The following is a response to an article regarding bystander intervention. Topics included in the article are the bystander effect, the bystander intervention model, a critical review of bystander intervention studies, and the motivational hypotheses of helping. Thoughts about the article are followed by contributions from additional related research.
The article begins with a description of an event in which a woman was stabbed while 38 neighbors looked on. While the attack lasted forty-five minutes, no one even called the police until after she had died. Social psychologists concluded that bystanders are affected by something in the situation that makes them hesitate to assist, rather than a lack of care for the victim. This presents the bystander as a victim of the situation and theories such as the cost-reward model point out that behavior may be based on egoistic motivation. It would be more accurate and comprehensive to include all situational forces and individual motivations when analyzing bystander behaviors.
The diffusion of responsibility theory was presented, which stated that the acceptance of individual responsibility is based on the number of bystanders present, with more bystanders resulting in less individual responsibility since the responsibility is diffused with many others. Normative social influence was also presented. For this theory individuals alter their behavior according to othersÆ expectations and presence. When bystanders perceive a norm incorrectly, they are victims of pluralistic ignorance. While each of these theories offers a possible explanation of bystander effects, it cannot be concluded that these are the only reasons that a bystander fails to help. For example, fear, evoked by the situation, can be an overwhelming response that leads to an inability to move or respond. While empirical studies provide support for theories, it may be that these studies included experimenter b...