The Bystander Effect

The Bystander Effect

by Cherryl Livia Hartanto

What is the bystander effect?

The bystander effect is a social psychological phenomenon that is most likely to happen anywhere, and whenever. It is when an individual is less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are near. What are the odds that when multiple people are around they tend to be a bystander too? The probability of help is inversely related to the number of bystanders. To put it the other way, the more bystanders around, the less any one of them will help.

Why does this happen?

1. 1)  Putting The Responsibility Around: When multiple bystanders are present, each individual feels less personal responsibility to act because they believe someone else will step in.

2. 2)  Social Influence: People in a group who observes the behavior of those around them to determine how to act. If others are not reacting to an emergency, individuals may perceive the situation as less serious or assume that help is not needed.

3. 3)  Fear of Judgment: Potential helpers may fear being judged by others if they intervene inappropriately or overreact to a situation that isn't an emergency.

How to respond as a bystander
Taken from righttobe.org, here lies 5D...

1. 1)  Distract: Distraction is a subtle and creative way to intervene. You do it by ignoring the person who is harassing, and engage directly with the person who is being harassed. Get in the way. Continue with what you were doing, but get in between the victim and the person.

2. 2)  Delegation: Delegation is asking a third party for help with intervening in harassment. When you Delegate someone to help you, try to tell them as clearly as possible what you’re witnessing and how you’d like them to help. Speak to someone near you who also notices what’s happening and might be in a better position to intervene. Work together to come up with a plan to intervene.

3. 3)  Documentation: Documentation involves either recording or taking notes on an instance of what’s happening. It can be really helpful to record, and do ask if the victim is alright with being recorded and posting the video online.

4. 4)  Delay: if you’re not there during the incident, you check in with the victim and ask if they’re okay.

5. 5)  Direct: Direct is when you immediately stop the problem and directly help the victim.

Sometimes in life, it’s better to help someone in need rather than waiting for someone else to help. When it's too late, you’ll be the one regretting your own choice.