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The Bystander Effect and How It Works

 

 

 

  Video source: Youtube

 

by Joseph Ernest July 16, 2010

 Newscast Media -- Society has explored and attempted to explain the correlation between bystanders and their willingness to help victims who find themselves in emergency situations, in public places.  The name of this phenomenon has been referred to as the bystander effect or diffusion of responsibility. 

 

People tend to be apprehensive about intervening when cries of help or shouts are heard, in an effort to be safe by following what everyone else is doing and do nothing.  Experts have also suggested that bystanders will be influenced to intervene or not to intervene depending on the extent they perceive their fellow bystanders as in-group (one of them) rather than out-group (an outsider).

 

I raise the subject about the bystander effect because of the economic crisis we face today.  Financial gurus have predicted that the U.S. dollar will completely collapse within 12 – 24 months.  Companies that could be hiring, are not hiring those who do not already have jobs.  In essence, if you currently are unemployed, it will be a lot tougher for you to get a job than if you are already employed and want to switch professions.  Even (SOURCE) said in an announcement, “THE UNEMPLOYED NEED NOT APPLY”. These companies have jobs available, but won’t hire those who do not already have work.  This phenomenon, in Social Psychology, is part of the bystander effect in action.  In the bystander effect, even when it is apparent that you need help, those who are able to do so (bystanders) withhold their assistance from you.  The reverse is also true. When one person in the crowd extends his or her help to you, other members of the crowd (bystanders) will then pitch in.

 

A practical demonstration is the dating scene.  Have you ever noticed that if you are a guy and do not have a girlfriend, it is a lot harder to get a new one.  The reason is because other women sense that if no one is going out with you, there must be something wrong with you, so they just become bystanders and compliment you on how great a guy you are, but either never return your calls, or will break a date and flake out on you at the last minute. However, when women see you with another beautiful woman, they will not resist your advances and will in fact hit on you.  It becomes easier to attract women when you already have a girlfriend because the other women (bystanders) become curious as to what it is about you that is special, that your current girlfriend sees in you.

 

The same is true for women.  When a woman does not have a boyfriend, it very hard for her to attract guys.  Sure, guys will flirt with her and even ask for the number, but she will never hear from them.  That’s because guys can instinctively sense when a woman is needy.  However, once a woman gets a boyfriend, then all the guys who ignored her and would not pay her any attention, will all of a sudden be in hot pursuit of her.  Now this is the same woman whom guys were rejecting, and now find her attractive, just because she is with another man.

 

So the bystander effect is applicable in all areas of life.  The most cited case regarding the bystander effect is the event that took place in New York City in which a lady by the name of Catherine “Kitty” Genovese was stabbed to death in broad daylight.  The shocking event lasted 35 minutes while 38 of her neighbors watched from their apartment windows and did nothing to help her, not even call the police. Even though the media concluded that the reason nobody helped was because we live in a cold and selfish society, Social Psychologists later formulated an explanation and referred to the phenomenon as the bystander effect.                            Add Comments>>

                      


 

 

 

 

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