The bystander effect is a concept in social psychology which refers to a phenomenon in which individuals are less likely to help a person in need, as the group of people present is greater. Throughout years of research, researchers found that other factors (in addition to the number of people present) are very influential in determining a person 's helping (such as: time constraints, different levels of emergencies, degree of responsibility felt, cultural background, fear of legal consequences and more). One famous case in 1968 garnered interest amongst psychologists which led to a series of social experiments and gave the bystander effect a second name- "the Genovese Syndrome". On March 13, 1964, in Kew Gardens, Queens, NY, Catherine (“Kitty”) …show more content…
The first, is the conclusion of a person that help isn’t needed when he sees the inaction of others (=“feelings of pluralistic ignorance”). The second, is when one assumes that the others are going to help and therefore feels less responsible and doesn’t offer help (= “diffusion of responsibility”). According to an article published about forty years after the murder of Genovese, the case was exaggerated a lot by the media. There were less than 38 witnesses who knew what’s going on and chose not to help, and the police received a few phone calls during the attack. Sadly, these facts don’t make the effect irrelevant and false, because there are many other real cases and social experiments that prove that the effect does exist. Although nowadays it is known that the Genovese murder isn’t quite relevant to the “Bystander Effect”, social psychology textbooks still mention it and use it as a parable and a dramatic example for the students to understand the “Bystander Effect”. “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything”. (Albert Einstein, a German-born theoretical