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The more people watch an emergency, the less likely they are to decide to help those affected. This psychological phenomenon is considered to be very persistent and is associated with a number of factors, such as the diffusion of responsibility. Aya Reno, the correspondent of the Greenhouse of Social Technologies website, was trying to figure out what it is and why it is happening.
The "outsider effect" is also called "Genovese syndrome". New Yorker Kitty Genovese died in March 1964 at the hands of a serial killer. He attacked her twice, stabbed her, raped and robbed her. It was found that at least 10 people at one time or another witnessed the crime. Two of them knew Kitty had been injured. But no one provided direct assistance to her, and the calls to the police were uninformative and did not attract the attention they deserved.
The New York Times got interested in this case, where it published a controversial article "38 people who saw the murder did not call the police." Because of the public outcry, psychologists John Darley and Bibb Latarne began to study in depth the possible causes of what happened to Kitty. They were the first to describe the "bystander effect", observing, in particular, the reactions of students in the classroom when one of them suddenly fell to the ground with an epileptic seizure.
If there was only one person in the room at that time, he provided assistance in 85 percent of cases. When a seizure occurred in the presence of several people, this figure dropped to 31 percent.
Many subsequent experiments, in which a wide variety of situations were created, confirmed the stability of this behavior model, including among children.
It is believed that the apathetic reaction of eyewitnesses is a consequence of a complex of factors
The first is the diffusion of responsibility, when each observer believes that someone else will act.
The second is the ambiguity of the situation: the observer is not sure that he is correctly interpreting what is happening.
Another component is group cohesion, which in this case manifests itself in the acceptance of the group's behavior as the norm: "if no one reacts, then the situation does not imply action."
It is even important who the victim is, how he or she looks and how much the observer associates himself with this person: one race, one gender, the shirt of his favorite football team - these factors can be decisive.
In some countries and regions, the behavior of eyewitnesses to an emergency is regulated by regulatory legal acts - the laws of the Good Samaritan. Failure to provide assistance is considered a criminal offense in Germany and Spain. In the Canadian province of Quebec, victim assistance is a civil responsibility. Good Samaritan laws are in place in several states in the United States, but in most countries witnesses have no obligation to victims.
Therefore, the main recommendations for overcoming the "outsider effect" are reduced to two basic strategies of behavior:
"do it - the rest will follow your example"
and "lead", that is, be mentally prepared to manage the situation, including giving instructions to those present.
"You, the man in the red T-shirt, call the emergency services."
Experts recommend the latter method to those who themselves act as victims. They state that the most effective approach is to speak directly to others and clearly explain what action is needed on their part.
The "outsider effect" is also called "Genovese syndrome". New Yorker Kitty Genovese died in March 1964 at the hands of a serial killer. He attacked her twice, stabbed her, raped and robbed her. It was found that at least 10 people at one time or another witnessed the crime. Two of them knew Kitty had been injured. But no one provided direct assistance to her, and the calls to the police were uninformative and did not attract the attention they deserved.
The New York Times got interested in this case, where it published a controversial article "38 people who saw the murder did not call the police." Because of the public outcry, psychologists John Darley and Bibb Latarne began to study in depth the possible causes of what happened to Kitty. They were the first to describe the "bystander effect", observing, in particular, the reactions of students in the classroom when one of them suddenly fell to the ground with an epileptic seizure.
If there was only one person in the room at that time, he provided assistance in 85 percent of cases. When a seizure occurred in the presence of several people, this figure dropped to 31 percent.
Many subsequent experiments, in which a wide variety of situations were created, confirmed the stability of this behavior model, including among children.
It is believed that the apathetic reaction of eyewitnesses is a consequence of a complex of factors
The first is the diffusion of responsibility, when each observer believes that someone else will act.
The second is the ambiguity of the situation: the observer is not sure that he is correctly interpreting what is happening.
Another component is group cohesion, which in this case manifests itself in the acceptance of the group's behavior as the norm: "if no one reacts, then the situation does not imply action."
It is even important who the victim is, how he or she looks and how much the observer associates himself with this person: one race, one gender, the shirt of his favorite football team - these factors can be decisive.
In some countries and regions, the behavior of eyewitnesses to an emergency is regulated by regulatory legal acts - the laws of the Good Samaritan. Failure to provide assistance is considered a criminal offense in Germany and Spain. In the Canadian province of Quebec, victim assistance is a civil responsibility. Good Samaritan laws are in place in several states in the United States, but in most countries witnesses have no obligation to victims.
Therefore, the main recommendations for overcoming the "outsider effect" are reduced to two basic strategies of behavior:
"do it - the rest will follow your example"
and "lead", that is, be mentally prepared to manage the situation, including giving instructions to those present.
"You, the man in the red T-shirt, call the emergency services."
Experts recommend the latter method to those who themselves act as victims. They state that the most effective approach is to speak directly to others and clearly explain what action is needed on their part.
