The Bystander Effect Short Story

In the 2007 article “The Bystander Effect” the author Dorothy Barkin talked about the reasons why most people decide not to get involved in complex situations. Many think that the reasons maybe very obvious such as the fear of possible danger to one’s self or having to go through long legal proceedings. However, the author talks about two main reasons for such actions. The first is ambiguity, the fact the most people do not know how to evaluate different situations and there lays most for the decision making. As knowing what the problem that you are facing in that moment, that alone creates a high-pressure environment that most people would not like to be involved in. Not to mention, being able to help effectively as you will need to have the

This is the story of me being a bystander for my own benefit. Back when I was in high school I used to change schools often due to my family moving. But after we settled in our new house, I joined an English high school and it was my first time at an English school. Everybody there happened to be so friendly and very helpful. This was very different to me because my past schools’ I was always the “new kid” that was not wanted around much, so having to be the center of attention in the new place with everybody wanting to know me and introduce me around was very pleasing and I never wanted it to end. But the thing is I was not the only new student to join, there was another student that was with me that did not get the same treatment that I was getting. At first I thought it was because he was alone and did not talk much. However, it turned to be because I was so overwhelmed by all this friendliness that everybody forgot about him. I could have gone to him and introduced him to everybody but I did not because I had something that I never had before and I did not want it go away or even share this with anybody. Know well that I could do something to give him a better experience but I chose to be a bystander as I watched and pretended that there is nothing wrong. Looking back on this I can see the moral diffusion, the selfishness that I was in and I can see the author view of such