Bystander Apathy

A detailed Summary of Bystander Apathy

As you wait to cross the street, a blind man is standing in front of you. Without warning, he begins to cross the street even though the light has not changed in his favor. He seems to be in no danger until you see a car about a half mile away speeding towards him. Totally unaware of the situation, the man continues walking across the street. As you and many others watch in horror he is struck by the car. Although every single one of you had plenty of time to rescue him, you just watched, hoping that someone else would do it. After all, you don't know him so it's really none of your business.

This is what is referred to as "bystander apathy". People close enough to see, hear and possibly touch one another are socially distant and totally indifferent to the fact that another human being may be dying, in immediate danger, or asking for help. This extremely sad urban problem is just that- a problem of cities. The likelihood of this occurring increases with the number of people present and it is probable that there will be many people to witness an event when it happens in high density cities. Urban sociologists, social psychologists, and criminologists have argued for years that the size of cities is directly relate

According to Gillis and Hagan, people are more willing to intervene when the violation is against a person than when it is against property. This is most probable because people perceive the property damage as less serious than attacking the person. But for both the property and personal attacks, people indicated that likelihood of intervention was related to proximity to home. Willingness to intercede is more likely when the crime was occurring near a persons' home. This is known as "space-associated intolerance" and supports Gillis and Hagan's hypothesis that territoriality plays an important part in intervention. Possibly the reason that the Kitty Genovese homicide was seen as so horrific is because not only did it violate the law, but the norms concerning territoriality as well. Because Gillis and Hagan's data come from questionnaires, the subjects may respond the way that they believe that they should act, rather than the way that they would act. I believe that without a similar incident actually occurring to someone, that it would be almost impossible to say what you would do. Testers are requesting emotions that you most likely have never experienced before.

If the case is that there is only one person present at the scene of the attack, any possible help must come from that person. Although there is the option to ignore the need, pressure to intervene mounts on them. When a person perceives themselves as the only person who know of the victims' condition they are much more likely to respond, and to do so quickly than if in a group (more than one other bystander). Also stated by Darley and Latane is that the victim is equally as likely to get help from two bystanders as one. Responding time is also critical to the likelihood of action. Failure to respond to a situation after approximately 3 minutes greatly decreases the likelihood of any type of intervention, including reporting the incident or asking for help. Although we all may wish to think that a person's moral behaviour is separate from thoughts about rewards and punishments, evidence proves otherwise. People's fears of being punished for not intervening are greatly lessened when within a group because the blame cannot be placed directly on them.

Darley and Latane argue that persons witnessing emergency situations, especially frightening ones, experience conflict. Logical or irrational fears may get in the way of obvious humanitarian norms about helping the victim. In certain circumstances, any norms favoring intervention may be weakened, leading bystanders to choose the easiest resolution to the conflict; by looking the other way. One such circumstance may be the presence of other onlookers. The responsibility of helping the victim may be diffused among the observers, which limits the potential blame that can be placed on any one individual. As well, the thoughts of the possibilities of someone already doing something about it lessens the individuals feeling of responsibility.

A strange thing happens when I refuse to be an apathetic bystander. I get ridiculed and told that I am too hasty with my decisions. When I stopped to help a man who's car had broken down in -40 degree weather and drove him to safety, my mother told me that it was not a smart decision. When I am forced to think of all the things that could have happened to me, sure, I think that I may suffer from a bit of naivete. But when I ponder what could have happened to the person if I would not have helped out, I do not think that I made a mistake.

Many years ago, a young woman by the name of Catherine (Kitty) Genovese was stabbed to death in the middle of a street in a residential area in New York City. This case received little attention until several weeks later when it was revealed that at least 38 people had witnessed the event, but not one chose to act. For more than

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Category: Politics