In class on Friday we talked about the example of a child falling into a mirror lake and if a person is there and sees the child drowning it is there moral responsibility to help the child. This example in class reminded me of the bystander effect that I learned about in AP Psychology in high school. Specifically, the example of Kitty Genovese. She was a 28 year old woman who was returning to her apartment in Queens, New York after work at three in the morning. On her way back she was stabbed multiple times by a serial rapist and murderer. She screams for help, and the attacker finally fled after being seen by a neighbor. In actuality though there were numerous people who had heard her screams and not one came in her defense. Just as in the case of the individual witnessing the child drowning it was and should have been the witnesses moral responsibility to go help Genovese after they heard her screams even if they might inflict wounds trying to help her. They could have simply dialed 911 instead of watching. Moral responsibility in this case and in many other cases is overshadowed by a thing called “social proof”. When multiple people are around, each individual looks to see how another reacts because in social situations we don’t want to seem flustered. People therefore fail to act if they don’t see others acting. This social proof also creates a “diffusion of responsibility” which is that if someone else is present and they are probably doing something about it. “Moral responsibility” therefore seems nonexistent and in fact what exists is some ridiculous social mechanism.
This was a topic of discussion in my AP Psychology class as well and I’ve always thought that it would be better to fix this “bystander effect” by having everyone that sees it react and call 911 for this instance. It cannot hurt to have multiple calls directed toward an act of crime or accident that has been seen by a lot of people; there are a lot of phone operators so more calls would not slow down the process! If you feel like you should call but then decide against it because someone else might, you are neglecting your moral responsibility.
That is such an interesting idea! It reminds me of when I received my CPR certification and one of the steps is to tell one person to call 911 instead of saying “somebody call 911.” I think that “diffusion of responsibility” is definitely a thing that can be detrimental to situations like that of a child falling in mirror lake and in the case of Kitty Genovese.
I think society needs to re-learn how to react to crisis situations. There needs to be an emphasis on action rather than relying on others to act. As Olivia said, it is better to have one-hundred 911 calls than no calls at all. A solution to the bystander effect could potentially save countless lives and cause faster action in emergencies.
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