Bystander Effect: Lack Of Apathy And Effect

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Bystander Apathy and Effect

First of all, the bystander effect is something that occurs when a person is seeing a scene or crime but is not taking part in it. Many psychologists think that the rate of this effect depends of how many people are present or are seeing the scene. In fact, the term bystander effect refers to the phenomenon in which the greater the number of people present, the less likely people are to help a person in distress. So when an emergency situation occurs, observers will be more able to take part of it if there is a few or no other witnesses. Being a part of a big crowd makes it so no a single person has to take the responsibility for an action.(“Wikipedia contributors”) One of the most cited examples of the bystander effect is the murder of a young woman named Catherine “Kitty” Genovese who was killed in March, 1964 when she was coming back from work. She was stabbed in front of her apartment entrance by a man identified lately as Winston Moseley.
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This case became very famous 50 years later because it has been reported into the New York Times as an article to explain that 37 neighbors witnessed were present during the attack but didn’t call the police to help the victim.("What Is the Bystander Effect?")
This case was lately used as an example to explain the phenomenon of the bystander effect as well known as the diffusion of responsibility. Psychologist began to find an explanation to this effect
Hermant

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