MGP+Ashley

** WOULD YOU WALK BY? ** What is the Bystander Effect and what are its causes? 

// Bystander Effect // : [Buh-eye-stánd Üh Èffeckt] noun. A psychological process that causes people not to help those in need when there are many people in the immediate environment.     Psychology has always fascinated me, and I always yearned to learn more about how the human brain worked, and what it was that made each individual react the way they do. Something about how applicable it was to human society and how I could to observe it all around me in the actions of people appealed to me greatly. I heard about the Bystander Effect in passing during a movie, and at the time was simply mildly curious as to what it could be referring to. Yet when I heard it again in Mr Israel's lecture, I realized its connection with psychology and began to research further on the topic. The way it occurred in our everyday lives without our realization of this intrigued me, along with the way it created a link between events that seem completely remote from one another: such as leaving a piece of trash on the floor, compared with ignoring the cries of a dying woman.
 * PREFACE** 

Yet, after I found the definition, something about the Bystander Effect unsettled me. The most famous instance in 1964 - the murder of Kitty Genovese - where people did nothing as a woman was being murdered outside their apartments confused me. I wanted to know how this could happen. How people that seem so moral in society could allow a woman to be murdered in cold blood. Thus, my Multi-Genre Project focuses not only on the question of what the Bystander Effect is, but also on what its causes are - the thought processes that culminate in such an inhumane dismissal of an often evident problem. All of my three genres explore the Bystander Effect, yet each showcases it in a different manner, highlighting a different aspect of the phenomenon.




 * GENRE I ** : Research Paper 

 Genre I is a Research paper, that formally outlines the answer to the question. It deals purely with facts and real statistics, and thus allows for a more direct answer to the research question. In my project, this genre allows the reader the ability to gather as much factual information as possible about the topic, and summarizes this in a succinct thesis that can be easily located. Furthermore, it provides the specific, psychological terminology for the causes of the Bystander Effect, along with a more in depth explanation of the terms - setting the stage for the knowledge required in order to fully comprehend the second and third genre.

//“ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of people who are evil, but because of people who don’t do anything about it.” – Albert Einstein <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> // <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Throughout our lives we subconsciously assume that places with many people, many witnesses, are less risky than places with fewer people. We feel safe in public, open places – safe in the knowledge that someone will intervene if harm comes to us. Safe in the knowledge that such a large number of seemingly moral citizens would not all walk by if danger befell us. But if this is the case, then how does one explain the murder of Kitty Genovse on 21st August 1943, when she was stabbed multiple times – all the while screaming for help – while the 38 eye and ear witnesses took no action? (Helping) This is the significance of the Bystander Effect. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">The Bystander Effect is a social phenomenon whereby people are less likely to help those in need in a group situation, due to subconscious psychological triggers – namely, pluralistic ignorance, diffusion of responsibility and fear of blunder (Tom I). **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">

This passiveness is difficult to comprehend, and most assume that, had the tables been reversed, they would have taken some kind of action to assist the individual in need. In a survey done on June 1 2007 83% of people said that they would help a person in need – regardless of the actions of the people around them. (Ignorance is bliss) However, this is a sadly idealistic number, and in a recent social experiment only 2% of the shoppers in a crowded mall stopped to ask a girl standing in front of her own MISSING poster if she needed help – despite turning around to take second and third glances at her. (Blumson) This does not necessarily mean that people intentionally lied on the survey. Rather, it shows that the causes of the Bystander Effect are largely subconscious, and that most people are not cognitively aware of these thoughts. If we really stop and think about it, examples of the Bystander Effect are everywhere in our daily lives, such as in the extremely small chance of a response to a mass email. Yet we do not process these actions in our brains, just as we ignore mass emails subconsciously.

There are three main causes of the Bystander Effect, yet an individual whose mental process undergoes just one of these causes is just as unlikely to help as is one who undergoes all three.

Primarily, some people fool themselves into believing that there is no situation to handle, – a phenomenon known as ‘pluralistic ignorance’ – and when they see that other people are not reacting, they assume that there is nothing to react about. Many compare this to ‘herd mentality,’ and indeed, it is strikingly similar, since in both cases people change their behavior based upon the actions of those around them. Yet the difference between the two lies in the fact that pluralistic ignorance stems also from the public’s fear of the worst-case scenario, causing them to deceive themselves, and persuade their own conscience that things are not what they seem (Helping). It is in this manner that people assured themselves that Kitty Genovse’s murder was a inconsequential fight between lovers.

Another separate cause is ‘diffusion of responsibility’, wherein individuals assume that someone else will handle the situation. If there were only one witness, the witness would feel compelled to act, since there would be no one else that could. Yet in contrast, in an environment with many witnesses, each person unknowingly passes the responsibility onto others in the direct vicinity. Thus the probability of diffusion of responsibility occurring in a locale is directly proportional to the number of people that are present there; as the number increases, it becomes progressively more likely that individuals will distribute the responsibility of assisting to others around them (Blumson).

A final cause of the bystander effect is fear of blunder – which, like diffusion of responsibility, is alleviated as the number of bystanders increases (Helping). As the name suggests, it is caused by mankind’s innate fear of acting in a manner that is socially unacceptable, or ‘blundering,’ in front of other members of society whilst implementing action to resolve the conflict at hand; preventing them from acting at all.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> This raises the question of just how moral our society is, and as to whether this is a question of morality or merely an unavoidable psychological phenomenon. Our cognitive awareness regarding the causes of the Bystander Effect – our oblivion to the subconscious psychological instincts - indicate that it is an unavoidable occurrence, in league with other psychological triggers like “fight or flight”. However, one cannot disregard instances such as the murder of Kitty Genovese or the ‘missing’ girl, which were seen by people yet completely ignored, begging the question of how this can be anything but a moral issue, when it so directly concerns the wellbeing of others. Yet, what we can be sure of is that as a whole, humankind is not as moral as it first appears. The responsibility that is passed on is practically never taken on by those it is intended to be passed on to, ultimately culminating in no one taking action. So the next time you look through a mass email requesting help or see a beggar on a crowded street, remember that most likely everyone else is thinking what you are – “someone else will take care of it” – yet most likely, no one will. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">

__WORKS CITED__ Information Picture
 * Tom I, "The Bystander Effect" __BBC h2g2__ 10th July 2001, 26 August 2009 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A585362>
 * "Helping" Psychology.neu 26 August 2009 <http://psych.neu.edu/PSY1271/Ct9a/sld001.htm>
 * Blumson, Dr. Audrey "The Bystander Effect" __Scientific Misconduct Blog__ 27th May 2008, 7th September 2009 <http://scientific-misconduct.blogspot.com/2008/05/bystander-effect.html>
 * "Ignorance is Bliss" __Psychology Today__ 14th March 2006, 6th September 2009
 * Reza, "UCR Extension Summer Reading 500" __Ucr500__ August 2008, 25th October 2009 <www.ucr500.blogspot.com>



<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 18px;">** GENRE II **: Fictional Story <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: center;">

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: center;"> Genre II is a fictional story which narrates an incident of a girl getting kidnapped through the usage of multiple perspectives. This genre has many elements that were simply created imagination, and the story-line itself is not real. However, the main foundation upon which this story was created has the same factual basis as genre I, as the same causes of the Bystander Effect are outlined. Yet in this genre, instead of naming them and explaining them expressly, they are narrated in the manner that they may present themselves in people's innermost psyches, which I feel makes the causes more relatable to the reader. Furthermore, this genre allows the Bystander Effect itself to feel more personal, and underscores how it can affect individual people and their entire lives immensely. I believe that narrating the thought process via the means of characters that the reader can empathize with best drives home the full, devastating effect of this phenomenon.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;">**__ONE SUMMER'S DAY__** **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Emily **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">

I wonder what we’re having for dinner today. I hope we have macaroni. But we probably won’t. Daddy’s coming home early from work so we’ll have steak and vegetables. As always. I //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">hate //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> vegetables. Especially brussel sprouts, they taste like puke... but if I finish all of them I get an extra helping of ice cream so I guess it’s all right.

It’s a really nice day today. The sky’s all blue with sunshine and white cloudy bits. It looks kind of like the blue I used in art class today to do my picture of the seashore. I hope my picture’s okay in my bag. I’m going to show it to daddy today when I get home. Mommy thought I couldn’t walk home from school alone but I’m in 5th grade now and it’s not like I’m a //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">baby //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">.

**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Laura ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> I hope the supermarket hasn’t closed, or else I’ll have to drive all the way to Wal-Mart just to get a packet of pasta. And I'll have to hurry because John’s soccer game starts soon.

Is this what my life has come to?

I never thought of myself as the matrimonial type. Never imagined myself with kids. Don’t get me wrong, I love them, but I swear that sometimes I feel like tearing out my hair. Not that it would make any difference – most of my hair’s falling out from stress and late nights with the baby anyway.

I look like a housewife. But what do you expect? I guess I’ve become one now.

Look at those young girls sunbathing over there. They look like they don’t have a care in the world. Sometimes I forget I was ever like that. Sometimes it seems like my entire life was this stressful mess, killing myself for my family and getting only complaints in return. And sometimes… sometimes it seems like I’m going to be stuck like this for the rest of my life.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Carla ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> The sun is doing my head in.

Why are we sitting out here anyway? Elle doesn’t need a tan; her skin’s as brown as her new Louis Vuitton bag that she scarcely mentions every ten seconds. It’s as leathery as it too… not that I would tell her that. I told them I didn’t want to sunbathe, but, as usual, no one listened to me.

I know I’m going to burn. I just know it. My skin’s way too pale for me to be lying in the sun like this. Such a stereotype, red hair and pale skin, but it’s better than red hair and red skin.

I get up with a sigh and reach for my bag and get out my sunscreen. That’s when a scream erupts across the street, as shrill as a car alarm.

“Help!”

**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Matthew ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> I look up, annoyed at being disturbed in the middle of an article. I haven’t read the newspaper in a while, and there was an interesting article about a boy who had been playing the piano since he was four. Imagine! But my annoyance disappears when I see the scene in front of me: a small girl, about the height of my grandson, being forced into a car by a rough looking man.

Instinctively I spring to my feet, but even as I begin, the shooting pain in my knees reminds me that my body is not what it used to be. I look back at the man. He’s twice my size. What was I planning on doing? Hitting him with my walking stick? ‘Come on, Matthew.’ I berate myself silently. ‘You’re too old to be embarrassing yourself in public like this.’

As I sit down I sheepishly look around to see if anyone saw, and to my surprise no one seems to have noticed. In fact, no one seems to have noticed anything at all out of the usual. The girl keeps screaming – but no one pays any attention. No one even looks around.

That’s when it hits me.

**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Emily ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> “Help!” I scream again.

I twist myself, straining with every ounce of strength in me to get away from this man. His breath smells of alcohol, like my dad’s sometimes does when he comes home late from work, but this man isn’t singing jolly songs as he stumbles smiling through the door. He’s hurting me. His hands grab at my shoulders and forces me back. I need to get away.

I twist my head and bite his fingers, but his grip just tightens harder.

My feet keep getting dragged, slowly but surely towards the open car door. Tears prick at my eyes. I’ve never felt so helpless.

A woman walks right past. I try again. “Stop him! Help me!”

**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Laura ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> I look at the girl who pulled me out of my reverie.

It’s odd. She’s a girl I have never seen in my life. But in her place all I can see are my own children. I see Ben screaming and refusing to eat. I see Linda running away and pulling my hair as I try to drive her to school.

Startled, I blink.

She’s just a stranger.

But unwittingly or not she has released a barrage of emotions in my mind, and broken open the corner where I bottle up all of my rancor and bitterness. What has happened to kids these days? Why are they like this? So willfully stubborn and disobedient. Another surge of resentment passes through me.

Why are they too stubborn to realize that what their parents do is for their own good? I used to be the girl that everyone thought was bound to succeed. I was so optimistic. But now the most mentally challenging activity I do is counting the socks to see if there’s an even number. I’ve thrown my entire future away for my family. And never a word of thanks. Just spoons thrown and doors slammed.

As I pass the screaming girl I glare at her with such vehement anger that it shocks even me for a second. It’s not her fault my life is the way it is. But still. She shouldn’t be so disobedient to her father.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Carla ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> I don’t know what to do. “Stupid kids,” groans Elle as she turns up the sound on her iPod, stuffs the headphones further into her head, and rolls over on her orange and white striped Hérmes towel.

So does everyone else.

I’m about to do the same, but there’s something in the girl’s screams that makes me stop. What is it? I try to tell myself its nothing. I lie back on my towel, close my eyes and turn up my music too. But blocking the sound doesn’t block my thoughts, and a part of my mind keeps bothering me. I know it isn’t nothing. It’s desperation.

I sit back up again.

I’m conscious of them looking at me from behind their sunglasses.

I want to go help her. I really do. At least… a part of me does. A much bigger part is telling me to stop. What am I going to do against a man like that? And I worked too hard to get friends at this school and I’m not going to mess this up now. What would I look like if I went over pretending to be a hero and it turned out to be a girl fighting with her dad?

A goddamn fool that's what.

Look around anyway. There’s so many people. A man’s sitting across from us with a newspaper, and people are constantly passing by on the busy sidewalk. I lie back down, basking in the sunlight, and allow myself to be drifted towards sleep by the clacking and thumping of the shoes going past. An unconventional lullaby if there ever was one, but the sound reminds me that there are plenty of people around us. If there was something wrong, someone would do something about it.

I’m sure.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Matthew ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> Of course. I should have realized earlier.

I’m looking at it wrong. My eyes have been playing up lately – I mean, I’m not getting any younger. It’s nothing. Just a girl fighting with her father. Nothing to get worried about.

Relieved, I return to my paper, but I find I cannot concentrate. Unbidden images of my grandson being abducted spring to my mind. He’s screaming just like this girl is now.

I shake my head vigorously, frustrated at myself – an old, foolish, paranoid man. ‘Even if she was being abducted,’ I ask myself, ‘who would expect me to jump in and fight?’ The scenario seems ridiculous, even to myself. The sheer implausibility brings a smile to my lips, and I form a mental picture of myself clouting the man over the head with my shaking, diabetic fist, full of arthritic joints. Comforted, I begin to read.

After all, it isn’t my responsibility.

**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Emily ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> And now I’m screaming.

In school they told us that if a stranger came to us and forced us to go with them that we should scream to let everyone know what was happening. Then someone would help us.

I’m screaming.

I’m screaming as tears run down my eyes and drip from my chin. I’m screaming even as my voice breaks from fear. I’m screaming even though my throat feels raw and his grip feels like an iron clasp. I’m screaming with all the strength I have left in me. Someone please save me.

I’m screaming.

So why is no one coming?

Why are they all walking by?

Mommy, Daddy, help! I picture them waiting at the dining table as the time passes slowly by, the steak getting cold and the vegetables wilting. Waiting for me. The tears come again, and as the sobs rack my body the last of my strength fails me.

I’m so sorry mommy.

I’m still screaming.

I’m pushed into the back seat. The door slammed behind me. My body feels numb and my legs can’t move. My mouth makes no sound and my throat is locked. No more tears come.

But I'm still screaming.



<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,fantasy;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"> GENRE III **: Movie** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: center;">

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: center;"> Genre III is a movie that depicts one of the most cited and perhaps most horrific examples of the Bystander Effect - the murder of Kitty Genovese. This genre allows the viewer to visually see what is happening, which I feel would trigger an emotional reaction and connection. The visual and sound effects, seem to me, to create an atmosphere difficult to create merely through writing. Furthermore, I thought that the viewing of the Bystander Effect actually 'occurring' would add a whole new dimension to my project, as I have written factually about it, and described it more fictionally already. Through viewing the Bystander Effect, and through seeing how all of its causes are not mentally processed, (none of the witnesses say "I will distribute the responsibility of helping this girl") I feel that it will help the viewer to recognize instances of the Bystander Effect and that it will highlight just how subconscious these thought processes are.

media type="youtube" key="aly9KslxGOs" height="450" width="781"

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">**What's Happening?** <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 18px;">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Kitty Genovese leaves her job at the bar to go home
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Drives to her house
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">As she gets out of her car and proceeds to walk towards her house, she is followed by a man with a knife - the murderer
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">The murderer chases her, catches up and stabs her multiple times
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">She screams for help
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Many ear-witnesses ignore these cries, but one person shouts "Get away from her!"
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">The murderer flees for fear of being caught, but later returns and seeks out Kitty
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">He finds her and this time kills her
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">All of the witnesses that turned a blind eye to this killing were undergoing THE BYSTANDER EFFECT


 * [[image:BYSTANDER_EFFECT_DIVIDER_ASHLEY_K.png width="602" height="48"]]

EPILOGUE** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 18px;"> <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> Although the purpose of this project may have been to convey a lesson, or a message, to other people reading this wikispace, I, myself, also learnt a lot from creating it. Primarily, I learnt about the topic itself, and found out the technicalities of the Bystander Effect and the psychology surrounding it. However, I also feel I progressed in my english writing skills through this project, and became more proficient in many types, or genres, of writing. Not only did I practice writing in a formal, and more informal tone (first and second genre), but I also practiced writing fiction from many different viewpoints, since my second genre alone consists of four different perspectives - each very different from the rest.

As I learnt more about the topic, my perspective on it changed. At first I viewed the Bystander Effect as no more than an interesting psychological phenomenon, however as I researched it further and began to write and create the three genres for my project, I came to see the Bystander Effect as something that could be potentially very dangerous, potentially culminating in loss of lives or the complete transformation of an innocent childhood. In a way, it seems to have changed my outlook on society, and the amount of trust I now put in people around me to help has deteriorated.

If people could take something from this project, I hope they take the lesson that if they don't act, that no one else will. As cheesy as it may sound, sometimes it just takes one person. One person was able to frighten away the murderer when her first came to kill Kitty Genovese. Had there been one more person - one more person who stepped in or phoned the police - a life could have been saved.

<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 300%; text-align: center;"><THE END>