Psychology

The bystander effect (Genovese effect or syndrome) is a social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases where individuals fail to assist in an emergency situation where other people are present. In the past, the probability of help has been thought to be inversely proportional to the number of bystanders, thus the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that one will help you. The people around assume nothing is wrong because nobody else looks concerned. Observers are more likely to take action if there are a few or no other witnesses. The opposite of bystander effect is bystander intervention, which states that if a person requires help, another person, unaccompanied by friends or witnesses is much more likely to offer help.

When a group of people witnesses a person in need of help, confusion begins to arise about who should assist and most people assume that another person will intervene thus ending up not assisting the one in need (Christensen, n.d). In their research, Latane and Darley found out that the amount of time it takes the participant to take action and seek help varies depending on how many other observers are present (1969). They found out that the bystanders go through a five steps process during each of which they can decide to act or not.

The first step is where they notice the event or they are in a hurry and pretend not to notice. The second step is where they realize the emergency or assume that because others are not acting it is not an emergency. In the third step they assume responsibility or assume that others will help. The fourth step is where they know or do not know what to do. And in the last step they act i.e. they worry about danger, legislation or embarrassment (httpchangingminds.orgexplanationstheoriesbystander_effect.htm, n.d)

There are two major factors that contribute to the bystander effect. The first one is the presence of other people which creates a diffusion of responsibility. Because there are other observers, individuals do not feel much pressure to take action. The responsibility to take action is thought to be shared among all the present individuals. The observers assume that the other party will intervene and as a result they feel less responsible. Secondly, there is the need to correctly and in a manner that is socially acceptable. When other observers fail to intervene, individuals in the scene take this as a signal that a response is not needed or not appropriate. The onlookers may also fail to intervene if the situation seems ambiguous (Baron, Branscombe  Byrne, 2008).

There are several reasons why people may choose not to help. To begin with, individuals assuming other bystanders are more qualified to help in times of need for example presence of police officers or doctors. As a result, they feel as though their intervention would be unhelpful and therefore unnecessary. The other reason why people fail to act is as a result of evaluation apprehension, where some people feel self conscious about the image they portray to other bystanders. To avoid losing face, the individuals choose not to respond to a person in need of aid. Other factors that lead to one not offering help are fears associated with perception, which include fear of being superseded by a superior helper, fear of offering help that is unwanted, or fear of facing legal consequences as a result of offering inferior and perhaps dangerous assistance. There is also fear of victimization where people avoid conflict because they dread being attacked if they help.

The most frequently cited example of the bystander effect by psychologists is the brutal murder of a young woman whose name was Catherine kitty Genovese, on Friday march 13, 1964 (httpchangingminds.orgexplanationstheoriesbystander_effect.htm, n.d). The young lady was returning home after work. While at her entrance she was attacked and stabbed by a man who was later identified as Winston Moseley. Despite her repeated cries for help, none of the witnesses called the police early enough to save her life. It was not until after 30 minutes that the first person contacted the police. If anyone intervened immediately, maybe Genoveses life would have been saved (httpchangingminds.orgexplanationstheoriesbystander_effect.htm, n.d)

There is a five step cognitive model for avoiding the bystander effects as developed by the psychological community. The steps include, noticing something is happening by basically paying attention and knowing what is going on. Try to asses the situation as best as you can from your own knowledge and do not turn to others to see what they are doing.  Interpreting the situation if it is an emergency, then, taking responsibility and lastly choosing a form of assistance and implementing it immediately (BBC, 2001).

In order to overcome the bystanders effect, there are some things that you need to do when you witness an attack. First, use your cell phone or any other phone and dial whatever the emergency number is in your region you can do it at a distance from the attack and you can remain anonymous if you want. Secondly follow your gut instincts if you sense that something is not right, it probably isnt. The third thing is to suppress your what if I am wrong, what if I embarrass myself inside voice. The effects caused on the victim as a result of the attack might be worse than the effect of a little embarrassment on you. The fourth thing is to empathize with the person being attacked. One should be able to help irrespective of whether you share the same social group or if you have connection with the victim in some way. You should see the victim as another student, sister, brother, or in fact another human being just like you.

The fifth thing you need to do to overcome this effect is to get training. This is because the major reason making bystanders not intervene in times of emergency is quite simple, they do not know. Bystanders know very well that they should do something but have no clue what course of action to take and are scared of doing something wrong or make things worse. So if for example you want to stop sexual assault, you should research on how to identify and stop such situations. This will prepare you and also make you confident on what to do when the right time comes. Then you should know that your intervention will help no matter what. Some actions like yelling, shouting loudly, or calling the police do not need special training. The more you are knowledgeable about something, the more you are capable be of dealing with it in the right manner. If you convince yourself that the reason you cannot help is because this effect is distorting your judgment, then, you are more likely to overcome it and take action.       

While it would appear like a person in a public place is relatively safe from an attack, it might not be the case as proven by research on the bystander effect. To counter this effect, if you are attacked in front of a crowd, you should appeal to one person in the crowd only, eye contact with that person may also be helpful in gaining help. The other thing that may help is to make people understand that the bystander effect exists. Being aware of this means that when you see a crime occurring you should possibly try to offer some help (Baron, Branscombe  Byrne, 2008). Shouting at other people watching the crime with you might also be very helpful as this will motivate others in the crowd to intervene. The other thing is that if you see a crime happening do remember to call the police, do not just assume that another person might have called already.

Anyone on the street has the power to intervene when we see something wrong happening. More often than not, all it takes is just a single word or gesture to show the perpetrator that people can notice. The only problem that people face, is overcoming the social forces and tiny voices that run through our heads telling us that we cannot for one reason or another. In other words, we should not be afraid or insecure to take action no matter how difficult it is since the little action you take can save a life.