Diffusion of responsibility

It is not as easy as one would think to come to the rescue of another during their time of need. The reasoning behind this is explained by a social-psychological phenomenon known as the 'bystander effect'. The bystander effect refers to cases in which a presence of people deters individuals from providing assistance to a 'victim' in a time of need: the more people there are, the less likely they are to offer help. Possibly the most infamous case of the bystander effect was the 1964 murder of…

The average person only helps twenty percent of the time when others are around, according to the University of Minnesota. This phenomenon is called the bystander effect. People are eighty percent more likely to help someone in need when they are alone versus around other people. Everyone would like to think that they would help someone in need, but in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, a small town’s lottery is a symbol of the bystander effect and how no one questions tradition. The children…

On April 18, 2010 at around 5:30 AM, Hugo Alfred Tale-Yax, a homeless man, was stabbed multiple times by a mugger when trying to help a woman who was about to be the mugger’s victim. He collapsed to the floor and lay there until he died from major blood loss even though about twenty people had walked by that hour (cite). Why would the people just walk by and not at least ask if the man was doing okay? A social psychological phenomenon in which individuals do not assist a victim when others are…

What would you do if you saw someone being treated unfairly and they were in need? Would you help them? In “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee and “Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech” by Elie Wiesel are examples on why bystanders are guilty. People are obligated to stand up for others in need no matter the cost because it is the right thing to do. Bystanders are guilty because doing nothing and just watching can do as much as go against the victim. People have to look out for eachother. Bystanders…

Break away from the group. Identify the problem, take responsibility and act. Acting can save a life. It can change history. It is our most difficult task. To act, a person must leave the group and the group mentality and see the situation as a whole. One, according to Darley and Latene, will act when they know…

The Fatal Third Attack In the article “37 Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police,” Martin Gansberg describe how the death of Catherine Genovese happened and how as many as 37 people witness the murder but did not call the authorities to investigate the situation before it was too late. Gansberg explains that on March 13, 1964, at 3:20 AM, Catherine Genovese had just parked her car and was heading home to her apartment on 82-70 Austin Street, as she was approaching the apartment she noticed a man…

The Bystander Effect In 1964 in New York City, a woman named Kitty Genovese was walking home late at night after work. When she got to her building she was attacked by a man who stabbed her twice. Genovese screamed as loud as she could to try to get help from the people in her building who were just watching from their windows, doing nothing. Genovese was able to get away from her attacker and went inside her building, collapsing once she got through the door. The attacker then came back…

The killing occurred on October 31 at 11:59 PM. 38 persons were at the event, one survived.The interview with the one remaining witness did not go as planned. I asked if she saw the killer and she gave me one of those no-you-imbecilic-bagel looks. I asked if she suspected anyone of being the killer. She pointed, I didn't know who or what she pointed to but it was in my direction. I wondered who she pointed to.What I didn't know, was that the killer was closer to me than expected. I don't…

The hotel Monte Vista was built in 1926. It is located in Flagstaff , Arizona. The hotel opened on New Year’s Day in 1927. The tourism was in the mid 1920’s ,the local residents areeds Flag staff needed the first-class accommodations. The old existing hotels were outmoded. The began in April of 1926,and within 1 month it is investments of prominent citizens , funds donated by the novelist Zane Grey and totaled roughly $2000,000. In 1970 there were three men who robbed the bank…

The Bystander Effect What is the Bystander Effect?: The Bystander Effect is the more of a crowd there is, the less likely one of the people are to act on something. The more people that do act, the more likely others are to act too. This is similar to the Bandwagon effect, where when someone is doing something, others are likely to follow, even when it isn’t right, due to them being pressured. How does this relate to the incident in class?: This relates to that class period in that some…