Analysis Of The Bystander Effect Through Psychological Perspective

The basis of this paper is to uncover the imprint on how social cognitive theory, behaviorism, and conformity differ in roles, which explains the reasoning behind why people don’t help another person in obvious distress. Various studies and surveys have been conducted to determine the social cognitive theory revolving around this issue. Nationwide these identical studies indicate that 1 in 4 and 1 in 3 US students said they were previously bullied at school while fewer students claimed they experienced cyber bullying. In 2017, about 20% of students ages 12-18 experienced bullying at some point with no intervention involved from anybody else to assist them. It is key to comprehend how bystanders, as well as the bystander effect can differ in key roles within different communities. A few psychologists use the Social Exchange Theory to explain why people help others, and furthermore argued that people help each other because they want to gain as much as possible while losing as little as possible in the process. Utilizing a psychological perspective, I will argue why people don’t help another person that is in obvious distress.

Social cognitive theory gives the proposition that previously or currently perceived social norms and environmental factors affect decision-making. A survey was conducted on final edited versions of the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptence Scale and the Bystander Attitude Scale including 2,338 incoming undergraduate students of all genders at a large northeastern public university. The results expounded that females had more willingness to intervene acting as a bystander as well as individuals with previous education on sexual assault, and individuals who knew someone sexually assaulted. Although rape myths not only designate problematic attitudes, they also stand as an explanatory predictor of sexual assault. The incorporation of content surrounding bystander intervention programs should strongly focus on the role of gender also.

Behaviorism is the theory that human and animal behavior can be described in terms of conditioning, not having appeal to thoughts or feelings, and that psychological disorders are best treated by an alternate behavior pattern. This research study gives the example of behaviorism as it is continued by many peers who may not participate in bullying behavior, but their acquiescence, support, or resistance in the bullying activity is a central reason to it occurring. Pupils and teachers were distributed a survey in 35 primary schools in England inside four local authorities. Pupils were surveyed on the topic regarding bullying behaviors, while teachers were surveyed surrounding the topic of school policies and processes. A considerable school and classroom level effect on the commonness of bullying and functioning school guidelines were discovered being connected to levels of bullying. Lastly, the data from the study showed the importance of schools’ embedded rules and practices with regard to bullying taking place frequently and renders confirmation for policy concerning the importance of focusing on a wide scope of results.

Conformity is a social influence that involves a change in belief or behavior to fit in with a group. A growing amount of research has begun in order to examine the link between blacks’ experiences with the police, their perceptions of police legitimacy, and how conformity affects how they are treated. For example, a study of violence was conducted consisting of 40 African-American men from a distressed urban community examined young men’s experiences with police harassment or misconduct and their perceptions of this occurring. 72% of the young men observed stated that when police harassment or misconduct was occurring that nobody intervened to help them. These findings indicate young men’s sense of themselves as symbolic assistants in the eyes of the police. The importance of calculating the impact of gathered negative experiences is to hold a better understanding of minority and police relations, as well as providing additional currency to recent findings on the significance of procedural justice. To conclude, these results suggest a high rate of non interference when violence between police and African-American men take place.

This paper has utilized various studies which renders an inference on the lack of assistance from other people when a person is in obvious distress. Although, all of the studies were coordinated in different environments, similar results were found that explain why a person does not assist someone else in obvious distress. Despite the methods that were measured to study this cognitive dissonance theory, it is still to be discovered whether the results would be similar if completed in a technology based setting or a non realistic setting. As a result, future research should center their attention on evolving studies that analyze the variables of social anxiety, bystander effect, and the level of distress within the world. It also perhaps may be intriguing to compare the bystander effect in rural and urban regions or both during the same time. Absolutely all of the information from studies and surveys are capable of expanding comprehension, as well as leading towards more successful solutions that would eventually decrease the frequency rate of people deciding on not helping a person in clear distress in the future.