Kitty Genovese

wicked. The bystander effect is a case where an individual may not offer any help of any kind to a victim in need. There are many scenarios where this effect has taken the life of poor victims who could have been saved by a simple phone call. Kitty Genovese a young women coming home from work on a late night was stabbed to death. She was killed in front of her apartment building as her neighbors watched over a thirty minute time frame. No one wants to be put in a position where a life is on your…

Groupthink Do you ever silenced your opinion during group discussions? Or do you constantly stay silent, in order not to look unsupportive? If yes, then you are a victim of groupthink. It is a state, when people are mentally pressured not to reason and act rationally, and are moving along with the rest of the group. It is some kind of refusal of responsibility, in other words people are /putting/ their liabilities on society’s shoulders; not one person particularly, and are hoping that someone…

Kitty was attacked multiple times by the same individual and eventually died, not one neighbor in her building attempted to leave their residence to attempt to help her. Although one person hollered for the man to stop and leave her alone, no one right out called the police. Given that the time of the morning was after 3 A.M. , no one attempted to leave the comfort of their homes to assist Kitty. It was no one 's duty, let alone obligation to help Kitty in her time of distress…

Imagine placing yourself in a situation where you see someone getting stabbed or raped and somewhere in the back of your mind, something is telling you to not believe it’s actually happening, what would you do? Would you immediately take action or dismiss the situation and not believe it’s happening? After reading chapters four and five of Lauren Slater’s book, Opening Skinner’s Box, it explains both the meaning of the diffusion of responsibility and cognitive dissonance. The connection between…

Inadequacy of Sympathy in Human Beings Numerous hardships in countries around the world desperately need servicing by the people of each country. Humanitarians give their time, money, and charity to help their fellow man when they cannot procure the basic needs of life. In the past, individuals helped soldiers by quartering them in their houses during war, feeding soldiers and giving them a place to sleep. A morally declining society increases its materialistic tendencies causing people to turn…

An experiment put on by a group of curious scientists to study the logic behind the “genovese syndrome”, named after Kitty Genovese, a 28 year old woman who was brutally stabbed to death outside her apartment building in 1964. She called out for help, her neighbors looked outside their windows, but didn’t help her. Instead they watched from their windows as…

A young teenage girl at the age of 17 was filmed being rapped no one did anything to stop it. The girl hollered “stop it hurts!” Why didn't anyone help? A 15 year old teen was gang raped at a homecoming school dance and this time hundreds of students watched and giggled despite the fact that nobody seemed to care to help the poor girl. Can you imagine how her mental health might have been? She had to deal with those horrifying memories. In fact, don't get me wrong some bystanders actually help…

The presence of danger or irritability plays a huge impact on the reactions of every individual. According to Stanley Milgram in his novel the “The Perils of Obedience”, he states that authority figures can cause signs of tension and turn people into “lethal intrustuments in the hands of unscrupulous authority” (184). Also in Chapter 4 of Lauren Slaters novel, “Obedience Skinners Box”, states that humans rely on their social cues and see what others to do in reaction to someone in danger by…

being surrounded by a group of people, and proceeds as a witness. An experiment showcasing The Bystander Effect was conducted by psychologists John Darley and Bibb Latené in 1964. The idea for the experiment came about after the public murder of Kitty Genovese. Darley and Latené made an experiment testing how subjects would react to someone in danger around a group of a people, versus being around no one. Bibb Latené is a famous American psychologist, who is well known for his experimentation…

It was March of 1993. Kevin Carter, a South American photojournalist, took one photograph that changed his life forever. His man took one of the most shocking photos that showed an extremely thin infant with a large hungry bird “just a few feet” away from her. Carter later says that he watched the baby and the vulture, before taking the shot, for about 30 minutes to take the “perfect” picture. While he waited, Carter could have clearly called for help or at least carried the baby somewhere…