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来源：小宇宙
What is the psychology behind the bystander effect?
At some point in your life, you've probably walked past a stranger spread-eagled on the ground outside. They may have fainted, tripped and injured themselves, or even been attacked.
Now, the chances are that if you saw several people were already offering assistance, you carried on walking by. And that's due to what's known as the bystander effect. It's a psychosocial phenomenon which typically crops up in emergency situations.
It shows that the more other people are already intervening to help, the less likely we are to do so ourselves. On the other hand, the likelihood of stepping in increases when you're the only person present.
Why is that, then?
One major factor behind the bystander effect is that the presence of multiple onlookers creates a diffusion of responsibility between them. Think of it like this. You divide the total responsibility by the number of witnesses.
If I'm the only person nearby, I alone have the victim's fate in my hands. I simply can't walk away. But if there are already 5 people there by the time I arrive, I can walk on guilt free as the victim is already being taken care of.
Bear in mind that even when you do intervene on your own, there's still a danger you could make an error of judgement. Emergency situations are often chaotic and we're less likely to intervene when a situation is ambiguous.
Do you have any examples?
The most widely cited example of the bystander effect is the murder of Italian-American woman Kitty Genovese in New York in 1964. In the early hours of the 13th of March, she was stabbed and then raped when arriving home after finishing a shift at the bar where she worked.
By the time an ambulance arrived to provide emergency care, it was too late. And Genovese died while being transported to hospital. The case actually stirred a real debate, which led to the first wave of psychosocial research on the bystander effect.
Two weeks after the murder, the New York Times published an article under the headline, 37 who saw murder didn't call the police, suggesting Genovese's neighbors were partly to blame for her death.
Were there really 37 people who knowingly ignored such a violent crime?
It turned out that the New York Times article was highly sensationalized, and included a number of factual errors. Nevertheless, at least two witnesses of Genovese's murder were aware of exactly what was happening, and their inaction ruled out any hope of her being saved.
Joseph Fink clearly saw the stabbing, and told investigators that he had considered getting his baseball bat, only to take a nap instead in the end. And another witness called Carl Ross wasted time calling other neighbors for advice first before eventually calling the police. There you have it.
词汇表
spread-eagled [ˈspred ˈiːɡld] adj. 四肢摊开的，呈大字形的
faint [feɪnt] vi. 晕倒，昏厥
trip [trɪp] vi. 绊倒，摔倒
bystander effect [ˈbaɪstændə(r)] 旁观者效应（指在紧急情况下，个体因为有多人在场而更不可能提供帮助的现象）
psychosocial [ˌsaɪkəʊˈsəʊʃl] adj. 社会心理的，心理社会的
crop up [krɒp] 突然出现，意外发生
intervene [ˌɪntəˈviːn] vi. 介入，干预，插手
step in 介入，干预，插手
onlooker [ˈɒnlʊkə(r)] n. 旁观者，围观者，观众
diffusion [dɪˈfjuːʒn] n. 分散，扩散，散布
witness [ˈwɪtnəs] n. 目击者，证人
guilt free [ɡɪlt friː] adj. 无愧疚感的，问心无愧的，心安理得的
chaotic [keɪˈɒtɪk] adj. 混乱的，混沌的，无序的
ambiguous [æmˈbɪɡjuəs] adj. 模棱两可的，含糊的，不明确的
stab [stæb] vt. （用刀等利器）刺，戳，捅
rape [reɪp] vt. 强奸
shift [ʃɪft] n. 轮班，班次，轮班时间
stir [stɜː(r)] vt. 激起，引发（讨论等）
knowingly [ˈnəʊɪŋli] adv. 明知地，故意地
sensationalized [senˈseɪʃənəlaɪzd] adj. 耸人听闻的，渲染夸张的
factual errors [ˈfæktʃuəl ˈerəz] 事实错误
inaction [ɪnˈækʃn] n. 不作为，无行动
rule out 排除，断送，不考虑，使…不可能
baseball bat 棒球棒
take a nap 小睡，打盹
🪴翻译和pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进入【打卡交流群】
At some point in your life, you've probably walked past a stranger spread-eagled on the ground outside. They may have fainted, tripped and injured themselves, or even been attacked.
Now, the chances are that if you saw several people were already offering assistance, you carried on walking by. And that's due to what's known as the bystander effect. It's a psychosocial phenomenon which typically crops up in emergency situations.
It shows that the more other people are already intervening to help, the less likely we are to do so ourselves. On the other hand, the likelihood of stepping in increases when you're the only person present.
Why is that, then?
One major factor behind the bystander effect is that the presence of multiple onlookers creates a diffusion of responsibility between them. Think of it like this. You divide the total responsibility by the number of witnesses.
If I'm the only person nearby, I alone have the victim's fate in my hands. I simply can't walk away. But if there are already 5 people there by the time I arrive, I can walk on guilt free as the victim is already being taken care of.
Bear in mind that even when you do intervene on your own, there's still a danger you could make an error of judgement. Emergency situations are often chaotic and we're less likely to intervene when a situation is ambiguous.
Do you have any examples?
The most widely cited example of the bystander effect is the murder of Italian-American woman Kitty Genovese in New York in 1964. In the early hours of the 13th of March, she was stabbed and then raped when arriving home after finishing a shift at the bar where she worked.
By the time an ambulance arrived to provide emergency care, it was too late. And Genovese died while being transported to hospital. The case actually stirred a real debate, which led to the first wave of psychosocial research on the bystander effect.
Two weeks after the murder, the New York Times published an article under the headline, 37 who saw murder didn't call the police, suggesting Genovese's neighbors were partly to blame for her death.
Were there really 37 people who knowingly ignored such a violent crime?
It turned out that the New York Times article was highly sensationalized, and included a number of factual errors. Nevertheless, at least two witnesses of Genovese's murder were aware of exactly what was happening, and their inaction ruled out any hope of her being saved.
Joseph Fink clearly saw the stabbing, and told investigators that he had considered getting his baseball bat, only to take a nap instead in the end. And another witness called Carl Ross wasted time calling other neighbors for advice first before eventually calling the police. There you have it.
词汇表
spread-eagled [ˈspred ˈiːɡld] adj. 四肢摊开的，呈大字形的
faint [feɪnt] vi. 晕倒，昏厥
trip [trɪp] vi. 绊倒，摔倒
bystander effect [ˈbaɪstændə(r)] 旁观者效应（指在紧急情况下，个体因为有多人在场而更不可能提供帮助的现象）
psychosocial [ˌsaɪkəʊˈsəʊʃl] adj. 社会心理的，心理社会的
crop up [krɒp] 突然出现，意外发生
intervene [ˌɪntəˈviːn] vi. 介入，干预，插手
step in 介入，干预，插手
onlooker [ˈɒnlʊkə(r)] n. 旁观者，围观者，观众
diffusion [dɪˈfjuːʒn] n. 分散，扩散，散布
witness [ˈwɪtnəs] n. 目击者，证人
guilt free [ɡɪlt friː] adj. 无愧疚感的，问心无愧的，心安理得的
chaotic [keɪˈɒtɪk] adj. 混乱的，混沌的，无序的
ambiguous [æmˈbɪɡjuəs] adj. 模棱两可的，含糊的，不明确的
stab [stæb] vt. （用刀等利器）刺，戳，捅
rape [reɪp] vt. 强奸
shift [ʃɪft] n. 轮班，班次，轮班时间
stir [stɜː(r)] vt. 激起，引发（讨论等）
knowingly [ˈnəʊɪŋli] adv. 明知地，故意地
sensationalized [senˈseɪʃənəlaɪzd] adj. 耸人听闻的，渲染夸张的
factual errors [ˈfæktʃuəl ˈerəz] 事实错误
inaction [ɪnˈækʃn] n. 不作为，无行动
rule out 排除，断送，不考虑，使…不可能
baseball bat 棒球棒
take a nap 小睡，打盹
🪴翻译和pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进入【打卡交流群】
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