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Understanding The Bystander Effect

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On March 13, 1964 a girl, named Kitty Genovese, was stabbed to death in front of her home. There were several witnesses to the crime, none of whom responded to her cry for help. No one chose to help the young woman or call the authorities. That incident led psychologist to test the bystander effect and understand the reason, why despite the numerous witnesses, nobody took the initiative to help the victim (Explorable.com, 2015).
The bystander effect is a psychological phenomenon referring to cases where a victim is less likely to receive help when surrounded by a group of people, rather than a single bystander. When people are in a crowd it is easier to evade responsibility and expect someone else to take it. Helping someone in need could potentially be inconvenient, risky, embarrassing even (Milgram & Hollander, 1964). That is the reason why many people choose not to react and let someone else deal with the victim. …show more content…
However if a person knows that he or she is the only person, aware of the distress of a victim and is the only one available to help, that person would quickly take control over the situation and do their best to help the victim. (Garcia, Weaver, Moskowitz & Darley, 2002). Despite that fact, they can choose to ignore the cry for help, based on personal concerns, however that decision would be entirely dependent on

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