The Bystander Effect In College Students: A Review Of Literature

Abstract

Each one of us has some sort of inner drive to help others. The motivations and strengths of these drives can vary. This paper evaluates if people are more or less willing to help someone in situations when their actions are observed. It analyzes several different research articles that portray unique social situations in which bystander behavior is exhibited: How alcohol impairs bystander intervention, the bystander effect, and opinions on safety and intervening to prevent sexual assault. A research experiment is presented on this to help build on what conclusions have been drawn from the Kitty Genovese murder and to portray how different observers can affect a subject's actions while helping others. Specifically, if younger college students help more than the average public.

Introduction

The bystander effect shows that people are less likely to help when others are present, this is thought to be because the bystanders observe someone in need of help and assume that someone else watching will help them. The paradox behind this way of thinking is that everyone is thinking the same thing, and no one helps. This is evident in the case of Kitty Genovese, a young woman that was murdered within ear and eyeshot of many different neighbors that did nothing to help her even though with some simple intervention her life would have been saved. 

In some instances, it is easier to believe that people help others only because they are being observed; If helping while being observed by a specific party will raise or lower their social, monetary, or career standings then they may be more or less likely to help. This research will reveal more about how humans behave when there are other parties present in situations where the subjects must help others. An experiment determining the likelihood of helping in different situations with different observers will grant us a look inside the cognition of ourselves. However, there may be a cultural aspect involved in these thinking patterns as well. To eliminate this, we will use a fairly large sample that will reflect the larger population of the United States well enough to be modeled correctly after conclusions are drawn. This research will determine specific instances and situations in which someone is likely to help, and in what circumstances they will withhold their help from others. This is crucial because if we understand how people think about helping others, we can work towards building a less harsh society and a more helpful culture for future generations. 

Literature Review

What most of the psychological community refers to as “the bystander effect” was coined after the murder of Kitty Genovese, a young woman that lived in New York City in 1964. Kitty was brutally attacked and stabbed while walking to her apartment. Many people heard her cries for help, one man yelled down from his apartment to “leave the girl alone”. The attacker was scared off at this point, but most had not called the police, and to those who had, it was rather halfhearted. Kitty dragged herself to her apartment, yelling for help. Eventually, the attacker came back to find Kitty severely injured locked outside her apartment door, unable to get inside. Kitty was found dead shortly after. The fact that no one helped her when many of the neighbors noticed the trouble she was in, disturbed the entire community and the nation. Many experiments conducted by Latané and Darley, concluded that an individual subject is less likely to respond if he thinks that others are present. However, these experiments conducted by Latané and Darley are limited because the sample sizes were relatively small, and it is difficult to find information on biological, psychological, or social information on the subjects tested. (1968). However, It is believed that this conclusion can be explained by two things: diffusion of responsibility, meaning that if there are lots of people present than the group distributes the responsibility to act, and conformity, or our desire to fit in with how everyone else is acting.

Recently, studies have been conducted to expand on what we already know about the bystander effect. Some studies report that in specific situations increased bystander presence is related to a greater likelihood that someone will intervene. This particular study used CCTV camera footage to observe actual altercations taking place within the real world. These findings push aside the widespread fear that bystanders rarely intervene to help. The authors argue that it is time for psychology to change the narrative away from an absence of help and toward a new understanding of what makes intervention successful or unsuccessful. A limitation of this study is that it is difficult (if possible) to hear the conversation from CCTV cameras, leaving out a crucial verbal part of any altercations between subjects. However, the identity of the subjects would have to be protected, research was still done to ensure the sampling size would reflect the population. 

Another study where individuals have surveyed claims that there will be no change until prevention strategies that aim to change social norms among adults are implemented. These strategies may enhance prevention outcomes within communities. (Banyard, 2020). In a survey conducted by Jouriles questioned college students on their opinions on campus connectedness. Results indicated that students’ attitudes of campus connectedness reflected party safety behavior. Meaning, if a student indicated that they felt included within the community at the university, students tended to indicate that they would look out for other classmates at parties, avoiding leaving an intoxicated friend alone at any point in the night. Feelings of campus connectedness may be important to consider in campus efforts to prevent sexual assault (2020). Another survey proposed by Levy questioned college students in several different areas. First, Levy assessed individual differences in the level of action identification; subjects would receive a word and choose a more abstract or concrete answer to correspond with the word. Then Levy assessed individual differences in perceived similarity across members of different social categories. These two surveys positively correlated with each other. Levy concluded by testing and finding that subjects that answered abstractly related to and expressing willingness to help stigmatized and non-stigmatized people; and donating money to people in need. Meaning those subjects who answered abstractly appeared to blur social distinctions (2002). A limitation with these studies is that there may be some bias within the subjects based on how the survey was worded or any other number of underlying motivations the subjects possessed while taking the survey. However, these studies offer a few insights on what ways future studies should be conducted to yield useful results in that they raise questions that need to be explored further.

Studying bystander behavior is difficult because of the many different factors that are at play. Human social interaction is by far one of the most complex and variable disciplines to study. In some cases, it is easier to target specific areas of social interaction and see how different variables can interact with how people behave in groups when someone needs help. For example, Melkonian states in his study that intoxication can affect how someone interprets a hypothetical non-consensual sexual interaction. From this conclusion, it is evident that alcohol interferes with information processing initially and would result in an unsuccessful or failed intervention enactment. If we wish to train the public on how to intervene properly, the courses should include how to overcome the impairing effects of intoxication (2020). Another example of specificity within studies of intervention discusses ways that the public should be educated on intervening in peer bullying. Gini outlines in the study that moral distress is an important construct that should be considered in research on bystander behavior. The results of the survey indicate that individual moral disengagement (justification of negative behavior without the constraint of self-sanctions such as guilt) would decrease defending and increase passive by-standing, both of which becoming stronger as levels of perceived collective moral disengagement increased (2020). Meaning if someone does not feel morally obligated to help, if they do not feel guilty watching someone be wronged, then they are more likely to stand by without assisting.

To conclude, these studies provide a framework for creating new studies that will be beneficial to the psychology community. Without the knowledge provided of what limits a study, it would be too difficult to conduct any useful research without first laying a basic foundation of understanding. Bandura explains in a study that how young adults report their experiences intervening to prevent sexual assault increases the understanding of positive and negative impacts on bystander actions. This background information is crucial to improve bystander-focused prevention education (2019). In some of the studies previously discussed, there have been many areas of limitation regarding my research question. For example, some of the samples were too small to reflect the actual population, and some of the studies point towards ways that an actual, conclusive study should be prepared, instead of drawing their conclusions.

References

• Banyard, V. L., Rizzo, A. J., & Edwards, K. M. (2020). Community actionists: Understanding adult bystanders to sexual and domestic violence prevention in communities. Psychology of Violence. https://doi-org.ezproxy.uvu.edu/10.1037/vio0000281
• Banyard, V., Moschella, E., Grych, J., & Jouriles, E. (2019). What happened next? New measures of consequences of bystander actions to prevent interpersonal violence. Psychology of Violence, 9(6), 664–674. https://doi-org.ezproxy.uvu.edu/10.1037/vio0000229.supp (Supplemental)
• Darley, J. M., & Latané, B. (1968). Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of responsibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 8, 377–383. Copyright © 1968 by the American Psychological Association. Reprinted with permission.
• Gini, G., Thornberg, R., & Pozzoli, T. (2020). Individual moral disengagement and bystander behavior in bullying: The role of moral distress and collective moral disengagement. Psychology of Violence, 10(1), 38–47. https://doi-org.ezproxy.uvu.edu/10.1037/vio0000223
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• Levy, S. R., Freitas, A. L., Salovey, P., Levy, S. R., Freitas, A. L., & Salovey, P. (2002). Willingness to Help Measure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1224–1238.
• Melkonian, A. J., Ham, L. S., Wiersma-Mosley, J. D., Jackson, K. K., Mobley, A. M., Jozkowski, K. N., Willis, M., & Bridges, A. J. (2020). Alcohol intoxication impairs the bystander intervention process in a hypothetical sexual assault: A field investigation. Psychology of Violence. https://doi-org.ezproxy.uvu.edu/10.1037/vio0000283.supp (Supplemental)
• Philpot, R., Liebst, L. S., Levine, M., Bernasco, W., & Lindegaard, M. R. (2020). Would I be helped? Cross-national CCTV footage shows that intervention is the norm in public conflicts. American Psychologist, 75(1), 66–75. https://doi-org.ezproxy.uvu.edu/10.1037/amp0000469
• The Bystander Effect. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://esrc.ukri.org/about-us/50-years-of-esrc/50-achievements/the-bystander-effect/