In our reading this week, I found the social psychology of crime very interesting. Some of these terms I have learned in previous psychology classes and have discussed or explained to friends who are not even taking the same classes.
The bystander effect is one phenomenon that makes both no sense and also perfect sense at the same time. I’m sure that there are many moments in all of our lives that action needs to be taken but we sit back and do nothing simply for the reason that there is a multitude of people who are engaged in the same stimulus and we just assume that one of the other people will take action. Just the other day my family was sitting down to watch the new Adam Sandler movie when no one could find the remote. My wife stated, “one of us needs to find the remote” to which I replied “yes” and then sat down. This paints me in a bad light I know, however, there were four of us in the room and all of us sat down after the statement was made and nobody actually looked for the remote (including my wife). Even after everyone sat down, nobody talked or looked for about another 30 seconds, still thinking that someone else was going to get up and look for it. To my great credit, I stuck my hand under the cushion and found the remote…. In essence, saving the day. This is a very ridiculous example of the bystander effect. We also did nothing and assumed someone else would take action and help. This story sounds pretty typical for a family and has references that we all have experienced. Why is it then that we are more blown away when this effect happens in a much more serious situation? The case of Kitty Genovese is one I have heard several times and still bewilders me as to how it could happen. Our natural assumption would be that in a serious situation like this people would be more likely to help save a person by even simplifying calling 911. I suppose the reality in cases like this is that people do not want to be involved or cause their day to be inconvenienced when there is so many more people that will do the responsible thing and help the person in need. Whenever I hear this case I try to think, if I didn’t know about the bystander effect would I help that person in need? My immediate answer is yes although, I’m sure that’s what just about every person who did help Ms. Genovese would have said also. If you happen to reply to my post please put what your honest answer would be to this question and we can see what the general consensus on what people’s thoughts are to how they would react when confronted with the bystander effect.
Scott Hensley
Reference
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2016). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.
Scott,
I found this post both humorous and enlightening. I appreciate your honesty about how you might respond in the Kitty Genovese scenario that Gruman references in regard to the bystander effect (Gruman, 2017). I too would like to think that I would have jumped in and helped her before she was stabbed so many times. A meta-analysis of bystander studies from the 1960s to 2010 has “provided clear support for the assumption that passive bystanders in critical situations reduce helping responses,” and that “situations with one bystander…yielded a smaller effect than situations with two” (Fischer, 2011). This conclusion, unfortunately, reinforces the conventional beliefs about the bystander effect. However, they also found that “a meta-regression analysis revealed a trend suggesting that the bystander effect has diminished over the years” and “bystander inhibition is less pronounced in dangerous than in non-dangerous situations” (Fischer, 2011). I was thrilled to read that perhaps that such a positive trend has started. I cannot help but think it could be due to the shift in our culture from “mind your own business” to “see something, say something.” I am not sure what I would do in the case of Kitty Genovese. I have helped in violent situations before, but I must admit that there are times when I have been so in shock that I have frozen as well. I am not sure if any of us know what we would do for sure.
Fischer, P., Krueger, J.I., Greitemeyer, T., Vogrincic, C., Kastenmüller, A., et al. The bystander-effect: A Meta-Analytic Review on Bystander Intervention in Dangerous and Non-Dangerous Emergencies. Psychological Bulletin Vol. 137, Iss. 4, (Jul 2011): 517-537.
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2016). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.