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The Importance Of The Bystander Effect

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The bystander effect is the phenomenon where the possibility of someone offering help when needed decreases with the presence of other people (Greitemeyer & Oliver Mügge, 2015). The individuals that observe a situation but do not intervene are referred to as the bystanders (Williams and Law, 2007). The following essay discusses the main reasons the presence of bystanders reduces the likelihood of individuals offering help.
One of the most important reasons victims are less likely to receive help when there is a large number of bystanders is the barrier of society. According to this, people want to avoid attracting invalidating attention by possibly judging the importance of the situation wrongly, being too dramatic about what is going on or …show more content…

and Kainbacher, M. (2011). They bystander-effect: A meta-analytic review on bystander intervention in dangerous and non-dangerous emergencies. Psychological Bulletin, 137(4), …show more content…

(2002). Crowded minds: The implicit bystander effect. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 83(4), 843-853. Doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.83.4.843
Greitemeyer, T., & Oliver Mügge, D. (2015). When Bystanders Increase Rather Than Decrease Intentions to Help. Social Psychology, 46(2), 116-119. Doi: 10.1027/1864-9335/a000215
Hudson, J., & Bruckman, A. (2004). The Bystander Effect: A Lens for Understanding Patterns of Participation. Journal Of The Learning Sciences, 13(2), 170. Doi: 10.1207/s15327809jls1302_2
Manning, R., Levine, M., & Collins, A. (2007). The Kitty Genovese murder and the social psychology of helping: The parable of the 38 witnesses. American Psychologist, 62(6), 555-562. Doi: 10.1037/0003-066x.62.6.555
Williams, K. and Law, A. (2007). Bystander Effect. In: R. Baumeister and K. Vohs, ed.. Encyclopedia of social psychology, 1st ed. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications, pp.132-133. van Bommel, M., van Prooijen, J., Elffers, H., & Van Lange, P. (2012). Be aware to care: Public self-awareness leads to a reversal of the bystander effect. Journal Of Experimental Social Psychology, 48(4), 926-930. Doi:

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