RESOURCE FILES
Chapter 2
Seeing and Thinking
Sociologically
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Bibb Latane and
John Darley Why Don't People
Help?
In the early morning
hours of March 13, 1964, a woman named Kitty Genovese was brutally
stabbed to death in front of her New York apartment.
As we all know, murders
are not uncommon in New York City�or any other American city for
that matter. What made this case troubling was the fact that about
40 people either heard her scream for help or watched her being
stabbed from their apartment windows. No one called the police until
about 35 minutes after the attack had begun.1
When the story appeared
in the newspaper, the public was outraged. How could people be so
insensitive to the suffering of another? Why didn't anyone help her?
Some newspaper editors and psychiatrists at the time blamed the
behavior on "bystander apathy" or growing "urban alienation." The
story became a metaphor for modern city life.
Others, however,
speculated that the failure of people to get involved might be due
more to the social influence that bystanders have on each other than
to individual callousness.
To test this theory,
two social psychologists, Bibb Latane and John Darley, conducted a
series of experiments on helping behavior in
emergencies.2
In the first experiment
the room in which subjects were completing written surveys gradually
filled with smoke.
In the second
experiment subjects heard a loud crashing noise from an adjoining
room, followed by a woman's screaming, "Oh my God, my foot . . . I .
. . I . . . can't move it. Oh my ankle. I . . . can't get this . . .
thing off me."3
In the third study
subjects were participating in a discussion over an intercom when
one of them suddenly choked, gasped, and called out for help.
In each situation, the
number of individuals present at the time of the emergency was
varied so that some subjects were alone and others were with several
people.
The researchers
consistently found that as the number of bystanders increased, the
likelihood that any one of them would help decreased. It appeared
that people help others more often and more quickly when alone.
This phenomenon, which
is often called the bystander effect, has a couple of sociological
explanations.
First, the more
bystanders present, the more likely it is that we will assume
someone else will help. If we are by ourselves when an emergency
occurs, we perceive ourselves to be 100% responsible for taking
action. However, when there are 10 bystanders, we each perceive
ourselves to have only a tenth of the responsibility. The higher the
number of bystanders, the less obligated each individual is likely
to feel to intervene.
Second, if we are
unsure of our own perceptions and interpretations, or if the
situation is ambiguous, we look to others for help in defining what
is going on. If others appear calm, we may decide that whatever is
happening doesn't require our assistance.
Unfortunately, people
often try to avoid showing outward signs of worry or concern until
they see that other people are alarmed. This sort of caution
encourages others not to define the situation as one requiring
assistance and therefore inhibits the urge to help. The larger the
number of people who don't seem concerned, the stronger the
inhibiting influence. Obviously, helping will not be inhibited if
others are showing visible alarm or if the situation is so
unambiguous that one doesn't need to look to the reactions of
others�as with a car accident, for instance.4
Kitty Genovese's
neighbors weren't necessarily cruel, cold, or apathetic. They may
simply have been victims of social influence, with each looking to
others for information, waiting for someone else to define the
situation and act. Because everyone was waiting for someone else to
do something, no one did anything.
1Seedman, A. A., &
Hellman, P. 1975. Chief. New York: Avon.
2Latane, B., & Darley, J.
1970. The unresponsive bystander: Why doesn't he help? New
York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
3Latane, B., & Rodin, J.
1969. "A lady in distress: Inhibiting effects of friends and
strangers on bystander intervention." Journal of Experimental
Social Psychology, 5, 189-202.
4Clark, R. D., III, &
Word, L. E. 1972. "Why don't bystanders help? Because of ambiguity."
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 24,
392-400.
David Newman and Rebecca Smith.
(Created September 14, 1999). Copyright Pine Forge Press.
http://www.pineforge.com/newman.
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