What is bystander apathy?
Answer
Bystander apathy also known as the bystander effect is the occurrence when a person fails to provide assistance in a dire situation while other individuals are present due to the fact that they are assured someone else will/has take(n) action, resulting in an act of omission by all parties.
What causes a person to react this way?
There are three psychological factors that are thought to prompt this unhelpfulness.
- Diffusion of responsibility- feeling as though you are less responsible when others are present as they think that someone else has already taken action.
- Evaluation apprehension- the feeling of worry that the others will have adverse judgement of you.
- Pluralistic ignorance- belief that the situation might not be grave since others are not helping.
Who coined this term?
Social psychologists Bobb Latane and John Darley in the 1960’s on account of a nefarious murder of a woman named Catherine “Kitty” Genovese that occurred in New York in 1964.
Who was Kitty Genovese?
A New York woman who was raped and stabbed to death by a man named Winston Mosley in 1964.
What made this case so famous?
The press this case received and the misinformation that was spread. The New York Times covered that case and claimed that 38 people witnessed the murder and did not call the police. Only two witnesses behaved that way, a neighbor named Karl Ross heard the commotion, upon opening his door he saw Kitty laying there. He then closed his door and asked his friend for advice on what to do. His friend responded with "don't get involved." Another witness who did nothing was Joseph Fink who had witnessed Kitty being attacked and did not call the police nor did he intervene.
What happened to Winston Mosley?
He was brought in for questioning after he was seen breaking into a house and stealing a TV. When witnesses described his car, it matched what some of the witnesses saw the night of Kitty's murder, a white Corvair. He ended up confessing to Kitty's murder as well as other murders and crimes he committed. He was sentenced to death but got reduced to a life sentence, he then died in prison at 81 years old.
Work Cited
Belcher, Mark. “Killer Who Escaped and Raped Buffalo Woman Dies in Prison at Age 81.” News 4 Buffalo, 5 Apr. 2016, www.wivb.com/news/killer-who-escaped-and-raped-buffalo-woman-dies-in-prison-at-age-81/. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
bill. “Kitty Genovese Killer Dies in Prison.” Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion |, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, 5 Apr. 2016, legalinsurrection.com/2016/04/kitty-genovese-killer-dies-in-prison/. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
Editors, History.com. “Kitty Genovese.” HISTORY, 21 May 2021, www.history.com/topics/crime/kitty-genovese#section_5.
Hortensius, Ruud, and Beatrice de Gelder. “From Empathy to Apathy: The Bystander Effect Revisited.” Current Directions in Psychological Science, vol. 27, no. 4, 2018, pp. 249–256, https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721417749653.
Lemann, Nicholas. “A Call for Help.” The New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2014, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/03/10/a-call-for-help.
Science, Bruce. “STORAGE ROOM No. 2.” STORAGE ROOM No. 2, 11 Feb. 2016, www.storagetwo.com/blog/2016/2/dont-be-a-bystander-the-bystander-effect. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.