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Bystander Intervention

In the middle of a lesson, you hear a bump behind you and you turn around to see the girl fall off her chair and have a fit on the floor between the desks.

What sorts of questions do you ask yourself?

What will you do?


Suppose it happened in the

street?

Which one of these people is

you?


In the classroom, who would you expect to deal with it – and why?

At home, who would you expect to deal with something like this – and why?

What about in Tesco?

In a swimming pool?


Meet Kitty Genovese, 28.

On March 13, 1964, at around 3:30AM when it was very dark and cold, Kitty drove home from her job at the New York train station where she worked nights as a manager.


When she got out of her car, she saw a stranger walking toward her.

The man, Winston Mosley, 29, stabbed her twice.

She called out, “Oh my God. He stabbed me. Please help me,” and fell to the ground.

Mosley was leaning over her to stab her again, when he heard a man’s voice calling from a window in an apartment building across the street, “Leave that girl alone!”


Startled, Mosley ran down an alley, got into his car, and backed up, ready to drive off. Lights had gone on in the nearby apartment building, but they went off again.

About 10 minutes later, Mosley got out of the car and again followed Kitty, who by this time had reached her doorway. She fell forward through the doorway, crying out, “I’m dying, I’m dying”.

Mosley caught up with her, stabbed her again, and then raped her.


A while later, a neighbour who had called the police after receiving a phone call from another neighbour, ran down to the lobby and cradled Kitty in her lap until the paramedics arrived. Kitty died.

From interviewing people, the police learned that as many as 38 people had seen or heard part of the stalking, rape and murder of Kitty Genovese by Winston Mosley, but only one of them had called the police - and nobody had gone to help her.

The attack and Kitty’s death had taken over half an hour.


Any one of them could have prevented Kitty’s suffering, rape and murder … but nobody did

So why did so many people, who

knew what was going on, not help?

Would you have helped?

What would have made it easier

for you to help?


This started the area of study called “Bystander Intervention”.

What makes people get involved – or do they just “stand by” and watch?

Bystander intervention

Do I help (Yes) Is this an emergency (Yes) Do I accept responsibility (Yes)

How can I help? What should I do?

If at any point the bystander cannot answer yes he walks away from the situation.

Latane & Darley (1968) Procedure: Participants were asked to sit in a room and do a

questionnaire. Some were alone, some were in threes (the IV) Smoke started to pour into the room through a

vent; this continued for 6 minutes …

vs.


Findings:Everyone noticed the smoke75% of those alone went for help38% of those in groups went for help

Conclusion:We look to other people to make the first move in an emergency. This is called “diffusion of responsibility”.

75% vs. 38%


Application to real life:In an emergency, we have to act if we are by ourselves.With other people, we tend to look to them first.Why?


Application to real life:In an emergency, we have to act if we are by ourselves.With other people, we tend to look to them first.Why?

We hope they will take responsibilityWe hope they have expertiseWe hope they read the situation correctly – any screaming may be children playing for instance


About the experiment:

What sort of sample was it?

Did people give their consent?

Was it informed consent?

What type of experiment was it?

What design of experiment was it?

Was it ecologically valid?



What sort of sample was it?VOLUNTEER

Did people give their consent? YES

Was it informed consent?WASN’T INFORMED

What type of experiment was it?LAB.

What design of experiment was it?IND. GPS.

Was it ecologically valid? YES


Piliavin did a series of experiments on New York subway trains (like the London Underground) to see if people would help others.

An actor would bite a blood capsule hidden in their mouth and collapse on the train.

Two observers recorded what they saw.

Who would help?

It all depended ….


RESULTS:

What do you think happened to:

The white male actor with a white stick (i.e. blind)

The white male who appeared drunk

The black male


RESULTS:

What do you think happened to:

The white actor with a white stick – HELPED IMMEDIATELY

The one who appeared drunk – HELPED EVENTUALLY

The black male – HELPED BY MEN, MAINLY BLACK


CONCLUSION:We are most likely to help people similar to ourselves

The number of people present did not seem to make any difference as to how quickly “victims” were helped. So, no “diffusion of responsibility”.



What sort of sample was it?

Did people give their consent?

What were the other ethical problems?

Was it ecologically valid?



What sort of sample was it?OPPORTUNITY

Did people give their consent? NO

What were the other ethical problems?

DECEPTION, RIGHT TO WITHDRAW, PSYCHOLOGICAL HARM

Was it ecologically valid? YES


Piliavin’s conclusion that we are most likely to help people like ourselves was backed up by Bateson (1983) who showed participants a woman being electrocuted (an actor, really) and asked them if they would be willing to take the woman’s place.

Those who thought themselves most similar were more willing to do so.

He put it down to empathy (write a definition of this word) and so we relieve our distress by helping this person similar to us.


Schroeder (1995) – looked at many studies to find out why people choose to get involved –

Factors include:

If we have training or experience in the situation - e.g. first aid

If we are the only person present – i.e. no diffusion of responsibility

If we are similar to the victim and show empathy – e.g. gender, age, race

If it doesn’t “cost” too much in terms of risk, money, embarrassment

Now write down the opposite of these – i.e. why people don’t get involved


This is James Bulger, a 2-year old boy led away

screaming by two young boys.

They took him to some waste ground, tortured him and murdered him

We wonder how many people noticed –

– whether anyone stopped the two boys –

– and what could have been prevented


Documents

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