{"id":609,"date":"2023-03-03T19:13:43","date_gmt":"2023-03-03T19:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/chapter\/the-bystander-effect-and-altruism\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T16:54:46","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T16:54:46","slug":"the-bystander-effect-and-altruism","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/chapter\/the-bystander-effect-and-altruism\/","title":{"raw":"Group Behavior: Learn It 6\u2014The Bystander Effect","rendered":"Group Behavior: Learn It 6\u2014The Bystander Effect"},"content":{"raw":"
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The Bystander Effect<\/b><\/h2>\r\n

Discussions of bullying and aggression often raise an important question: Why don\u2019t witnesses step in to help? Social psychologists John Latan\u00e9 and Bibb Darley (1968) proposed an explanation known as the bystander effect.<\/p>\r\n

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the bystander effect<\/h3>\r\n

The bystander effect<\/b><\/span> occurs when individuals are less likely to offer help to a person in distress when other people are present.<\/p>\r\n<\/section>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2413\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"298\"]\"A<\/a> Figure 1. People often overestimate their willingness to help others in need especially when they are asked about a hypothetical situation rather than encountering one in real life. [Image: Ed Yourdon][\/caption]\r\n\r\n

Origins of Bystander Research: The Kitty Genovese Case<\/b><\/h3>\r\n

Interest in the bystander effect intensified after the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese<\/b><\/span> in New York City. Early news reports\u2014most notably a New York Times<\/i> article\u2014claimed that 38 witnesses observed the attack and failed to intervene. This story became a powerful symbol of public apathy and motivated decades of research on helping behavior.<\/p>\r\n

A More Accurate Understanding<\/b><\/h4>\r\n

Later investigations revealed that the original reporting was seriously flawed<\/span>. Researchers found no evidence that 38 witnesses passively observed the murder, and police records showed that some people did attempt to call for help<\/span> (Manning, Levine, & Collins, 2007). In 2016, The New York Times<\/i> acknowledged that its original account had exaggerated both the number of witnesses and their inaction.[footnote]Manning, Rachel; Levine, Mark; Collins, Alan (September 2007). \"The Kitty Genovese Murder and the Social Psychology of Helping: The Parable of the 38 Witnesses\". American Psychologist<\/em>. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. 62 (6): 555\u2013562. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.210.6010. doi:10.1037\/0003-066x.62.6.555. [\/footnote] In 2016, the Times called its own reporting \"flawed\", stating that the original story \"grossly exaggerated the number of witnesses and what they had perceived.\"[footnote]McFadden, Robert D. (April 4, 2016). \"Winston Moseley, 81, Killer of Kitty Genovese, Dies in Prison\". The New York Times<\/em>.[\/footnote]<\/p>\r\n

Although the details of this case were misrepresented, the psychological questions it raised remain important: When do people help\u2014and when do they hesitate?<\/b><\/p>\r\n

Despite the inaccuracies of this specific case, the bystander effect phenomenon remains pertinent and can be seen in many instances since that time, such as the 2009 Richmond High School multiple perpetrator rape, the 2010 case of Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax, or examples found during the 2021 rash of assaults of Asian- Americans. In all of these examples, multiple parties witnessed the assault of another person without stepping in to help and, in some cases, even stopping to film the incident without further intervention.<\/p>\r\n

Helping is More Common Than We Think<\/h3>\r\n

Unfortunately, though failures to come to the aid of someone in need are not rare, recent studies reveal that a majority of the time, people do intervene.<\/p>\r\n

In 2019, cultural anthropologist Marie Rosenkrantz Lindegaard led a large international study analyzing 219 street disputes and confrontations recorded by security cameras in three cities in different countries \u2014 Lancaster, England; Amsterdam, Netherlands; and Cape Town, South Africa. Contrary to bystander theory, Lindegaard's team found that bystanders intervened in almost every case<\/strong>, and the chance of intervention went up with the number of bystanders, which she called \"a highly radical discovery and a completely different outcome than theory predicts.\"<\/p>\r\n

This study is the first large-scale test of the bystander effect in real-life. Up until now, this effect was mainly studied in the lab by asking study subjects how they would respond in a particular situation. Another striking aspect of this study is that the observations come from three different countries including\u00a0South Africa where, with high rates of violent crime,\u00a0intervening in a street dispute is not without risk. 'That appears to indicate that this is a universal phenomenon', says Lindegaard.[footnote]\"Bystander effect in street disputes disquestioned\". <\/span>Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement<\/em>. NSCR.NL. 27 March 2019. Archived from the original on May 10, 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2020.[\/footnote]<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Despite this, we know that help does not always come for those who may need it the most. Trying to understand why people do not always help became the focus of bystander intervention<\/strong> research (e.g., Latan\u00e9 & Darley, 1970).<\/p>\r\n

Why Don\u2019t People Always Help?<\/b><\/h2>\r\n

Latan\u00e9 and Darley (1970) proposed that helping involves a series of decisions<\/b><\/span>, not a single choice. At each step, social factors can block intervention.<\/p>\r\n

Step 1: Defining the Situation<\/b><\/h3>\r\n
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pluralistic ignorance<\/b><\/h3>\r\n

In ambiguous situations, people often look to others to decide whether help is needed. But when everyone is doing this at the same time, no one acts.<\/p>\r\n<\/section>\r\n

Pluralistic ignorance<\/b><\/span> occurs when individuals mistakenly assume that others\u2019 inaction means help is not needed, even when it is.<\/p>\r\n

This process is especially common in:<\/p>\r\n