Causes And Countermeasures For The Bystander Effect(Princeton University et al., 1968)

The theme this time around is the bystander effect.
This article will explain what situations tend to cause the bystandereffect.
And it also introduces the causes and countermeasures for thebystander effect.
So, let's go through it in the following order.

1. What is the Bystander Effect
   First, let's understand what the bystander effect is.
2. Under what circumstances do people tend to become bystanders?
   Next, let's understand specifically when it's easy to trigger thebystander effect.
   In fact, it's been found that people are prone to the bystander effectwhen there are multiple other people present.
3. Causes of the Bystander Effect
   Before I introduce measures to combat the bystander effect, I willexplain the causes of it.
4. How to mitigate the bystander effect
   And finally, here's how to mitigate the bystander effect.
5. Referenced Scientific Paper

What is the Bystander Effect

The bystander effect is a group psychology in which helping behavioris inhibited by the presence of other people around you, even thoughyou are in a situation where you should be helping others.
It is an amazing human trait that the presence of another personinhibits our helping behavior in an emergency.
The more bystanders there are, the less likely it is that one of themwill help someone in need.
On the other hand, when there are few or no other bystanders, a personis more likely to take an assistive action.

Under what circumstances do people tend to become bystanders?

Let's take a look at what kind of situations people tend to be on thesidelines.
The answer is when there are a lot of people around.
If you are the only person present, the probability of assistingbehavior increases; conversely, the more people around you, the moreinhibited assisting behavior is.
In this study, students were asked to participate in a groupdiscussion and, during the discussion, one of the participants wasmade to appear to have had a seizure.
The specific experimental procedure is as follows.

1. The students who were asked to participate in the group discussionwere assembled.
2. The students were divided into three groups: two, three, and six students.
3. Each student was taken one by one into a private room and told tospeak one by one over a microphone and an intercom.
4. Students held group discussions without being able to see each other.
5. One member of the group suddenly had a seizure during his remarks andcalled for help, but his speaking time was over and the microphone wascut off.
6. The researchers investigated whether the students would go to helpsomeone who had a seizure.
   Also, in case students went to help someone who had a seizure, thetime it took them to go to help was measured.

The results were as follows.

The results of this study show that people don't act more when theyhave people around them than when they are alone.

Causes of the Bystander Effect

Possible causes of the bystander effect include “distributedresponsibility”, “audience suppression” and “pluralisticignorance”.
Let's explain what each means.

• Decentralization of Responsibility
  This is to think that even if you don't act, someone else will.
  This also applies to thinking that by acting in the same way asothers, responsibility and blame will be dispersed.
  The more people there are, the stronger this trend will be.
  So if no one acts, will you act?
  In that case, too, there may be no action. The reasons are as follows.
• Pluralistic Ignorance
  This means to assume mistakenly that it is not particularly unusual ifthe people around you are not taking any action, even if youintuitively feel that something is unusual.
  When it is difficult for us to judge whether a situation is urgent ornot, we tend to judge it by the appearance of others in the samesituation.
• Audience Suppression
  This means the tendency to rely on others to avoid takingresponsibility in critical situations.
  We are inhibited by the fear that we will be negatively evaluated byothers if we fail as a result of taking action.

How to mitigate the bystander effect

An effective countermeasure to the bystander effect is to behave as ifyou were the first or only person to witness the problem.
Specifically, it's important to raise your voice first, no matter whatit is.
Even just letting someone know about an unusual situation out loudwould make sense.
When you do that, it makes it easier for others to take action too.
The trick to taking this action is to think that you might be the onlyone witnessing the problem.
Also, you don't necessarily have to help someone in need directly.
It is easier to act when you are aware that you have the option ofhelping others by asking other bystanders to do so.
The bystander effect can be mitigated by having this kind of awarenessas well.
Please give it a try.

Referenced Scientific Papers

Summary

• The bystander effect is a group psychology in which helping behavioris inhibited by the presence of other people around you, even thoughyou are in a situation where you should be helping others.
• If you are the only person present, the probability of assistingbehavior increases; conversely, the more people around you, the moreinhibited assisting behavior is.
• Possible causes of the bystander effect include “distributedresponsibility”, “audience suppression” and “pluralisticignorance”.
  • Decentralization of Responsibility
    This means to assume mistakenly that it is not particularly unusual ifthe people around you are not taking any action, even if youintuitively feel that something is unusual.
  • Pluralistic Ignorance
    This means to assume mistakenly that it is not particularly unusual ifthe people around you are not taking any action, even if youintuitively feel that something is unusual.
  • Audience Suppression
    We are inhibited by the fear that we will be negatively evaluated byothers if we fail as a result of taking action.
• An effective countermeasure to the bystander effect is to behave as ifyou were the first or only person to witness the problem.
• Also, you don't necessarily have to help someone in need directly.
  It is easier to act when you are aware that you have the option ofhelping others by asking other bystanders to do so.