The bystander effect is the tendency for an individual to be less likely to help a victim or intervene in an emergency when other people are present, because responsibility for acting is diffused among the observers rather than felt by any one bystander alone. The phenomenon was first studied experimentally by social psychologists John Darley and Bibb Latané, prompted by the widely reported 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese in New York City, whose neighbors were said to have failed to intervene or call for help. It is distinct from diffusion of responsibility, the explanatory theory for why the effect occurs, and from the individual laboratory experiments that first tested and measured it.
Facts
Core ClaimThe more bystanders present at an emergency, the less likely, and the slower, any individual bystander is to help. 1 First Described Year Everyday Context Replication Standing Classification
Type of PhenomenonSocial or Interpersonal Phenomenon 1 Connections
Associated With
The founding experimental study that first tested the effect.
Diffusion of responsibility is the explanatory theory for why the bystander effect occurs.
Co-originated the effect with Bibb Latane.
In Branch
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Bystander Effect
Wikimedia FoundationLead section
individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim in the presence of other people
Social psychology research section
The bystander effect was first demonstrated and popularized in the laboratory by social psychologists John M. Darley and Bibb Latané in 1968 after they became interested in the topic following the murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964.
Lead
More recent studies also show that this effect can generalize to workplace settings, where subordinates often refrain from informing managers regarding ideas, concerns, and opinions.
Article text
A 2011 meta-analysis found that the bystander effect was most likely to occur in non-dangerous emergencies but did not occur in dangerous emergencies.
lead section, phenomenon-kind classification
The bystander effect (also called bystander apathy or the Genovese effect) is a social psychological theory that states that individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim in the presence of other people.
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