The Bystander Effect

DISCLAIMER: This blog post discusses topics covering m*rder and SA. Reader's discretion advised.

Hello! Last week I briefly mentioned the bystander effect in my post "Freaky Friday Files: Friday the 13th" and a few people commented that they'd like to know more about it and I also did a poll on my Instagram story asking what YT video you wanted to see next and the results were the bystander effect so here we go!

Here is my YT video!

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The Bystander Effect (Bystander Apathy)

What is the Bystander Effect?

According to Wikipedia, the bystander effect "is a social psychological theory that states that individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim in the presence of other people." This theory was popularised by two social psychologists, John. M Darley and Bibb Latané in 1968. These two psychologists became interested in the bystander effect following the death of Kitty Genovese (but don't worry, we'll talk about that case soon).

Darley and Latané created a series of experiments that paved the way for one of the most replicable experiments in social psychology. These went something like this

• A participant is either alone OR among a group of other participants

• An emergency situation becomes staged

• Researchers then measure HOW long it takes for participants to intervene OR if they intervene at all

• Results found that the presence of others largely inhibits helping

• In 1969, they staged a different experiment where a woman was in distress. Participants were either alone, with a stranger, or with a friend. 70% of the people who were alone called out or helped the woman, BUT when they were paired with a stranger, only 40% helped. For the friend pairs, it was also found to be 70%, but the researchers emphasise that there are twice as many people who are able to intervene. They say, "It may be that people are less likely to fear possible embarrassment in front of friends than before strangers, and that friends are less likely to misinterpret each other's inaction than are strangers. If so, social influence should be less likely to lead friends to decide there is no emergency than strangers" - (Latané and Darley, 1969, p. 257). It's likely that friends who already know each other are more likely to be able to interpret each other's thoughts/non-verbal cues more easily, and if one friend says "We need to get help," then the other friend might go "Okay, let's do that".

• Latané and Darley (1969, p.257) said the following about strangers, "Attempting to interpret what they had heard and to decide upon a course of action, they often glanced furtively at one another, apparently anxious to discover the other's reaction yet unwilling to meet eyes and betray their own concern." This could be to do with the fear of being judged by the other person.

  
  

Latané and Darley (1969, p.367) claim, "When an emergency occurs in a large city, a crowd is likely to gather; the crowd members are likely to be strangers; and it is likely that no one will be acquainted with the victim." Therefore, to generalise their results, it's less likely that a stranger will intervene in a large crowd, as usually they think that someone else has already intervened, and if they themselves intervene, then they might be causing more trouble.

There are also variables that may impact the bystander effect and who intervenes in certain situations. Latané and Darley believe that this is to do with how the bystander asks for help. For example, if the victim gave their name, more people were likely to help, and when subjects asked for a dime by explaining that their wallet had been lost, 72% of people were more likely to help them out. However, if they just asked for a dime, fewer bystanders were of assistance.

So what led to all this research about the so-called bystander effect? Well, let's talk about the murder of Kitty Genovese. TW: m*rder.

Murder of Kitty Genovese & Media Inaccuracies

On the 13th of March, 1964, around 3:15 am, 28-year-old bartender Kitty Genovese was SA'd and st*bbed to death outside her apartment building in Queens, New York, USA. Kitty had left work at a local bar at 2:30 am and drove home in her red Fiat car. As she was waiting for a traffic light to change, Winston Moseley spotted her. He was sitting in his parked Chevrolet Corvair. Kitty parked her car and headed towards her building, and as she did so, Moseley came out of his vehicle (he had followed her home) and approached Kitty with a h*nting kn*fe.

Kitty ran towards the front of her building, still being chased by Moseley. He overtook her and st*bbed her two times in the back. Kitty screamed, "Oh my God, he stabbed me! Help me!" One neighbour shouted, "Let [leave] that girl alone". Moseley ran away, and Kitty made her way towards the rear of the building, where there were no witnesses and a locked door.

Moseley then got into his car and left. But 10 minutes later, he came back. He shadowed his face with a hat and went searching for Kitty. He found Kitty, who was barely conscious, and had come across a locked door that prevented her from going inside. Moseley then st*bbed Kitty several more times, SA'd her, and then stole $49 from her. The attacks went on for at least 1 hour and a half, and it appeared that Kitty had attempted to defend herself as she had wounds on her hands.

Following the 2nd attack, one neighbour came out and found Kitty and held her until an ambulance arrived. I'll get into this more in detail below, but some people had attempted to call authorities when they heard Kitty's cries; however, as the 911 emergency system had not yet been implemented in New York (it would be 4 years later), the calls weren't considered urgent (gah wtf?). Kitty passed away at 4:15 am on the way to the hospital in an ambulance.

Why did this case lead to what we know today as the "bystander effect"? Well, two weeks after the m*rder, the New York Times published an article that claimed there were 37-38 witnesses who either saw or heard Kitty's attack, and none of them intervened or called authorities. This case prompted studies into the bystander effect.

HOWEVER, further investigations into the NY Times article found that the article reported major inaccuracies about the case, i.e., there weren't actually this many witnesses, AND police reports from the case DID show that many people attempted to call authorities. I don't have the police records because I am not a detective lol BUT according to Wikipedia, one witness to Kitty's m*rder said that his dad had called the police following the first attack and that he said a woman was "beat up, but got up and was staggering around" and another witness Karl Ross who saw the second attack called his friends about what to do and then called the police. I'm not sure who they called in 1968 if there was no 911, but I'm glad some people did call.

Because people believed that no one tried to help, we got the bystander effect (also known as apathy or the Genovese syndrome). In 2016, the NY Times called their own reporting on the case "flawed" and suggested that the original (OG) story "grossly exaggerated the number of witnesses and what they had perceived."

Moseley was found a few days later and arrested. He spent the rest of his life in prison until he passed away in 2016. I don't really wanna give much detail on the perpetrator because that's not the point of this blog, we want to remember Kitty and the whole life she had ahead of her.

Manning, Levine, and Collins (2007) argue that although the NY Times article claiming there were 38 witnesses to the crime was entirely misleading, it paved the way for Latané and Darley to delve into the dynamics of intervention in emergencies and other scenarios, leading to the concept of the bystander effect. The authors also criticise the inclusion of the number of witnesses in psychology textbooks, noting that despite the inaccuracy of this information, it has contributed to insights into human behaviour, particularly in crowd situations. So if the misreporting didn't occur, would we still have as much knowledge on the bystander effect as we do today?

So what are some other real life examples of where we can see the bystander effect occurring?

Other Real Life Examples

• Jane Doe of Richmond High - On the 24th October, 2009 around 9:30 pm, in Richmond, San Francisco Bay, California, a female student who went to Richmond High school was g*ng r*ped by a group of males in the school's courtyard while the homecoming dance was being held in the school's gym. The victim was invited to drink with a few classmates and others, all aged 15 - 40. She was propositioned for s*x and when she declined, she was r*ped by a foreign object on the concrete for over 2 hours (so awful, I'm so sorry). Alcohol was also poured down her throat, and she was found to have almost fatal levels of blood alcohol. Allegedly, 20 people saw the attack, and some of them even videotaped it. None of these bystanders called the police. However, after the attack, 1 person called the police. 6 men were imprisoned, but only 4 of them pleaded guilty. The other two went to trial and were found guilty. The victim also received a $4 million settlement from the school district in 2011.

• Raymond Zack - This case has conflicting reports, but this is what we know from Wikipedia. On the 30th May, 2011 (Memorial Day in the USA), 53-year-old Raymond Zack from Alameda, California, walked into the waters of Robert Crown Memorial Beach. He stood neck-deep in water for about 1 hour. He was 150 yards from the shore (or 137 metres if you use the metric system like me). His foster mother, Dolores Berry, called 911, saying that Raymond couldn't swim and he was trying to dr*wn himself. Police and firefighters responded to her call, but they didn't enter the water. The police thought that the firefighters would enter the water, but the firefighters said they didn't have the correct training or funding to get the training to do so. Apparently, there was a memo that contradicted the lack of funding. Allegedly, the Coast Guard sent out a boat, but it either didn't get there or went too far, as there was never a boat. Lots of people were watching from the beaches, and only one person was going to go in. When she started to take off her shoes, she was told by the police not to go in and let the authorities handle it. Eventually, Raymond collapsed in the water due to hypothermia, and by then, it still took another 20 minutes for someone to enter the water. A woman ended up pulling Raymond's body to shore, and he passed away in the hospital later that day. This case is just really sad, no one helped, and when someone tried, she was overruled by the police. What do you do in that situation? Listen to authority or disobey police orders? I feel like people could have easily helped save Raymond if someone just went out there and asked what he was doing, because wtf? RIP Raymond. There was also a lawsuit in 2013 which claimed that public safety officials had no legal duty to save Raymond Zack. WTF? This case just keeps getting worse. To me, if someone was in danger and couldn't swim, the right thing to do would be to help.

• Jane Doe of Philadelphia - On the 13th of October, 2021, a female passenger was SA'd by another male passenger on SEPTA's Market-Frankford Line in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This attack occurred around 9:20 pm, and the male harassed the female for 30 minutes while she tried to push him off her. At 9:53 pm, the male perpetrator ripped off her pants and r*ped her for 6 minutes. There were several witnesses, and no one did anything to help (no one tried to intervene, and no one called authorities). It wasn't until after the attack that another worked boarded the train, noticed something was off, and called 911. The perpetrator was arrested 3 minutes after the phone call to 911. Many scholars and social workers believe this case was an example of the bystander effect.

Why It Happens

Now that we've taken a look at some examples, why does the bystander effect happen? Why do people not intervene when there's an emergency? Why do people feel less pressured to help when there are others around?

• Diffusion of responsibility - According to Very Well Mind, diffusion of responsibility "is a psychological phenomenon in which people are less likely to take action when in the presence of a large group of people." When other people are around, the responsibility shifts and we think "Oh that person is over there, they will help" OR "why does it have to be me?" There is less pressure on ourselves when there are others around.

• Social pressure - Some people think that they are going to be judged by others for helping, so they don't help. This is known as evaluation apprehension (i.e., the fear of unfavourable public judgement).

• Pluralistic ignorance - This is the belief that when people see that no one else is helping, then it must not be an emergency and people are less likely to intervene if the situation is ambiguous.

So, how can we prevent it?

How To Reduce The Bystander Effect

We can't always prevent the bystander effect in every single situation, BUT there are things we can do to help prevent it. One of these is just being aware of the bystander effect in general, so if we see something is off, we can call for help or intervene. We can educate each other on what it is, so that people know about it too. Another example I learned in psychology classes was if there's an emergency in a crowd, or say someone collapses, point to someone and say, "You call 111/911/000," whatever the country's emergency number is, and they are more likely to call because you've singled them out.

Assuming responsibility for something, and according to the APA, there are 5 D's to help us! This is a direct quote for what to do.

1. Distract - Try to diffuse the situation or cause a distraction, such as making a commotion or engaging a person in small talk to disrupt the harassment.

2. Delegate - Ask for help in intervening, ideally from a person of authority. In an emergency, people should call 911. Or the country's own emergency line.

3. Document - If it is safe to do so, and if the person in need is receiving help, take a video or photo, or write notes on the situation and people involved.

4. Delay - If possible, check in with the person who is the target of the incident and offer assistance or support.

5. Direct - If the target of the incident and everyone else is safe, speak out against the harasser and their behavior.

   
   

If you weren't aware of these things, now you are!

The bystander effect isn't just limited to emergency situations either. It could be you see a person fall over, hear a scream nearby, or see someone with bruises on their arms (i.e., DV).

Human behaviour is very interesting but I think it's super important that we should be aware of things like this so we can help where we can and minmise the bystander effect.

Thank you for reading,

Ash x

P.S: I've provided many readings and resources available online if you would like to learn more.

References/Readings

• Darley, J. M., & Latané, B. (1968). Bystander intervention in emergencies: diffusion of responsibility. Journal of personality and social psychology, 8(4p1), 377.

• Hortensius, R., & De Gelder, B. (2018). From empathy to apathy: The bystander effect revisited. Current directions in psychological science, 27(4), 249-256.

• Latané, B., & Darley, J. M. (1969). Bystander" apathy". American Scientist, 57(2), 244-268.

• Manning, R., Levine, M., & Collins, A. (2007). The Kitty Genovese murder and the social psychology of helping: The parable of the 38 witnesses. American Psychologist, 62(6), 555.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese

• https://www.verywellmind.com/the-bystander-effect-2795899

• https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/05/nyregion/winston-moseley-81-killer-of-kitty-genovese-dies-in-prison.html

• https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-diffusion-of-responsibility-2795095

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaluation_apprehension_model

• https://www.apa.org/pi/health-equity/bystander-intervention

• https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/bystander-effect#prevention

• https://defibsplus.com.au/what-is-the-bystander-effect-and-how-can-we-overcome-it/

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