{"id":11141,"date":"2020-07-14T13:12:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T17:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=11141"},"modified":"2022-04-01T15:23:36","modified_gmt":"2022-04-01T19:23:36","slug":"the-bystander-effect-pluralistic-ignorance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-bystander-effect-pluralistic-ignorance\/","title":{"rendered":"Safety in Numbers? Not With the Bystander Effect"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Do you feel safer going out at night when there are people around? Have you heard of the bystander effect? Pluralistic ignorance shows there might not be safety in numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pluralistic ignorance is a phenomenon in which a group <\/em>of people behaves contrary to the norms and standards of most of the individual <\/em>members of that group. The bystander effect is a type of pluralistic ignorance. Learn how to counter the bystander effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

What Is Pluralistic Ignorance?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In unclear or ambiguous situations, we\u2019re more likely to use the actions of others to model our own behavior. <\/strong>This can lead to a phenomenon called pluralistic ignorance. In these situations, a group <\/em>of people as a whole acts in a way that most of the individual <\/em>members of that group would not agree with on their own.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It really comes down to the difference between how a person<\/em> acts and how people <\/em>act. Pluralistic ignorance explains the bystander effect, when bystanders fail to help individuals in need.<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Story of Kitty Genovese: A Pluralistic Ignorance Tragedy<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In 1963, in the Kew Gardens section of Queens in New York City, a young woman named Kitty Genovese was murdered. While undeniably tragic, what made her murder internationally famous were the circumstances under which it occured.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Genovese was stabbed by her killer over the course of a prolonged 35-minute attack, during which she was audibly in excruciating pain and screaming for someone to help her. Several neighbors in the crowded urban environment either saw or heard portions of the attack. Yet many of them failed to intervene.<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The media seized on apathy as an explanation for the neighbors\u2019 behavior. According to this theory, we were becoming a \u201cCold Society\u201d in which people were unwilling to lift a finger to help each other in an hour of need. Given the attack\u2019s setting in New York City, pundits pointed to apathy as a regrettable feature of modern urban life. They warned that episodes like this would only become more common as the country became more urbanized.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But was this really what was going on? Did these witnesses simply shrug their shoulders at Genovese\u2019s plight? Or was something else going on? Psychologists Bibb Latane and John Darley begged to differ.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They argued that some individual <\/em>witness struggled to help the victim precisely because <\/em>they knew there were so many other <\/em>witnesses. <\/strong>There was a diffusion of responsibility with the bystander effect: everyone assumed that someone else would intervene or call the police, so no one actually did. The knowledge of fellow witnesses lowered the psychological cost of non-involvement for each individual.<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also argued that uncertainty drove the witnesses\u2019 actions (or non-actions).<\/strong> This created pluralistic ignorance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we mentioned above, the Social Proof Principle<\/a> thrives in conditions of uncertainty and ambiguity. In these scenarios, we strongly model our behavior on what others are doing.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Latane and Darley\u2019s analysis, this created a feedback loop with deadly consequences for Genovese. In the confusing and chaotic atmosphere of a crowded urban environment, Geneovese\u2019s screams could have been any number of things: drunken exuberance, or a lover\u2019s quarrel maybe, neither of which would warrant intervention from a stranger.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone hearing it could plausibly claim that they didn\u2019t know what was really going on. So they looked to everyone else <\/em>to guide their own behavior<\/strong>. And since everyone else was doing nothing, each person thought that the screams were a non-emergency. \u201cAfter all, if this were an emergency, at least someone else should be looking alarmed and calling the police.\u201d But if everyone <\/em>is thinking this, no one<\/em> is acting, and so everyone believes it\u2019s a non-emergency. So with the bystander effect, the group as a whole made the collective decision to let Genovese die.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortform note: Subsequent investigations of the murder have discredited some of the early mythology when first studied in the 1960s. Far fewer people heard parts of the attack than had been previously thought. None <\/em>of them witnessed it in its entirety. At least two neighbors did <\/em>call the police. And, in fact, Genovose died in the arms of an elderly neighbor who came down to help her when she heard Genovese\u2019s anguished cries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story is still useful as a demonstration of the bystander effect, so we\u2019ve opted to keep it in the summary, but we had to point out the facts have changed quite a bit since Influence <\/em>was published. If you\u2019re interested in learning more, check out this article<\/a> from the American Psychological Association on pop psychology\u2019s \u201ctall tales.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Safety in Numbers? Think Again<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Genovese story shows the folly of the idea of \u201csafety in numbers.\u201d With the powerful force of pluralistic ignorance working against you, you\u2019re probably in greater danger from the bystander effect in a large <\/em>group than you are in a small group.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As proof, Darley and Latane staged an experiment in which a college student pretended to have a seizure. The student received help 85 percent of the time when there was only a single witness. But he received help only 31 percent of the time where there were five bystanders.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t Ask People for Help, Ask a Person<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

On an individual level, then, people are not apathetic. Quite the contrary, they\u2019re remarkably eager to help. People quickly leap into action once they realize an emergency is underway.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lesson is clear. Single out an individual <\/em>if you are ever in need of help in a public place. <\/strong>General, non-directed cries of \u201cHelp!\u201d can too easily be sucked into the vortex of the bystander effect. People will either be able to tell themselves that there\u2019s no real emergency or that someone else will handle it. Don\u2019t let diffusion of responsibility and uncertainty take root. Call out, \u201cHey you, in the red cardigan. I need help, go call 911 now!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you feel safer going out at night when there are people around? Have you heard of the bystander effect? Pluralistic ignorance shows there might not be safety in numbers. Pluralistic ignorance is a phenomenon in which a group of people behaves contrary to the norms and standards of most of the individual members of that group. The bystander effect is a type of pluralistic ignorance. Learn how to counter the bystander effect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":11176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,24],"tags":[101],"class_list":["post-11141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","category-society","tag-influence","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nSafety in Numbers? 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