The Bystander Effect Is Caused By Diffusion Of Responsibility

Critically evaluate the claim that the bystander effect is caused by diffusion of responsibility. The bystander effect (or bystander apathy) is a multifaceted social psychological phenomenon depicting that there is a lesser chance of an individual intervening and helping in an emergency if there are other bystanders present (Hogg and Vaughan, 2014). Diffusion of responsibility is one hypothesised cause of the bystander effect. A person assumes that others present will take action, resulting in a reduction of personal responsibility. Diffusion of responsibility is examined here as a factor that withholds bystander intervention in real-life events. In this essay, arguments which examine the claim that the bystander effect is caused by diffusion of responsibility are critically evaluated. This includes evidence why bystanders may not intervene when they detect a person is in danger and/or suffering (e.g. situational factors). Bystander apathy became a key focus for social psychologists shortly after the murder of Kitty Genovese in New York, 1964. It was reported that 38 people heard or observed the attack, yet failed to intervene or take the appropriate action (i.e. call the police). Instead, they ignored the screams as Kitty was assaulted outside her home. The shocking number of neighbours who observed Kitty’s murder but remained inactive led social psychologists (Manning, Levine and Collins, 2007) to question the reason for this type of behaviour. It was explained by theShow MoreRelatedBystander Effect Essay1637 Words   |  7 Pages Bystander or Bodyguard: An Examination of Who Helps and Who Does Not A bystander, according to Michael Webster’s New World College Dictionary, is an individual who is present in a given situation, but is not involved (Agnes, 2001). The word bystander does not always have a negative connotation, but in the case of bullying or an emergency situation, it does. In either scenario, a bystander is not helping in a time of crisis and this can have many negative outcomes. Many factors play a role in remainingRead MoreThe Sunflower By Simon Wiesenthal Essay1384 Words   |  6 Pagesusually ends, however, is on the question of, â€Å"What makes a person a leader?† Whereas some are convinced that people are natural born leaders. Becoming a leader consists with a few reasons such as developed leadership skills, the bystander apathy, and the diffusion of responsibility. Leadership is a honorary degree that contains many practices to which can truly affect his/her position into leading others. Leadership can be a particular ability that can either be a mental or a physical strength. For instanceRead MoreThe Bystander Revolution : How Social Media Shapes And Effect On Bystander Effect911 Words   |  4 PagesThe Bystander Revolution: How Social Media Shapes and Reduces the Bystander Effect The purpose of this paper is to examine how social media affects and can affect the bystander effect, which is the idea that individuals will not offer help to victims when other people are present under the assumption that another person will help the victim. After examining the classic example of the bystander effect, examples of social media preventing or lessening the effect will be explored. These examples willRead MoreEssay The Bystander Effect2567 Words   |  11 Pagesthat eventually turned into a fight. While the fight developed more and more students gathered in a circle while cheering it on. In a span of five minutes approximately fifty students were watching the fight, until they heard a police siren, which caused them to disappear within seconds. The second event took place near my apartment building. As two teenagers ages 15-17 were walking home from school, when approached by another teen - â€Å"stranger† - approximately the same age as them. As the timeRead MoreEssay about The Bystander Effect1791 Words   |  8 Pages‘The Bystander Effect’ Lily is thirteen years old and tall for her age. One afternoon, she confronts a suspicious looking stranger near a young girl playing in the local park. The stranger takes to his heels when Lily challenges him. Lily’s bravery is the talk of the neighbourhood. On learning of this, a student who is studying social psychology makes the comment: It’s just as well that Lily’s usual playmates were not around or that little girl might not have received any help. (Vaughan andRead MoreComparing Different Approaches Of The Bystander Effect1500 Words   |  6 PagesThis essay will ‘compare and contrast’ two approaches made in investigating the ‘bystander effect’. It will discuss in some depth as to what exactly is meant by the bystander effect, illustrating when this concept was first shown and why. An outline will be made of the different methods used, those being experiments and discourse analysis, explaining each one in turn, within the framework of two cases. The first being the murder of ‘Catherine Genovese,’ 1964.and the second ‘James Bulger’ 1993. TheRead MoreKitty Genovese1549 Words   |  7 Pagesintended to kill her. But there were thirty eight witnesses and nobody attempted to help her. It is unimaginable. There was a psychological issue that is called bystanders. Most people when hearing about this sort of thing react with horror not so much in the direction of the crime, but rath er at the actions of the bystanders. The bystander effect is a psychological phenomenon in which someone is less likely to intervene in an emergency situation when others are present than when a person is alone. Read More Social Psychology Essay1472 Words   |  6 Pagesvariables are the experimental factors that the researcher can manipulate, while dependent variables are the things that the experimenter no control over, that include the outcome of the experiment (Class notes). The experimental method explores cause and effect of the study (David G. Myers, 2008). In a decent city of New York, Kitty Genovese on her home was brutally murdered. Within half hour, on two separate occasions, she was sexually molested and stabbed to death by a man (Malim and Birch, 1998). TheRead MoreThe Movie Finding Nemo 1322 Words   |  6 Pagesconcepts in the movie as well. In the beginning, Marlin had a very authoritarian parenting style. By using this style, he gave Nemo strict rules about what not to do and gave him very few options to choose from. Through his strictness in rules, this caused Nemo to rebel such as on the first day. When Nemo was on a trip with his class, Marlin demanded him to not swim out into the ocean. Since Nemo had no say in the rule that Marlin put on him, that made Nemo swim out and touch the ‘butt’ so that he couldRead MoreComprehensive Exam Questions Masters in Psychology3545 Words   |  15 Pagesis a relationship between the two variables.   They do not tell us which variable caused the other. No matter how convi ncing data from descriptive and correlational studies may sound, because they have less control over the variables and the environments that they study, non-experimental designs cannot rule out extraneous variables as the cause of what is being observed. Only experiments can assess cause and effect (Author, 2003). References Author.(2003). Descriptive and correlational designs