Bystander+Effect

**The Bystander Effect**
The "bystander effect" is a social psychological phenomenon referring to a group of people refusing to help during an emergency situation at risk of becoming involved. It is also known by several other names, such as the Genovese Effect and Somebody Else's Problem.

The "Volunteer's Dilemma" was a game created by psychologist William Poundstone to illustrate the Bystander Effect. It creates a hypothetical situation in which N players face the choice of making a small sacrifice from which everyone can benefit, or waiting for someone else to benefit. For example, if Mr. Fagg says he'll fail the entire junior class unless a single student pays 100,000 quai to him. Everyone knows that they will all benefit if somebody pays the money, and the worst possible outcome is if nobody pays the 100,000 quai and everybody fails. On the other hand, if somebody does pay the money, everyone else benefits by not paying.

The bystander effect is illustrated by the "Volunteer's Dilemma" as nobody would want to pay the money, and everyone assumes that somebody else will pay it. "Social psychologists John Darley and Bibb Latané started this line of research, showing that contrary to common expectations, larger numbers of bystanders decrease the likelihood that someone will step forward and help a victim. The reasons include the fact that onlookers see that others are not helping either, that onlookers believe others will know better how to help, and that onlookers feel uncertain about helping while others are watching." Several experiments have been conducted on the bystander effect, and scientists have found that the presence of other onlookers only inhibits the possibility of aid.


 * Some Real Life Situations:**
 * The murder of Kitty Genovese is the most commonly cited one, in which a young American woman was attack three times during a forty-five minute period by the same man - stabbed twice and finally raped before dying en route to the hospital. Despite the murder having been seen or heard by several onlookers, they neglected to take forceful action and stop the assault. After the final attack, a neighbor finally called the police, who arrived within minutes of the call. Granted, many of the witnesses did not realize what they were seeing or hearing, but the case sparked huge interest in the bystander effect.
 * Another shocking incident relating to the bystander effect was the accidental murder of Petru Barladeanu by the Italian mafia. The incident occured just last year in May, when Barladeanu fell in a crowded road after being shot. Taking refuge at the front of a train station, Barladeanu's wife called for help. A half hour passed while many civilians casually walked by or ran away from him, none stopping to help, even after glancing at him (there is CCTV footage documenting it, you can find it online). Barladeanu died before any help arrived.

While it becomes common knowledge that the Vicario brothers intend to murder Santiago Nasar, nobody tries to stop them. Several people do not believe that they have the ability to carry out the murder (such as the Chief of Police or de la Flor) while others cannot be bothered to warn Santiago. The Priest himself confesses that "it wasn't any business of [his]" at first thought (the "Somebody Else's Problem" effect), then "[forgot] completely" about warning the others in town. Clothilde Armenta warns several people about the murder, but nobody goes out of their way to stop the Vicario brothers, even Clothilde herself who recognizes that the Vicario brothers do not really want to murder anyone. There are several other examples of the townspeople refusing to take the responsibility of stopping the Vicario brothers (admittedly, the Chief of Police does try, by initially taking away the knives, but does not take the murder threat seriously). There are several instances where townspeople believe that others should be taking responsibility for the potential murder of Santiago Nasar, and try to displace their own responsibility. Most, if not all, of the townspeople did not want a murder to occur, but by collectively refusing to take responsibility they caused the murder themselves.
 * Presence in __Chronicle of a Death Foretold:__**