Bystander effect

This article is about the psychological phenomenon. For the bystander effect in radiobiology, see Bystander effect (radiobiology).

The bystander effect, or bystander apathy, is a social psychological theory that states that individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim in the presence of other people. The theory was first proposed in 1964 after the murder of Kitty Genovese, in which a newspaper had reported (albeit erroneously) that 38 bystanders saw or heard the attack without coming to her assistance or calling the police. Much research, mostly in psychology research laboratories, has focused on increasingly varied factors, such as the number of bystanders, ambiguity, group cohesiveness, and diffusion of responsibility that reinforces mutual denial. If a single individual is asked to complete a task alone, the sense of responsibility will be strong, and there will be a positive response; however, if a group is required to complete a task together, each individual in the group will have a weak sense of responsibility, and will often shrink back in the face of difficulties or responsibilities.

Recent research has focused on "real world" events captured on security cameras, and the coherency and robustness of the effect has come under question.[1] More recent studies also show that this effect can generalize to workplace settings, where subordinates often refrain from informing managers regarding ideas, concerns, and opinions.[2][3]

  1. ^ Philpot, Richard; Liebst, Lasse Suonperä; Levine, Mark; Bernasco, Wim; Lindegaard, Marie Rosenkrantz (2020). "Would I be helped? Cross-national CCTV footage shows that intervention is the norm in public conflicts" (PDF). American Psychologist. 75 (1): 66–75. doi:10.1037/amp0000469. hdl:10871/37604. ISSN 1935-990X. PMID 31157529. S2CID 173993332. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-03-11. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  2. ^ Hussain, Insiya; Shu, Rui; Tangirala, Subrahmaniam; Ekkirala, Srinivas (2019). "The Voice Bystander Effect: How Information Redundancy Inhibits Employee Voice". Academy of Management Journal. 62 (3): 828–849. doi:10.5465/amj.2017.0245. ISSN 0001-4273. S2CID 149823915.
  3. ^ Bicchieri, Cristina; Fukui, Yoshitaka (1999). "The Great Illusion: Ignorance, Informational Cascades, and the Persistence of Unpopular Norms". Experience, Reality, and Scientific Explanation. The Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science. Vol. 61. Springer Netherlands. pp. 89–121. doi:10.1007/978-94-015-9191-1_5. ISBN 978-94-015-9191-1. S2CID 66086524.