By Samantha Schwartz ’16

On a daily basis a bully preys on an innocent peer in the crowded school hallways, picking on his or her glasses or the way he or she walks or some other outrageously unfair reason. And everyday students stand by, hesitating to act. As the bullying continues, they walk by and pretend nothing is happening.

This occurrence is called the bystander effect, which happens when the presence of others discourages an individual from intervening in an emergency situation. There is a bystander in everyone, and here is the science behind it.

Social psychologists Bibb Latané and John Darley popularized the concept in 1964 following the brutal murder of a woman, Kitty Genovese, in New York City. Genovese was stabbed to death while bystanders observed the crime and didn’t contact the police or get help.

Though many people would proudly claim that they would never simply stand by as a murder occurrs, this, unfortunately, is not the case.

Latané and Darley attributed the effect to pluralistic ignorance. One of the first steps in any person’s decision to help another is the recognition that someone is actually in need of help. To do this, the bystander must realize that they are witnessing an emergency situation and that a victim is in need of assistance. Consequently, a major reason why eyewitnesses fail to intervene is that they do not even realize they are witnessing a crime. Though this seems outrageous, in ambiguous and urgent situations people often look towards others to see how they are reacting and how they should react. They assume that others may know something that they do not, so they gauge their reactions before they decide how they should respond.

The social psychologists also attributed the bystander effect to the perceived diffusion of responsibility, such as how onlookers are more likely to intervene if there are few or no other witnesses. Even if people recognize that they are witnessing a crime, they may still fail to intervene because they do not take personal responsibility for helping the victim. The problem is that the more bystanders there are, the less responsible each individual feels. When you are the only eyewitness present, 100 percent of the responsibility for providing help rests on your shoulders. But if there are five eyewitnesses, only 20 percent of the responsibility is your own. The larger the group, the less likely you are to act. In these situations, people may assume that someone else will help. But if everyone assumes this, then no one will intervene.

In Genovese’s case, each onlooker concluded from their neighbors’ inaction that their own personal help was not needed. In the case of a school bully in a hallway, observers may debate whether or not to intervene based on if they believe it is an act of bullying or playfulness. Assuming the latter, students all too often neglect to act because no one else around them is.