Personal Narrative: Darley And Latane's Decision Tree

This summer, a few family members and I went to see a show at the Muny. During intermission, a woman apparently fell down the steps. I did not notice at first, so I initially hit a blip at Stage 1 of Darley and Latane’s Decision Tree. All I noticed was the densely packed crowd of people on the stairs a few rows behind me. I stood up and saw that someone was lying face down on them. I assumed that because there were so many bystanders, they had it taken care of and that all I would do is get in the way. I was tempted to diffuse my responsibility permanently. After what felt like several minutes, nothing had been done and the woman was still lying there. I edged my way over and asked the people closest to her head if she was responsive or not. They said no and I understood it to be an emergency situation. Once again, I assumed that it was being …show more content…
My aunt has an aboveground pool in her backyard that we swim in for hours upon hours everyday. A neighbor, about a year younger than me, and I were playing in the pool when my two year old cousin came outside, completely naked and jumped into the pool with us. I did not notice, but my friend yelled my name. In that moment, it was only us out there and it was an emergency. I assumed responsibility and got her out of the pool successfully. The number of bystanders was very influential in this situation. I knew that if I did not help her, no one would. It is similar to the situation in Darley and Latane’s (1968) study where the subjects in the (perceived) groups of two responded much more quickly. I think this is a good example of the social-responsibility norm (Myers, 2015, p. 389-390). My cousin needed to help and so I did what I could to assist. I did not feel anxious about this event; I simply did what was necessary and did not feel panicked or emotional. This is a response I have to emergencies to this