Are we all bystanders?
BY MELODİ BÜYÜKÖZER (PSYC/IV)
buyukozer@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
This issue has been occupying in my mind for quite a while now. Before I tell you what I am talking about, I would like to share a little true story with you. Last weekend, I was in the bus going back to my house. I was inside sitting and an older lady was outside the bus asking whether the bus was going to Sıhhiye or not. The bus driver said that it was not. Then the older lady got inside the bus, anyway. Right after she stepped inside the bus, the driver started raising his voice. He said that he already told her it was not going to Sıhhiye so why was she still getting on the bus. Then the older lady started raising her voice saying that she is going to Kızılay and later she will go to Sıhhiye and that she does not have to explain herself to him anyway. This obviously made the driver angrier so he aggressively stepped on the gas. However, since there were other vehicles in the traffic he immediately needed to put on the brakes. This, of course caused a huge shake in the bus. The older lady was still standing while all this was happening, so as he put on the brakes the lady had to back up and unfortunately she got hit on her waist very hard by the iron handle at the front of the bus. She immediately fell on the floor screaming in pain. Everybody was shocked and the driver seemed not to care that much. People were staring, but the driver was driving and the old lady was screaming for help on the floor.
I immediately knew what was going on: This is actually a social psychological phenomenon called "The Bystander Effect." It is basically the decrease in helping behavior of individuals in emergency situations when there are a lot of others are around. The most well-known case of the bystander effect was the case of Kitty Genovese. Kitty Genovese is a victim of a murder that happened in 1964 in New York City. She was stabbed to death, and all the neighbors heard her cries for help for least a half hour and saying, "Oh my god, he stabbed me, help, help!" But nobody helped nor did they call the police. The result was another life wasted.
So, what happens when we become this unhelpful and even senseless? According to social psychologists, one of the reasons is that when there are a lot of people, feeling of responsibility gets diffused so each individual starts to feel that he or she is less responsible. Another reason is that we tend to look at what others are doing in this kind of situation and mimic them. So when nobody is doing anything, we mimic this behavior and do nothing. Also, when more people are around people tend to have more fear of making a mistake. These and most probably other reasons contribute to our unhelpful behavior.
Right now, you might be asking if this is what happens in emergency situations when a lot of people are around, then what are we going to do if we find ourselves in a situation like this and need help? Well, we asked the same question in class and our received response was interesting: The best thing to do in situations like this is to be as specific as possible. For example, shout, "You, the one in the blue shirt, help me!" Talk directly to people. Pointing fingers or telling people what they should exactly do also helps.
Going back to our story, because I knew about this effect I immediately told the driver to stop and the bystander effect was pretty much broken afterwards. We called the ambulance and the lady was taken to the hospital. Still, though, I cannot stop thinking about what would have happened to that lady if the effect had never been broken or how many times we play the role of a bystander in our daily lives, waiting for others to do something. Not too many I hope.