The bystander effect is a historical experiment contained in one of the videos. The experiment is based on the high-profile murder of Kitty Genovese. Although 38 neighbors of kitty were aware of her murder that lasted almost 10 minutes, none of them did anything to help her (Hortensius and de Gelder, 2018). The experiment was designed to help explain the indifference, apathy, and the lack of concern shown by kitty’s neighbors. To replicate the event, the researchers recruit university students who are informed that they are taking part in a discussion about private problems. Each participant is assigned a separate room so that he or she does not see the other subjects taking part in the discussion, while microphones and speakers are used to facilitate the discussions. Participants are each given two minutes to talk, while the microphones of the other subjects are switched off. The researchers do not tell the subjects that the voices are pre-recorded. Additionally, the subjects were assigned to five treatments conditions based on the voices of the other participants. The first and second treatments conditions are lone and one-on-one conversations, while the last condition involves six voices. A pre-recorded voice of an epileptic student is one of the voices that informs the group during the first round that he suffers from life threatening seizures. In the second round, the seizure starts bit the other subjects cannot see him. The researchers were interested in the time it will take other subjects to look for the researchers and request for help.
The findings of the study show that only 31% of the subjects seek help, which implies that a significant number of them did not bother to ask for help for the epileptic student. Interestingly, 85% of the subjects seek help when they think that they are the only ones aware of the incident (Hortensius and de Gelder, 2018). When they think that others know about the incident few show concern. The researchers offer two reasons for the behavior of the subjects. First is the concept of diffusion of responsibility that explains the feeling of limited responsibility when one knows that others are aware of the incident. Secondly, pluralistic ignorance occurs when one thinks that there is no one responding to the incident, so their help is not needed.
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The findings of the experiment have several implications for human behaviors. One important implication is the effect of social paralysis on socialization. It is evident that being part of a larger group lower personal responsibility because of the notion that the other person will respond to the emergency. It can be concluded that human behavior is influenced by others or the “group.”
Social psychology is the study of how individual’s behaviors, feelings, and thoughts are affected by the imagined, real, or implied presence of others (Hortensius and de Gelder, 2018). Social psychology applies to the experiment on the bystander effect because individuals are less likely to respond to an emergency situation when they think that others are aware of it. Thus, the imagined or implied presence of others discourage people from taking responsibility.
The personality theory that applies to the experiment of the bystander effect is Bandura’s social cognitive theory of personality. The theory emphasizes the role of cognitive processes such as thinking and judging in the development of personality. According to the theory, the interaction between behavior, cognitive processes, and context influence personality. In the bystander experiment, the thought that others are aware of an emergency influence the decision to ignore.
The bystander effect can explain the development of mental disorders. The experiment shows that the interaction between cognitive processes and the context influence behavior. It is evident that decisions in the experiment are based on situational variables rather than personality factors. Apathy is a feeling that is associated with many psychological disorders. It is the lack of desire, concern or passion for anything. Therefore, the bystander effect can explain how some mental disorders develop.
Reference
Hortensius, R., and de Gelder, B. (2018). From Empathy to Apathy: The Bystander Effect Revisited. Current Directions in Psychological Science . doi.org/10.1177/0963721417749653.
