Bystander Intervention In Emergencies: Article Summary

Introduction The article “Bystander Intervention in Emergencies: Diffusion of Responsibility” was written in 1968 by John M. Darley of New York University and Bibb Latane of Columbia University. The study is based on a 1964 incident in New York in which a young woman by the name of Kitty Genovese, was stabbed to death even though 38 people witnessed the crime from their apartments. None of the witnesses came to her aid or even called the police during the attack even though it lasted for more than half an hour. The point of this experiment attempts to explain reasons bystanders do not get involved when witnessing an emergency. Hypothesis The point of the study was to prove that the more bystanders witnessing an emergency, the less likely, or more slowly anyone will intervene.
Method …show more content…
The participants were told they would be discussing various personal problems with other subjects as a group, but all were to be in separate rooms. They would not be able to see the others but could communicate through microphones and speakers (Darley & Latane, 1968). The students would have two minutes each to speak about the topic of college life. The participant does not know that the other test subjects’ voices are pre-recorded. There are five different treatment conditions varying from one-on-one conversations to groups of six. One pre-recorded voice was that of a student having a seizure. The participant cannot see the student having the seizure (Darley & Latane,