Preview

The Bystander Effect

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
599 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Bystander Effect
The Law By Force In 1964, Kitty Genovese was brutally attacked and left to die near her home in Queens, New York. Her death contributed to the social psychological phenomenon called the bystander effect. You would think that Media coverage following her murder spawned a nationwide debate about the disturbing apathy surrounding the events, leading to the construction of the social psychological phenomenon known as the bystander effect. The standard way of thinking about topic “The Killing of Genovese has it that ”The attention-grabbing headline was followed by an even more disconcerting description” For more than half an hour 38 respectable, law‐abiding citizens in Queens that watched a killer stalk and stab a woman. Although I should know better by now, I cannot help thinking that it was later determined that many of the so-called “facts” in Gansberg’s piece were exaggerations, in this version of Genovese’s murder made national headlines and the disturbing apathy surrounding the events sparked national debate about bystander …show more content…

One implication of The Topic of The Bystander Effect is that it refers to the phenomenon of individuals that are more likely to help when they are alone than when in the company of others. When it comes to the topic of The Killing of Genovese most of us will readily agree that Genovese’s murder has become “a kind of modern day parable of the good Samaritan, When it comes to the topic of The killing of genovese, most of us will readily agree that we strive for accuracy and fairness. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question That there’s not always a upstander in a bystander situation. Whereas some are convinced that They are imposing on us a duty to assist, provided we don’t put ourselves at risk, others maintain that Bystanders look the other way, ignoring the victims because we have no legal obligation to assist. In conclusion, then as I suggested earlier, defenders of Bystanding and Upstanding can’t

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    lab report

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Obtain for dry test tubes and number them 1 through 4. Prepare two dry Pasteur pipets with bulbs attached. Place 9.0 mL of hexane, 2.0 ml of acetone, and 2.0 mL of solution of 70% hexane-30% acetone into separate Erlenmeyer flask. Label and stopper each flask. Place 0.3 mL of a solution containing fluorine and fluorenone into a small test tube. Stopper the test tube. Prepare one 10-cm x 4.3 cm TLC with four marks for spotting. Prepare four micropipets to spot the plates.…

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    PSY 100 Assignment 1

    • 865 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Bystander Effect is a social psychological phenomenon that refers to situations in which individuals do not extend any means of help to a victim when others are present. One clear cause that underlies the basis of this occurrence is the number of people or, bystanders, involved. While this argument forms the basis of the effect, I also believe that ambiguity, or in this case, the diffusion of responsibility amongst those present, plays a deeper role in the passivity of the bystanders. I believe that as the number of bystanders increases, they will each experience a diminished responsibility towards aiding the person in need and as a result, ignore or pay minimal attention to the victim.…

    • 865 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Levitt and Dubner begin an argument with a murder crime of a woman called Kitty Genovese. Genovese was attacked by a man in a residential area and died because of the bystander effect. As New York newspaper reported, 38 people saw the murder but no one called the police or stop the assailant. This murder case astonished so many people and some people blamed the 38 residents, thought they're indifferent. Then, writers mention the rise of crime in the USA and analyze three reasons of this situation: the policy of releasing prisoners, post-war baby boom and violent TV show. (98-99) When I read this case, I feel angry about the 38 residents and think they're indifferent. At the same time, I also wonder why the residents are so apathetic. Maybe they thought other people will help Genovese; maybe they didn't…

    • 594 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thirty-eight people witnessed Kitty Genovese be stabbed to death. Not one alerted the police. Even more conflicting than the fact not one witness called the police is that all of these bystanders were righteous, law-abiding citizens (Gansberg; Rasenberger). How could one single person out of thirty-eight not have picked up a phone to call 911? Looking retrospectively, it is easy to say that one would immediately take action, but in that moment, full of fear and shock, would one really be able to react? After research on this mysterious fatality, sociologists concluded that the context and surroundings affected the witnesses more than their conscientious actions. Because thirty-eight other citizens were gaping at the horror right in front of…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    New York is described as one of the meanest cities in the United States. People go about their days completely oblivious to the lives of others. In 1964 Kitty Genovese was brutally attacked. Her attacker stabbed and raped her. The woman screamed for help throughout the ordeal but none arrived. Witnesses reported hearing the screams but none sought or provided help for the woman. No one was overly concerned. This apathy for the plight of another human being struck researchers Darley and Latene. They decided to direct an experiment at the university where the attack occurred. Students from the school were brought on for the experiment. Each person was brought into a room and told to converse with another over an intercom system. Subjects were…

    • 200 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Social psychology examines the interaction of individuals in society. As the famous poet John Donne wrote in 1623, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main” (Donne, 1623/2011). The principles of social psychology can be applied to all aspects of human behavior. This paper will utilize these principles to explore a recent act of violence in New Square, New York.…

    • 1031 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Actually bystander effect is an example case under the topic of Prosocial Behavior (Kendra, n.d.). It indicated a extensive scope of actions that people behave as a person who kindly to help, share and collaboration with others (Kendra, n.d.). The bystander effect is a social psychological phenomenon illustrate even a person at the scene of the dangerous, he/she still not give a hand to the victim when there are other people present. The…

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Which is worse in a crisis the people who caused it or the people who just stand there and do absolutely nothing to aid others? This is the harsh reality we’ve come to accept but the fact of the matter is that we have all succumb to this infectious parasite that has overcome us humans and what you may ask is the name of this so-called parasite? Well it’s known as-The Bystander Effect. Now the bystander effect is when a person just watches someone in a crisis and does nothing to aid that person and the bystander effect has caused lots of tragedies and many have resulted in casualties. For example, in the article “The killing of Kitty Genovese” kitty genovese was walking to her apartment when she was assaulted and she was stabbed multiple times…

    • 247 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Step Not Taken

    • 665 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the article The Step Not Taken, Paul D’Angelo recounts an experience where he exhibited the Bystander Effect when faced with a young man crying in his presence in an elevator. He is ashamed by his decision to leave the man alone and is doubtful when his friends and acquaintances tell him he did the right thing. Did he do the right thing? What is the Bystander Effect? In this article, I will explore this phenomenon and the nature of the situation that D’Angelo found himself in, and try to determine whether he should have tried to involve himself with the crying man.…

    • 665 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bystanders always play a key role in any event, whether they have a positive or negative effect on the outcome of the situation at hand. Most, if not all, of the bystanders during…

    • 1201 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Bystander Effect Outline

    • 1455 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Sub Point A: In 1964, a woman named Kitty Genovese went back to her home at 3am and was attacked by a maniac. Thirty-eight of her neighbors saw what was happening, but not a single one even phoned the police even though the assault lasted for over half an hour, and Kitty died. Latane and Darley researched this phenomenon in their 1969 study published in American Scientist to try and explain why it was that none of Kitty’s neighbors, and people in similar situations, do not try and help. According to Fischer and fellow researchers in a 2011 article published in Psychological Bulletin, the bystander effect “refers to the phenomenon that an individual’s likelihood of helping decreases when passive bystanders are present in a critical situation” (p. 1). Basically, the more people there are, the less likely they are to respond in emergency…

    • 1455 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Changing Minds notes this was first witnessed in Kitty Genovese’s murder where several people stated that while they noticed her cries for help, they did not call the police or move to help her because they assumed someone else would act and help. The key here is the assumption that someone else will help, that the duty to act and potentially be effected because of helping, is placed on someone else. All liability and duty is placed on the other people around them and it’s ultimately not their problem. As shown in Today’s kidnapping experiment video, people are, more often than not, focused solely on themselves, cut off from what’s occurring around them. Rather than being an active bystander, someone who is actively ignoring the situation at hand, like the lady who glances at the people several times but doesn’t react, passive bystanders are focused solely on themselves and in doing so, do not notice the action occurring, or just don’t care. Reverend Martin Niemöller talks about not speaking out, ending with “then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me,” warning that if people do not intervene early even when it does not effect them, the situation can escalate much larger and eventually will. Movements, multiple people taking actions, helps a larger group be empowered to react as…

    • 1262 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Bystander Effect

    • 636 Words
    • 3 Pages

    There are two major factors that contribute to the bystander effect. First, the presence of other…

    • 636 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many types of bystander effects that differentiate from one another, but first we shall go over what a bystander effect is intentively about. Normally a bystander effect refers to a large phenomenon that occurs in that of a social gathering, this particular gathering overviews the necessity of a victim in vain of assistance. It’s an usual phenomenon that particularly renders the the probability of help is inversely related to the number of bystanders. This negative phenomenon has impacted that of many individuals, although it can be overlooked upon, there are many ways to overcome this crude obsession of disregard and assist those in despair (Wikipedia Contributors).…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Being a bully or a bystander is a bad choice to make in your life. The issue is getting worse every single day. Killing their self, cutting their self, depressed a lot, skipping school, taking drugs, and mostly 95% of them cry their selves to sleep at night. In my opinion because of Brain Pop, I think bystanders are worse than bullies because they just sit there and watch people get hurt. Everyone gets bullied at some point and some age!…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays