That "BYSTANDER EFFECT"!

 

That BYSTANDER EFFECT has long been defined in Psychology as a social-psychological phenomenon WHERE individuals are less likely to help a victim in distress WHEN other people are present, WHICH, to quote psychology jargon, it is a phenomenon explained by factors like diffusion of responsibility , pluralistic ignorance [LIKE relying on others' reaction to define a situation] and audience inhibition [LIKE that fear of negative judgment].  WHAT that means is that in a group, people may assume someone else will help OR interpret the situation as NOT an emergency because others are NOT reacting.  Ouch!@#$%?

NOT to be cynical BUT many times in these recent times, I did bear witness to incidents WHERE it ended tragically WHILE the people aware and present around were holding on to their smartphones and taking videos and picture of an imminent tragedy about to happen anytime soon.  It would be an understatement if I'll exclaim that I have always been aghast WHEN I would come across situations like this [WHICH, instead of evolving towards rectifying misses, it's becoming more of a widespread acceptance and practice across communities, countries and cultures.  Last week in Malaysia, a couple was arrested for the drowning of their children WHO got drowned while inside their car parked at the bank of a river.  Yesterday in the Philippines, 2 siblings got drowned WHILE the rest were taking video of their imminent tragic end, ouch😡😡😡

Experts noted that generally, people often hesitate to respond WHEN a situation feels ambiguous, a key feature of that BYSTANDER EFFECT.  Such manifestation of HESITATION almost always pops-up in various tragic stories across the globe.  In crime scenes, the BYSTANDER EFFECT occurs WHEN the presence of others discourages an individual from intervening in an emergency situation, example, against a bully OR during an assault OR other crime scenarios❌❌❌

Shocking results of researches showed that the greater the number of bystanders, the LESS LIKELY it is for any one of them to provide help to a person in distress and people are more likely to take action in a crisis WHEN there are few OR no other witnesses present.  Psychologist attributed these human behaviors to our perceived DIFFUSION OF RESPONSIBILITY WHEREIN the more onlookers there are, the less personal responsibility individuals will feel to take action😡😡😡

Our takeaway:  WHILE it is just natural for people to sort of 'FREEZE' OR go in that 'state of shock' WHEN seeing someone having an emergency OR being attacked, experts opine that that is our RESPONSE TO FEAR, the FEAR that we are too weak to help OR that we might misunderstand the context and seeing a threat WHERE there is none, OR even that intervening will put your own life at risk.  That BYSTANDER EFFECT!!!