Bystander effect.

Picture this....you are walking down the street and you see a child being dragged away by a man. The child is visibly in distress, kicking and screaming saying 'Somebody help, you are not my dad'.What do you do?? The answer for the majority of people is...nothing.
Here is a short video of an experiment that tested this scenario.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1_JMPYxIzg

Most people did nothing. This is known as the bystander effect. The people around that are witnessing a person in distress do nothing in the assumption that somebody else will.

While the above example was only an experiment and no body was in real danger. This was not the case with 28 year old  Kitty Genovese. It was her case that led to the research on what was named the bystander effect. While she was walking home Kitty Genovese was stalked and stabbed for over half an hour by Winston Moseley. Numerous people knew there was an attack taking place and did nothing. Needless to say Kitty Genovese died in the attack. Similar incidents to this one have occurred since with no body coming to the help of the victim.

In general, the more people that are witnesses to a crime the less likely they are to help. This is called diffusion of responsibility. If you are one of five people that witness the crime then responsibility to help is only 20% yours so you are less likely to help. However, if you are the only witness responsibility to help is 100% yours.

How many times have you witnessed a person in need and just walked away? Just a few weeks ago I witnessed a woman fighting with a man over a bike. They were right beside me and the woman was saying 'Give me my bike back, please do not steal my bike' while the man struggled with her. Concerned for my own safety, I walked away. About 10 minutes later I saw the woman again cycling her bike. She had clearly won and did not have her bicycle taken from her in the end. Though that did not stop me feeling guilty about not going to help her.

So what would you do if you were in that situation? Would you go to the aid of the victim or would you walk away?

Over and out!