To Help or Not to Help

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To Help or Not to Help In 1968, a study was done by Researchers, Darley and Latane. Sparked by a famous murder of Kitty Genovese of Queens, NY. Police found several eyewitnesses to the attack, 38 people to be exact. Out of 38 witnesses to this horrifying murder, only 1 person actually called the police. One couple said, they assumed someone else had called the police. This same couple was noted to have moved their chairs to their window to watch the attack on Kitty Genovese. Darley and Latane set out to try and understand what psychological variables were at hand to stop people from helping in such a tragic emergency. Behavioral Scientist have said there are many factors that come into play with our decision making if you witness an emergency, whether or not you step into to help someone in need. Darley and Latane gave the behavior of helping in emergencies a term; Bystander Intervention.

Theoretical Propositions

Darley and Latane hypothesized the reason no one initiated help for Kitty Genevese. It was a phenomenon they called diffusion of responsibility. This meant, the more bystanders at an emergency increases the belief that, “someone else will help, so I don’t need to.” Because of the diffusion of responsibility, Darley and Latane set-up an experiment to see if their theory held any basis. Theory; the more people witnessing an emergency situation, the less people take action to help (Bystander Effect).

Method Three groups were devised with psychology students from a University. They were told to discus their problems in school honestly, with other students. To remove any discomfort for these students, they would be in separate room using an intercom system to speak to each other. Group 1 believed they were talking with 1 other student in the other room. Group 2 believed they were talking with 2 other students in a separate room. Group 3 were told 5 people were in the other room. The truth was each student was alone and the other voices were on tape.

The emergency put in play, was one of the subjects would have a severe epileptic seizure during the experiment. This was to measure the percentage of each group 1,2, and 3’s response time (they all had 4 minutes to report the seizure to the experimenter).

Findings Group 1 response time was less than 1 minute. This group believed they were the only person who could hear the subject having a seizure over the intercom. Group 3 response time was over 3 minutes. All of the students in Group 1 reported the emergency. In Group 2 only 85% and Group 3 only 60% did during the 4-minute period. Darley and Latane felt their findings validate their theory of diffusion of responsibility. The greater number of bystanders to an emergency the less one responds due to the belief of thinking someone else probably already called for help. Thus, feeling less burden of guilt. When you are the only bystander, the responsibility to call for help is on you and the negative repercussions far outweigh the feelings of guilt for not calling for help.


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