Bystander Apathy the Term Bystander Effect Is Essay

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Bystander Apathy

The term bystander effect is often referred in relation to a situation where a greater number of people are present, observing a person in distress, yet they will be just watching him suffer rather than help the person out of prevent the situation. This is basic psychological reaction, people are more likely to help a person in distress or take action against a situation if there are no witnesses present, it the fear of being judged and evaluated. The reason there is always a dispersion of responsibility is because people feel less accountable or responsible to help in a situation where there are more witnesses around, hence we conclude that since there are more people around, they can always help. This diffusion of responsibility often and only occurs, simply saying, the responsibility gets spread out and dispersed thus at the end of the day, no one comes to help (Healthtree 2010b).

Considering this dispersion, people of no age barriers react differently to any situation which is not their own. For instance if a person notices another person who is sick and in need to medical help, he is more likely to provide help if there are no people around, hence the bystander effect (Tauer, 2009).

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The first time this psychological effect was officially observed in the case of Kitty Genovese, in this case Genovese was murdered right in front of her 38 neighbors and yet no one came to help or prevent what was happening. If someone had come forward, her life could have been saved, but since people always think what the other might think also when we see other people around us, we assume that us is not just responsible to provide assistance in a particular situation (Healthtree 2010a).

If we consider two situations here, one where a child is screaming or crying and the other where we witness a parent hitting their child. What is first instinct that we have? It is that it's the parent's personal business and we should not intervene. This is a logical solution but the question that arises is that what is the child is being beaten without a reason? One should have the sense to intervene then. The other case would be of a parent hitting their child, disciplining a child is always important, but if it is an obnoxious type of beating then a bystander should surely intervene (Latane & Darley. 1969).

The U.S. Air Force has taken the initiative to intervene.....

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