There are some psychological concepts that are just interesting whatever your point of view and bystander effect is definitely one of them!

Bystander effect is the finding that an individual’s sense of responsibility is reduced by the presence of others. Individuals are more likely to respond to someone in need when on their own rather than if they are surrounded by others who also are not helping that person (Darley & Latane, 1968).

There are some great youtube clips of bystander effect in action, it’s worth a look, one is at Liverpool St station, a station in London that I arrived at for work everyday for nearly seven years of my life. I hate to say it but I could probably of been one of those people that walked straight past a homeless person or someone who looked like they might be under the influence of a drug and probably needed assistance. In my twenties I didn’t have the social awareness that I have now, probably the empathy for others either, I was busy getting on with my life rushing to work not realising the impact I could possibly have on the world around me.  Luckily that bubble burst at some point!

Bystander effect theory was influenced by a particular crime that occurred in America; Kitty Genovese who was sexually assaulted and murdered on 13th March 1964 in New York. There were possibly 38 witnesses in nearby apartments who heard or saw the attacks and yet not one responded or even called the police. There were two attacks on Kitty; one that was outside of the apartments and one that was inside a foyer of the apartment where only a small number of the witnesses could see the attack.  Not one witness intervened or called the police until the victim was found dead.

Darley and Latane (1968) created an experiment whereby participants were separated in individual rooms having a discussion with other participants over an intercom system (to supposedly impose anonymity).  One participant would then fake a seizure which the participants could hear. What they found was interesting; as you can see in the table of results the more people that they believed were also present the slower the individuals were to respond, in fact when it was only themselves and the person that required help they were more than twice as fast to respond to the emergency.

I myself experienced bystander effect when pregnant with my first child, in my third trimester I started to experience fainting . It was a usual working day and whilst standing on the platform waiting for the train, as the train arrived, I fainted. When I came around people were literally stepping over me to get on the train, I brushed myself off and got on the train, quite embarrassed.  Interestingly whilst seated about 40 minutes later I passed out again however in such close proximity to others someone did actually ask if I was ok and when we got to Liverpool Street Station they offered to walk me to work. I actually needed to get an underground from Aldgate, my journey had not ended. I declined the kind offer and said I would probably just go home as it seemed to be re-occuring today.  It actually did seem odd that a stranger wanted to help, London can be a lonely city. That was my last trip to the city for work, I didn’t return and started my maternity leave. A couple of weeks later the terror attacks in London occurred, 7th June 2005 in the morning rush hour 52 people were killed and 800 injured. I can’t say for certain that I would have been affected of course but it’s a genuine possibility. Everything happens for a reason.

In an effort to combat bystander effect Zimbardo, made famous for his Stanford Prison experiment started the heroic imagination project to combat bystander effect, social conformity and systemic bias. This movement believes that heroism can be taught, developed and practiced.