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26
Oct 23

Defying the Bystander Effect

Hello, I’m that crazy person who stopped on the freeway to chase down a mangy, starving dog I spotted on my way to the grocery store. Some of you may have honked at me, and I’m sorry if I startled you, but I thought it safer for us drivers and the dog if I got him off the road. You see, I have this nasty habit of refusing to “do nothing.” 

Darley and Latané (1970) coined the term “bystander effect” to describe a situation where multiple witnesses to an emergency fail to intervene because they assume someone else will take action. This phenomenon is particularly pronounced in densely populated urban areas (Gruman, et al., 2017) which is where I happen to live. This is why I stopped for the dog; I couldn’t assume someone else was going to assist the situation. A frightened animal on the roadway poses a potential fatal risk to motorists and, of course, to themselves. 

Truthfully, the concept of bystander effect came to public attention by the tragic case of Kitty Genovese in 1964 (2017). Despite 37 people witnessing her murder, no one sought to act or seek help as she was stabbed to death (“37 Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police; Apathy at Stabbing of Queens Woman Shocks Inspector,”1964). Researchers have identified several factors that contribute to the bystander effect, including diffusion of responsibility, social influence, and a lack of perceived competence (2017). In urban settings, this phenomenon is compounded by the overwhelming sensory input and a sense of anonymity. As cities overflow with people, the diffusion of responsibility occurs, making it less likely that any individual feels personally accountable for taking action. 

Rescuing animals in distress became my way of refusing to let this phenomenon take hold of me. When individuals witness an animal in need, they are often alone in their decision-making process, with no diffusion of responsibility. Choosing to act in these moments when I could just go about my business demonstrates personal responsibility and competence in a situation that demands action. Moreover, it fosters a sense of personal efficacy, transcending the perceived helplessness that sometimes accompanies urban living (2017)(Alleyne et al., 2019). “Doing something” becomes a tangible demonstration of one’s capacity to make a difference, even in a hectic environment. 

I’ve realized that animals are often victims of our urban environment, and they desperately need someone to intervene. For human situations, I do live in a city and it is difficult to screen all the stimuli I encounter, but when someone yells “help” I look up. My defiance of the social psychological tendencies to shut out the world has the potential to help build a compassionate community in the hardest neighborhoods that actively works to counteract the bystander effect on a larger scale. As we navigate our crowded urban landscapes, small deeds, like giving a homeless man a water bottle or leaving food for stray cats, remind us that we can be the change we wish to see in the world.

Citations 

37 Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police; Apathy at Stabbing of Queens Woman Shocks Inspector. (1964, March 27). New York Times. Retrieved October 26, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20181108183955/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/27/archives/37-who-saw-murder-didnt-call-the-police-apathy-at-stabbing-of.html

Alleyne, E., Sienauskaite, O., & Ford, J. (2019). To report, or not to report, animal abuse: the role of perceived self-efficacy in veterinarians’ decision-making. Veterinary Record, 185(17), 538. https://doi.org/10.1136/vr.105077

Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2016). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. SAGE Publications.

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13
Oct 21

What Would You Do?

What would you do if you saw someone get bullied or hurt in front of you? The bystander “ states that people are less likely to help in an emergency when other bystanders are present” (Gruman, 289). There are many reasons why a person might not help in a situation and might consider the bystander effect instead. Some reasons are because the person doesn’t want all the pressure on him or herself, as well as not having any relationship with the person. On the other hand, there are positive aspects to ignoring the bystander effect like not having a guilty feeling and feeling good about yourself. Considering a close person to you is in a difficult incident, how would you want others to react? 

What if someone got into a fight right in front of your eyes would you go to help or would you act like you didn’t see it and move on? Well, there are many reasons why someone might not help if there was a situation happening in front of him or her. One reason someone might ignore the situation is because they do not want the pressure and attention to fall onto them. For example, if someone gets into a minor car accident then they might not help because they see other people around the victim. They would also say something like “why would I help, there are other people here.” They don’t want the pressure of having to tell the police what happened as well as making sure the person in the car is safe and not injured. Another reason why someone might not help is because of the relationship between the bystander and the victim. They might not be related to that person and feel the need to stay away from the situation and not get involved. There are many dangers within the bystander effect that we do not realize. One danger is that if you witness a crime or accident of death, and not speak about being a witness about what happened, that can result in you going to jail for two years. You can become guilty of not stating what you have seen in the accident. If I were in a difficult situation like this I don’t know what I would do, but I would most likely call the police or someone nearby that would be able to help in the situation. 

Although many won’t help in a situation and rather stay within the bystander effect, what are some ways that can be solved. What if you actually take action, how can that help? If a person decides not to be a bystander and help in the situation instead, then that would give the person more confidence. How can we drop the bystander effect? One way is to take action when a situation happens. For example, if a person is in an accident then stepping in the situation would help the person survive. First you would check if the scene is safe to go near, then make sure the people in the car are safe, and finally call for help from others. This situation would help a person feel good about themselves afterwards in which the idea of saving someone’s life is a big deal. Another reason why someone should step in is to not have a guilty feeling. If something bad happened to a person while you were watching that would make you feel guilty and think to yourself “if I helped him or her would that have changed anything?” That is one major reason to help save someone and ignore the bystander effect. Another reason why to ignore the bystander effect is, what if the person in the accident is a relative to you, would you want people to ignore the situation and act like they don’t see it? 

The bystander effect relates to the “Diffusion of responsibility (Darley & Latane, 1968) [that] reflect the notion that as the number of people present in a situation increases, each individual feels less compelled or responsible to help” (Gordon, 843). The diffusion of responsibility connects to the bystander effect because the more people there are in the situation, the less the responsibility is on a specific person. We assume that if there are a lot of people in the situation, then they are helping out in the situation. We can make a person have more responsibility by decreasing the group number and increasing accountability. This way the situation can be helped instead of just being looked at. 

The bystander effect is a social phenomenon in which a person doesn’t offer any help to a situation when others are present. Individuals might use the bystander effect because of the fear of being overwhelmed as well as believing that they don’t have any relationship with the situation and there is no need to help. Others that might ignore the bystander effect would help a person feel good about themselves and not have an after feeling of being guilty. The diffusion of responsibility relates to the bystander effect in which the help is assumed to not be needed with the increased number of people around. This can be solved through the same way as the bystander effect. What would you do if an incident happened in front of you, would you help immediately or would you stay as a bystander? 

References:

Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2017). Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. SAGE.  

Moskowitz, G. (n.d.). Crowded minds: The implicit bystander effect. Retrieved October 13, 2021, from https://www.academia.edu/11870091/Crowded_Minds_The_Implicit_Bystander_Effect?from=cover_page 

 

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27
Mar 19

Bystander Effect at PSU Frat Emergency

During this week’s assigned readings in Applied Social Psychology, Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems, by Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts, we learned about the bystander effect. The bystander effect is defined as a phenomenon that occurs when multiple witnesses of an emergency fail to get involved (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts). There are three triggers related to the bystander effect: Audience inhibition, social influence, and diffusion of responsibility (Latane & Nida, 1981).

  • Audience inhibition: A bystander may choose not to intervene in an emergency because they are afraid of embarrassing themselves in front of other people (Latane & Nida, 1981).
  • Social influence: When bystanders do not know how to act in an emergency situation, they will look to other bystanders for cues on how to act in the ambiguous situation. Unfortunately, in an ambiguous situation, most of the bystanders will not know how to act and everyone will be looking for cues from each other. This results in none of the bystanders getting involved (Latane & Nida, 1981).
  • Diffusion of responsibility: Bystanders believe they do not need to help in an emergency because someone else will (Latane & Nida, 1981).

Since I have learned about the bystander effect, I have been thinking of tragedies that could have been prevented if proper help was initiated. One tragedy that sticks out to me is the incident that occurred on February 2, 2017 at The Pennsylvania State University. Unfortunately, it is possible that the bystander effect influenced events that led up to the death of Tim Piazza.

FULL DISCLOSURE: THIS ANALYSIS IS BASED OFF OF INFORMATION FROM NEWS REPORTS. I DO NOT CLAIM TO KNOW EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED ON THE NIGHT OF FEBRUARY 2, 2017, AS ONLY THE PEOPLE WHO WERE THERE DO.

For those who do not know, Tim Piazza was a sophomore at Penn State University who died from a collapsed lung, lacerated spleen, and a fractured skull after a bid-acceptance night at Beta Theta Pi (Pallotto, 2019). Below, I will address the incidents that occurred (reported by Benjamin Wallace of Vanity Fair) and how they could have been influenced by the bystander effect:

Tim was extremely intoxicated and fell down the basement stairs. After some time, a few of his fraternity brothers carried him back upstairs. Tim was obviously unconscious and had multiple visible injuries, but they set him on the couch and carried on with the night. Every single person at the fraternity house physically saw Tim and the condition he was in, yet no one did anything. Finally, one of the fraternity brothers argued with another that they needed to call 911 and got shoved. 911 was not called and the party continued. The party eventually ended and everyone left, leaving Tim alone for the remainder of the night. Two fraternity brothers found Tim the next morning and did not call 911 for almost an hour after (Wallace, 2017).

  • Audience inhibition: It is possible that the bystanders (fraternity brothers, other party-goers) did not call 911 or try to help Tim in any other ways because they were afraid they would be ostracized for it. In fact, this actually occurred when a fraternity brother wanted to call 911 and got pushed across the room for it.
  • Social influence: It is possible that the emergency that occurred was ambiguous. Some of the fraternity brothers and other people at the party may not have understood what exactly was going on with Tim. It is also possible they thought he was just black-out drunk like they have seen hundreds of other college students. It is also possible that the bystanders were too intoxicated to fully understand the circumstances of the situation. With this being said, the bystanders most likely looked to other bystanders to know how to react to the situation, and everyone was responding by ignoring the emergency and going on with the party.
  • Diffusion of responsibility: It is possible that the bystanders of the emergency thought that there were so many other people at the party, someone must have had called 911. Bystanders also may have assumed it was the president of the fraternity or the upperclassmen’s responsibility to get help.

Tragedies can be avoided if the proper help is initiated. However, due to the bystander effect, witnesses of an emergency often fail to get involved or get help because of audience inhibition, social influence, and/or diffusion of responsibility. Unfortunately, it is possible that the bystander effect contributed to the wrongful and premature death of Tim Piazza. As college students, it is important that we keep the bystander effect in mind if we are ever in an emergency situation like the one Tim and his fraternity brothers were in. Remembering the bystander effect could actually save a life.

 

References:

Latané, B., & Nida, S. (1981). Ten years of research on group size and helping. Psychological Bulletin, 89(2), 308-324. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.89.2.308

Pallotto, Bret. (2019). It’s Been 2 Years Since Tim Piazza’s Death at Penn State. Here’s What’s Happened Since. Retrieved from: https://www.centredaily.com/news/local/community/state-college/article225340915.html

Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., and Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2012). Applied Social Psychology. Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Wallace, Benjamin. (2017). How a Fatal Frat Hazing Became Penn State’s Latest Campus Crisis. Retrieved from: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/10/penn-state-fraternity-hazing-death

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09
Oct 18

The Bystander Effect

This week we learned about the bystander effect which states that “people are less likely to help in an emergency when other bystanders are present” (Schneider, Gruman, Coutts, p. 247, 2012). I first learned about the bystander effect in a previous psychology class when the case of Kitty Genovese, who was brutally murdered in front of her apartment building in 1964. A number of her neighbors, and likely people on the street, heard her screams and no one called the police (Gruman et al, p. 247, 2012).That story really stuck with me for a long time, and I thought back to all of the times that I was guilty of witnessing a situation where someone may need help and fell pray to a diffusion of responsibility, or diminished sense of responsibility because others would or should have already intervened (Gruman et al, p. 247, 2012).

Since first hearing about Kitty, I’ve made it a personal goal of mine to confirm that someone else has already assisted when someone needs help. I’ve pulled over when people are stranded on the side of the road, for example, way more than I used to (and when it’s safe, of course) because there is no guarantee that the person has a way of getting help. After reading about Kitty, and about Matti this week, it breaks my heart to think that I could someday have the chance to make a difference and not take it because someone else MIGHT have already helped. Too much help is better than none in most cases.

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01
Apr 17

Bystander Inaction

Bystander Inaction
Like 7-Eleven assault, more likely with more witnesses, experts say

A phenomenon known as the bystander effect states that, “people are less likely to help in an emergency when other bystanders are present (Schneider, 2011).” This event occurs as a result of diminished sense of responsibility in the presence of other bystanders who witnessed the emergency occur. Traumatic events may trigger a period of inaction in a public setting where people typically do not involve themselves in situations if other people are present. In several cases, bystanders assume someone else will help and do not take the responsibility on themselves. Witnesses in these situations tend to remain lethargic, detached, and hesitant as they try to process what just happened.

Marques Gaines became the unsuspected victim of assault one early morning. He was found lying motionless in the streets of Chicago after being punched and knocked unconscious. Several people lingered over his stock-stilled body, but no one bothered to carry him out of the traffic-jammed road. No one helped him into a safer spot away from the road. Careless actions led to the preventable fatality of Marques Gaines, who was reported dead after a taxi driver ran him over.

What situational factors contribute to the diffusion of responsibility? Where people tend to not act out or speak up in crowds, because they are unsure of what to think about the existing conflict. In some cases, people do not want to involve themselves because they fear that their own safety may be put at stake. Everyone is going to be put in situations where they do not feel comfortable, but when it comes to being the witness of someone being victimized or in danger, I do not understand how people can sit back and not do anything to help. Too many people assume that other people will do something about it, and move on from the situation. What if you switched places with the person who truly needed your help? How would you feel if they walked away from you? Helping others is a feeling of achievement and pride that builds you into a stronger person. There should not be many exceptions as to why people should not want to help others, unless their life is truly threatened in that situation as well.

Taking moral responsibility for your own actions is important. Although, if you are with a group of spectators following an emergency situation, you should try to communicate with each other and figure out how each of you can best contribute to the situation. You can discuss your personal skills or resources that you may be able to implement to make the best out of the situation, as well as provide help to those who need it. In several cases, bystanders are all experiencing feelings of confusion and hesitance. It takes one person to step up and be a leader. You could possibly save a life one day, and that is one of the most rewarding feelings you could perpetrate (O’Connell & Lee, 2016).

APA CITATION:

Schneider, Frank W., Gruman, Jamie A.,Coutts, Larry. M. (2011). Applied Social Psychology: Intervention and Evaluation (Second Edition, pp. 247).

O’Connell, P. M., & Lee, W. (2016, April 23). Bystander inaction, like 7-Eleven assault, more likely with more witnesses, experts say. Retrieved April 01, 2017, from http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-bystander-effect-bartender-death-met-20160421-story.html

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19
Apr 15

Recreating cool – Stop Bullying Now

by Cynthia Roebuckcool to be kind

Bullying happens everywhere in classrooms and playgrounds in our youth’s lives, but also it is happening on our college campuses and even workplaces and our personal adult lives. Bullying has gained lots of recognition in the media with schools implementing anti-bulling programs. But most of these programs seem to attack the already developed behavior whereas addressing why the behavior was allowed to develop into a problem for society has less attention. In letters shared between Einstein and Freud, Freud argued that aggression was natural (Einstein & Freud, 1932), but behavior can be modified through social learning principles. Bandura posits that situational, cognitive, and reinforcement controls should be targeted instead of focusing on traits or historical reasons and brings to the topic Ackerman’s beliefs that the child acts out not because they are not loved, but because they cannot trust (Bandura, 1973, p. 245).

This points to the importance of the moral climate in a classroom, because this is where youth develop an understanding of what the social norms are for aggression, and it is an area in much need of research when considering the commonality across the world of school violence occurring (Alexitch, 2012, p.210).  Because most emerging adults socialize primarily in an electronic environment via text, chat, social media, and video games, they are faced with forms of indirect aggression in the form of social bullying called cyberbullying. This form of bullying involves directly telling a person they are not wanted, excluding them from group activities, ignoring, spreading rumors, keeping other friends away, and creating situations where the person will be embarrassed. This is understood to be a form of psychological violence carried out to inflict psychological harm onto another (StuartCassel, Terzain, and Bradshaw, 2013; Taki, Slee, Hymel, Pepler, Sim & Swearer, 2008).

Taki et al. did a longitudinal comparative study to determine the long-term effects of indirect aggression in Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Korea, and the United States (2008).  They found there to be long lasting psychological harm caused from indirect aggression, but because the scars were not visible proper attention to the seriousness of this behavior are not considered thoroughly enough ( p. 4).  They identify three forms — “membership, power of exchangeable status, and frequency of victimization” (p. 6), and it occurs in several scenarios — taking something away, teasing, ignoring, and exclusion (p. 7).  Interestingly enough, collectivist societies have given this type of bullying its own name — Japan: ijime and Korea: wang-ta.  Is cyberbullying a version of this in America?

Interventions to prevent bullying behavior from developing should be set in place at grade schools to encourage a collaboration amongst students in order to break down the social barriers by modifying aggressive behaviors in individuals through showing alternative ways to work together. This is why the jigsaw classrooms have been invited into places like Columbine in Colorado to try to counteract the negative effects of cliques (Gilbert, 2001).  Aronson was invited to Columbine to advise on a collaborative learning environment called the jigsaw classroom that restructures the classroom environment into smaller groups with students engaging with each other to collectively accomplish the requirements of the lesson instead of competing to be better than one another (McNulty, 2004).  The jigsaw classrooms have shown to change the attitudes of students and lead to behavioral change as stereotypes are discarded as classmates begin to see more than the one dimensional stereotype through interaction with one another (APA, 2015).  This approach to learning has also been found to be successful in undergraduate studies (Lom, 2012).

Together we can better identify and make known what bullying is, so we can remove any ambiguity surrounding recognizing direct and indirect aggressive bullying behavior.  If we do, then, the bystander effect where someone may not help will be reduced, because recognizing that a person is being bullied will easily be seen for what it is.  In the meantime, take a moment each day to do one random act of kindness through engaging with your environment.  Set an example that it is okay to care, and speak up…

4663156174_c01e37500b_b

References

Alexitch, L.R. (2012). Applying Social Psychology to Education in Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.) F.W. Schnedier, J.A. Gruman, & L.M. Coutts (Eds.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN 978-1412976381.

APA. (2015). How to Build a Better Educational System: Jigsaw Classrooms. American Psychological Association. Retrieved 30 January 2015 from http://www.apa.org/research/action/jigsaw.aspx.

Bandura, A. (1973). Aggression. Prentice-Hall. ISBN: 0-13-020743-8.

Einstein, A & Freud, S (1932). Why war? Einstein’s letter to Freud and Freud’s Response. Sequoia Free Press reprint 2010. ASIN: B003NZ932K.

Gilbert, S. (2001). A CONVERSATION WITH/Elliot Aronson; No One Left to Hate: Averting Columbines. New York Times.  Retrieved 23 March 2015 from http://www.njbullying.org/Aronsoninterview.txt.

Lom, B. (2012). Classroom Activities: Simple Strategies to Incorporate Student-Centered Activities within Undergraduate Science Lectures. Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education, 11(1), A64–A71.

Maryland GovPics. (2014). It’s Cool to be Nice. First Lady Katie O’Malley Attends a National Anti Bullying Event at Mother Seton Academy. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/mdgovpics/15356566737/in/photolist-pFd5sr-pDmkbA-oJAgRh-oJAghw-pp1qh2-oJAfcq-poZH4S-pFd1t4-pp1odT-pp3ixj-pFw1ML-pp3hv9-pp3gTY-pFrGfX-q7s3Rr-duXQEq-oJDgN4-a3wTiC-dpdReD-dpe1kJ-dpdQRp-dpdZPd-dpdQmr-dpdZus-dpdQ1B-dpdPPP-dpdZ1S-dpdPwi-dpdPo6-dpdPbT-dpdNXZ-dpdNNM-dpdNDv-dpdXQA-dpdXDw-dpdXrC-dpdMT4-dpdMJV-dpdWTJ-dpdMkp-dpdMan-dpdWhW-dpdW4W-dpdVV9-dpdLfk-dpdKW8-dpdV51-dpdUVE-dpdUL7-dpdUsW.

McNulty, J. (2004). Preventing Columbine: Psychologist Elliot Aronson delivers Faculty Emeritus Lecture February 11. UC Santa Cruz Currents Online. Retrieved from http://currents.ucsc.edu/03-04/02-02/aronson.html.

Stuart-Cassel, V, Terzain, M, & Bradshaw, C. (2013). SOCIAL BULLYING: Correlates, Consequences, and Prevention. Safe Supportive Learning.  Retrieved 18 Feb 2015 from http://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/sites/default/files/1315%20NCSSLE%20Social%20Bullying%20d7_lvr_0.pdf.

Taki, M., Slee, P., Hymel, S., Sim, H-O, & Swearer, S. (2008). A New Definition and Scales for Indirect Aggression in Schools. International Journal of Violence and School. Retrieved 2 Feb 2015 from http://www.ijvs.org/files/Revue-07/01.-Taki-Ijvs-7.pdf.

Working Word. (2009). Anti-bullying Respect Tour 2009. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/workingword/4663156174/in/photolist-874TSo-5ZZxpm-hSsF8H-hSsE4m-bzbf5r-4ZXvxq-bmgnJW-bmgn1C-bmgiys-bmgV25-bzbMdz-bmgUDA-bmgUpd-bzbLwp-bmgTYj-bzbL7c-bzbKVc-bzbKJ6-bmgT1C-bzbK7X-bzbfR4-bzbfEB-bmgnzU-bzbePH-bzbeoK-bmgmxL-bmgmmy-bzbdBp-bzbdqV-bzbdag-bmgkm5-bmgkbj-bmgjWE-bzbcoH-bmgjBj-bzbbWT-bzbbJt-bmgiXU-bzbbm6-bmgijY-bmgi77-bmghSC-bzbabx-bzb9M4-bmggXj-bmggN5-bmggA3-bmggqW-bzb8KV-bzbKyi.

by Cynthia Roebuck
April 19, 2015

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05
Apr 15

Urban Overload, starring the bystanders . . .

by Cynthia Roebuck

Rushing to our next destination we give very little thought to the obstacle we jump or the homeless person we avoid eye contact with because all we had in our pocket was a card.  It was just a blur.  The ear buds keep the hellos from reaching our ears, and we use these psychological tricks to compartmentalize and filter sidewalk and commuting moments so we can accomplish all we need to do in our time budgeted sensitive lives. These are the six identifiable signs of stimulus overload Milgram (1977) identified. Some times we can find ourselves so caught up in our lives that we can miss a tree of money that Amy Krause Rosenthal and friends demonstrate in this video.

Courtesy Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s “The Money Tree” (copyright reserved)

In this light hearted video of kind minded folks, the possible stimulus overload showing some self-absorbed people is humorous.  But, when an ambiguous emergency situation is happening, people may retreat into themselves and look to others in the area for social cues on what to do.  When no one else is reacting, personal responsibility becomes diffused into the group lessening the dissonance one may feel for a need to react.  Unfortunately, if all people in the immediate environment of an ambiguous emergency situation fall victim to the bystander effect no help at all may be rendered (Lafreniere, Page, & Senn, 2012, p. 313).

Aronson, Wilson, & Akert (2012) in their fantastic introductory textbook to social psychology discuss a significant piece of research showing how to take the power away from this effect.  It’s very simple.  Make people aware of it.  Beman, Barnes, Klentz, & McQuirk’s (1978) randomly assigned students to two groups where one listened to a Latane and Darley (1970) lecture on the bystander effect and the other listened to a random lecture (as cited in Aronson et al., 2012). Then, two weeks went by and the participants were called in for an unrelated sociology lecture by Beaman et al. who invented this lecture as an excuse to get the students on a path were a confederate was laying on the floor in an ambiguous enough manner that it could not be immediately understood if the confederate was hurt or sleeping (as cited in Aronson, et al., 2012, pp. 344). Students who had listened to the bystander effect two weeks prior even when accompanied by a confederate who acted unconcerned took responsibility of engaging in the situation to ascertain if something was in fact wrong 43% of the time; whereas participants who were not aware of the bystander effect engaged with the confederate laying on the floor only 25% of the time (Aronson et al., 2012, p. 345). This is good evidence to warrant community workshops that make residents aware of this effect so as to prevent it from happening.

This research along with my classmates saying again and again in their personal responses to a question posed in our class about how much of an affect knowing about this effect had on their lives that I felt it warranted time in one of my blog posts.  An introduction to this phenomena should be given by police when doing community projects on crime prevention.  It should be introduced to young people as a way of discouraging bullying, because if they see something, they should say something.  If we are made aware of why and how apathy forms, then maybe we can change it into empathy and work towards engaging with our environments more.

So as I balance through my day, I keep my eyes open because I know so many will not, but now after reading this I hope you too will keep your eyes open and begin again to engage with your community.  Enjoy life, start seeing your environment & make it better.

editted urban overload

References

Aronson, E., Wilson, T.D., & Akert, R.M. (2010). Social Psychology. Seventh Edition. Prentice Hall. ISBN 10:0-13-814478-8.

Lafreniere, KD, Page, S. & Senn, CY. (2012). Applying Social Psychology to the Community. (2nd ed.) F.W. Schnedier, J.A. Gruman, & L.M. Coutts (Eds.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN 978- 1412976381.

Milgram, S. (1977). The individual in a social world: essays and experiments. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co.

Roebuck, CM. (2014). Urban Overload. Markers and Paper.

Rosenthal, AK. (2010). The Money Tree. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsN8FUV9nS4.

 

 

 

 

 

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