, exists. Sometimes we may not even realize that we’re doing it when we just make the assumption that other people will do something when a dilemma or emergency situation occurs. This kind of thought process is unfortunate, as people could really be in danger and require any one person’s help. It’s also understandable on the other end that people might be afraid that they’ll put themselves in danger too if they try to help. I recall a story where a woman was on a beach and went out deep into the water. The water came in strong and she was swept out further, unable to come back to shore and was drowning I believe. An individual was a witness to the woman struggling and so they jumped into the water, in an attempt to save her. The woman was saved and brought safely to shore. Months later, she ended up suing the individual who saved her, because she claimed that she had obtained injuries from them saving her. The individual thought that they were doing a good thing by helping the woman but ended up getting sued for doing just that. Situations like this may cause some people to stop themselves from helping. My hope is that one day we can get past this mentality that we don’t have to get involved because we think someone else will.

Works Cited:

Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology : Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

History.com Editors. (2018, January 5). Kitty Genovese. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/crime/kitty-genovese