Often times individuals are faced with situations that are not morally acceptable to society. Bystanders who witness a conflict are obligated to generate a decision of whether to isolate themselves from the scene or take responsibility into their own. Although it is shocking when an individual is unwilling to help another in a time of need, people need to discern the reasoning of why they believe it is not their responsibility to intervene. The attack in New York City launched a whole new feel of study into something that became known as the bystander effect—why some people can see something bad happened right before their eyes and failed to act. In 1964 the stabbing of a twenty-eight year old woman coming home from work one night in New
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The trouble with this assumption, however, is that by not intervening—one less person acknowledging the person being in a state of emergency. Consequently, when encountering an emergency situation, the greater number of people present the less likely will an individual take action (Newsweek). To illustrate, taking into account the middle class area in Kew Gardens, where Catherine Genovese was repeatedly stabbed, takes a toll on why neighbors hesitated in calling the police. Most individuals have the mentally of assuming those people who are on the street are not productive individuals and are only on the streets for trouble. Granted, neighbors who did not call nor lacked the help to save the woman “seek almost automatically to disengage himself from the life of the street; he is on it only from necessity, rarely for pleasure” (175). By living in a society of individualism allows for only people taking care of themselves and not engage in other people’s business—encouraging inaction in emergencies. Therefore, when they hear a man or woman in need of help, their outlook towards this issue is irrelevant to their lives, and they disregard any concerns taking place in the street. Consequently, not taking the step of calling the police leads in lacking the ability to call the police when dealing with a severe problem. Neighbors are not willing to take the action in helping another individual since they believe it is not their issue and disdain
The trouble with this assumption, however, is that by not intervening—one less person acknowledging the person being in a state of emergency. Consequently, when encountering an emergency situation, the greater number of people present the less likely will an individual take action (Newsweek). To illustrate, taking into account the middle class area in Kew Gardens, where Catherine Genovese was repeatedly stabbed, takes a toll on why neighbors hesitated in calling the police. Most individuals have the mentally of assuming those people who are on the street are not productive individuals and are only on the streets for trouble. Granted, neighbors who did not call nor lacked the help to save the woman “seek almost automatically to disengage himself from the life of the street; he is on it only from necessity, rarely for pleasure” (175). By living in a society of individualism allows for only people taking care of themselves and not engage in other people’s business—encouraging inaction in emergencies. Therefore, when they hear a man or woman in need of help, their outlook towards this issue is irrelevant to their lives, and they disregard any concerns taking place in the street. Consequently, not taking the step of calling the police leads in lacking the ability to call the police when dealing with a severe problem. Neighbors are not willing to take the action in helping another individual since they believe it is not their issue and disdain