Following the widely publicized 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese, in which numerous neighbors reportedly failed to intervene, John Darley and Bibb Latane ran a series of staged-emergency experiments in 1968 to test whether the presence of other bystanders itself reduces an individual's likelihood of helping.
Facts
Key FindingIn a staged emergency, about seventy percent of participants who believed themselves the only witness intervened to help, compared with roughly forty percent when they believed other bystanders were also present, showing the number of perceived witnesses itself reduces individual helping. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
The study that established the phenomenon; diffusion of responsibility is the mechanism proposed to explain it.
Conducted By
In Branch
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Bystander Effect
Wikimedia FoundationExperimentsQuote, Experiments
Seventy percent of the people alone called out or went to help the woman after they believed she had fallen and was hurt, but when paired with a stranger only 40 percent offered help.
1. Wikipedia: Bystander Effect
Wikimedia FoundationSocial psychology research sectionQuote, Social psychology research section
These experiments have found that the presence of others inhibits helping, often by a large margin.
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