Erica Blog 1 Bystander effect

1. Explain Darley and Latane's "diffusion of responsibility effect" in the Kitty Genovese case and find a similar case from the newspaper in which bystanders were involved and did nothing. Summarize the other case and provide your personal response to the story. Be sure and cite your source.

-In the video Darley and Latane discuss "diffusion of responsibility effect," also known as the bystander effect. This is the phenomenon in which a group of individuals witness a person in distress and does not take action due to the fact that nobody else is taking action. In high school I took an AP pshychology class as well as a Sociology class and we learned all about the bystander effect. We also would watch episodes of a tv program called "What Would You Do," in which they would set up scenarios of somebody being in distress in a public place and see how long it took for somebody to help or to even react at all. We also read about the Kitty Genovese case. I was appalled after reading it. 38 people just watching her die and not one person did a thing about it, atleast not until it was too late. Darley and Latane were so intriguied by this phenomenon that they decided to conduct a series of studies to test how long it took somebody to seek help when they are alone as opposed to being with a group of people.

"In one experiment, subjects were placed in one of three treatment conditions: alone in a room, with two other participants or with two confederates who pretended to be normal participants.As the participants sat filling out questionnaires, smoke began to fill the room. When participants were alone, 75% reported the smoke to the experimenters. In contrast, just 38% of participants in a room with two other people reported the smoke (about.com)."



This video is a news clip of a scenario that was set up to see if passer bys would stop to help a young girl being abducted. The results are astonishing and disguisting.
http://psychology.about.com/od/socialpsychology/a/bystandereffect.htm


2. Darley and Latane cite social critics who believe that the United States has become a nation of strangers, alienated and withdrawn from one another. Write a response refuting this claim by summarizing one good Samaritan story from the news in which bystanders did react in a crisis to help someone out. Also, draw on your own or others' experience. Be sure and cite your source for your news story.

- While it may seem that The US has become alienated from one another, there are some people who are still helpful and do not fall under the bystander effect. One great example of people who did not sit by and watch as things were destroyed were the passengers of Flight 93. This plane was one of the many planes hijacked on September 11th. Although everybody aboard the plane unfortunately lost thier lives when the plane crashed, they did not go down without a fight. When the passengers realized that their plane was going to be hijacked they all got together and took action. This is almost like the opposite of the bystander effect. Most people probably would've sat around and watched the plane crash if it werent for the brave souls who stood up first to lead the rest. The passengers along with two flight attendants collaberated and came up with a plan to revolt and take back control of the plane. They could not reach thier goal quick enough, and the plane crashed into the ground and burst into flames. But in their failed attempts, they became heroes and legends, and defied the phenomenon of the bystander effect.

http://www.nps.gov/flni/index.htm