Have you ever been in a crowd and a fight starts?
Or seen a video of people being brutalized while bystanders mill around?
Why don't we step in and help!?
What's wrong with people?
In 1964, Kitty Genovese was raped and murdered in New York City, people nearby who were aware
the crime was being committed did nothing -- psychologists called this the Bystander
Effect.
According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, two-thirds of all violent crime victimizations
had a bystander.
The news constantly cycles cell phone videos of fights, arrests, shootings, brutalization,
and they occasionally feature bystanders just milling around!
Bystander in full effect!
What's going on here?
Psychologists have found humans in groups are less likely to come to the aid of someone
in need, even if they would have jumped to a rescue when alone.
In one 2014 study, 5-year-olds refrained from helping a "confused" experimenter when in
a group, but readily assisted when alone.
Other studies have shown this extends to online environments too!
But still, what the heck?
Shouldn't we want to help people all the time?
Bystander effect seems to be a combination of two things: Pluralistic Ignorance, and
Diffusion of Responsibility.
Pluralistic Ignorance is the idea that without ever saying anything to other members of the
group we assume everyone is on the same page.
When other people DON'T act, we assume everyone has decided it's fine.
We are social group animals, not solitary ones, and thus, we look to those around us
for the social prompts.
Diffusion of Responsibility says that we are less likely to take responsibility when others
are present; because the responsibility is now spread across everyone.
This is multiplied in emergency situations: where we have to act quickly and make decisions
without being able to talk them out.
It seems comical to shout shouldn't someone do something?
But that's how our minds work!
We've diffused the responsibility to the group, and what we want to do is ambiguous!
Thus no one makes a decision and we all become victims of the bystander effect.
A 1969 experiment in American Scientist, put people in a room and asked them to fill out
a questionnaire; then, researchers slowly pumped smoke into the room.
When alone, 75 percent of the subjects noticed the smoke, and calmly went to report it.
But, when other researchers were in the room pretending to be subjects (who wouldn't react
no matter what happened) only 10 percent of the people reported the smoke, even when it
was SO THICK they couldn't see their questionnaire!
Security cameras have been found to reduce the strength of the bystander effect because
we want to perform a good deed for this imagined audience; but that doesn't translate to cell
phone cameras.
A clinical psychologist told Boston Magazine, “We tend to get reinforced for [recording
fights with our cameras].
It can show up on the news, or get a million hits on YouTube," or increase social status
with your friends.
Plus, the footage may help an authority bring the right person to justice, or solve the
issue later, which reinforces personal recordings further!
Is there a cure for the bystander effect?
Yes!
Someone just has to act.
If someone jumps in the pool to save a splashing kid; takes charge and tells someone to call
911 after an injury; or steps in to stop a fight… responsibility isn't diffused any
longer, and Pluralistic Ignorance is broken.
It is easy to think you'd do something different when watching a video at home by yourself,
but standing with other people in the moment complicates things intensely.
People who do act are called active bystanders, and according to Psychology Today, they "tend
to have heightened concern for the welfare of others, greater feelings of social responsibility
and a greater commitment to moral values."
As an Eagle Scout, I was taught to step in and help, as were emergency responders, veterans,
and others in our society; but it's never easy to overcome our instincts and evolved
social responses.
Psychology can get nebulous on the best of days, and while this is heavily studied, the
exact reasons we do this are still unclear.
As always, more research is needed.