The Bystander Effect: Why Don't We Stop to Help?

It is a familiar scene. Someone is hurt or otherwise in need of help, but no one stops. We figure, "oh, someone else will help." This is the phenomenon known to social psychologists as the Bystander Effect.

The bystander effect simply put, states that the more bystanders present, the less likely it is for someone to help. Sometimes a bystander will assume that because no one else seems concerned, they shouldn't be. This idea is more specifically known as pluralistic ignorance.

This bystander effect has been studied numerous times by psychologists, especially those in the social psychology field. Many of the classic experiments that demonstrated the bystander effects were conducted in the 1960s and 70s.

Latané and Darley were some of the first to identify the bystander effect. They placed a series of volunteers (college students) in a cubicle amongst other cubicles in which there were tapes of other students playing (the student thought they were real people). One of the voices cried for help and made sounds of choking. When the volunteer thought they were the only person there, 85% went to help the person. When the volunteer thought there was one other person, 65% helped. Lastly, when they thought there were four other people, only 31% assisted the person in need (Latané and Darley 1970).

A real life instance of the consequences of the bystander effect occurred in 1960. Kitty Genovese was brutally attacked and eventually murdered over a 45 minute period. This happened in public, in which 38 people witnessed the attack. Not one person did a thing to help. This famous case of the bystander effect shined light on this seemingly common human condition.

Most of us can think of a situation where someone seemed to need help and we moved along, assuming someone else would help. Does this mean that we are bad people? No. It simply means that we need to be more mindful of this phenomenon. When someone is in need of assistance, instead of waiting for someone else to help, be the one to do something. As a bystander, you have the social responsibility to do what you can to help. If we all wait for the next bystander to help, it may be too late.