Are there ways to increase your chances of receiving help from bystanders? This article seeks to shed some light on the phenomenon of Bystander Apathy, which is often overlooked in self defense, and give you a few possible ways and tips to help reduce the chance of a witness ignoring you when you need help. As many people have never even heard of Bystander Apathy/Effect, it is my wish to at least address and make you aware of this phenomenon. Many people have a false sense of security surrounding receiving help from strangers, often thinking they are safer in larger crowds. Being aware of the realities and employing appropriate psychological techniques could eliminate possible negative outcomes of the bystander effect.
When faced with a situation in which we need help, often receiving physical assistance from bystanders is not as assured as we often think it would be. Of course, most of us realize that being attacked at night time in a dark alley is a definite possibility, however, during the day light while surrounded by a crowd of people there is little chance of being attacked, and even if attacked surely you would receive help. Right?
Obviously most people would think someone would surely come to help. We live in a moral society afterall. The hard truth is that you could very well be left as alone and receive as little help in the middle of a crowd of people as you would at night time in an empty and dark alley way. This is reality.
We've all heard the old anecdote, "there is safety in numbers". According to well reviewed research that is simply not quite the case due to a rather common phenomenon called "Bystander Apathy".
Infact, according to research by Latane and Darley, in 1968, a person in trouble is much more likely to receive help from a bystander when there are only one or two bystanders than when there is a large crowd of people surrounding the victim.
This is not a simple phenomenon; the decision to help is a very complex one that involves many factors.
Let's delve into some of these factors in order to possibly gain knowledge of possible techniques to diminish the unwillingness of a bystander to help.
First, let's look at a particularly well known example of Bystander Apathy. The following is a well studied example of bystanders showing extreme apathy and not helping a person who clearly needed it. There are many examples, however the most well known case of Bystander Apathy, and the one which spurred many more studies and theories about helping in a crisis, is the Kitty Genovese murder. In 1964, a young woman named Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death in an attack that lasted 45 minutes in her apartment building in New York City. It was witnessed by 38 of her neighbors who did nothing to help in any way. None even called the police. (Davis and Palladino, 1997).
This incident more than any other prompted John Darley and Bibb Latane, two social psychologists, to research the phenomenon and discover the reasons for why this happens in our society. In 1970 they published their study on "bystander apathy" and discovered that the will to help a victim in need follows a model of intervention that involves five distinct stages. More to the point, any bystander has to answer five questions in order to help. If any one of these questions is not answered in the positive, a bystander will remain unwilling to help ( David A. Gershaw, Ph.D.):
- Do I notice something happening? In order to help a bystander must first notice what is happening. Many people are in a hurry and don't notice what is happening around them.
- Is the situation an emergency? Does a person really need help? Or is what you are seeing something harmless? Most situations have a high degree of ambiguity. People are often uncertain as to what they are seeing and whether it is an emergency that needs help. It is often hard to tell what is happening.
- Am I responsible? Latané and Darley found that with more people around, there was a diffusion of responsibility – bystanders assume that others will act, so they are not personally responsible.
- What can I do? Often people are unsure of their abilities (training or skills) to help in a given situation. They may be concerned that they might make the situation worse.
- Will I intervene? Bystanders must weigh the costs or dangers of intervening. Will I be harmed? Will I be sued? People are often concerned about getting in trouble if something goes wrong while helping (liability issues).
Let's start with examining each question closely and finding possible ways to maximize a positive outcome.
First, a bystander must notice what is happening. If you are being attacked and seek help, make sure anyone within ear shot is aware that something is going on. You can't expect someone to help if they don't know something is happening. Scream, and make a ruckus that will be heard. Sometimes carrying a whistle can help with this, especially for those of us whose voices are not particularly loud. You must do whatever you can to gain the attention of the bystander.
Second question, is what the bystander is seeing a true emergency? Similar to question one, if the bystander is uncertain whether what is happening is a true emergency that needs his/her intervention, they are unlikely to help.
Make sure they know you are being attacked, and need their help. Make it known that only they can help simply by telling them!
Point to a bystander, so he/she feels personally responsible and there is no doubt about who is being singled out to help, and tell him/her that they are your only hope. Also when calling out to a specific bystander say what clothes they are wearing. Sounds silly but it is a good method for singling out a bystander so he/she knows they, and only they, are responsible and called on to help. The only way they will know is if you tell them.
Third question, are they personally responsible? As before, make them know that only they can help and that they are your last hope. Tell them that no one else is helping, and if they don't help no one else will. The greater amount of bystanders there are, the greater the likelihood that there will be a diffusion of responsibility, and the greater the need for you to make it clear that they are the ONLY people that can help. Essentially they feel that "someone else will do something" (Latane and Darley, 1968).
Tell them no one else is doing anything.
Fourth question, what can I do? In our society people are taught not to get involved, or to let the professionals handle it. Sometimes simply calling 911 and waiting for the professionals is not a very good option for a victim that needs help NOW. While there can be some danger in helping, many people do not realize that the mere presence and attempt by someone to help is often enough to discourage a criminal continuing the attack. Intervening often depends on the self-efficacy of the bystander in dealing with situations. Some people don't help because they don't know how to help.
You can increase the likely hood to receive help by telling bystanders that they are capable to help. Go so far as to telling them specific things they can do to help, even if it's just calling the police. People who might not help because they don't know what to do will be likely to help if you tell them specific and detailed actions to take. Knowing the police are on the way might also discourage a criminal from continuing the attack.
Fifth question, will I intervene? We live in a very sue happy society. Even well meaning and acting bystanders who have helped victims have been sued for various reasons. Obviously this is a concern for many potential helpers. You can however turn this around, and if need be you can tell them they will get into legal trouble if they don't help you.
This should be done lastly, only if nothing else has prompted them to help until then. It would be a mistake to start with what is essentially threatening the bystander. However, it can help to make it clear to any bystanders that not helping you will lead to greater legal trouble than if they would help you. In some places there are laws that govern a bystander's legal responsibility in assisting victims. Many people are at least vaguely aware of a possible legal responsibility whether or not such laws actually exist in their particular area.
The personality of the bystander often affects the likelihood of helping, but using these techniques can help to persuade someone to help, even someone who started out not wanting to help.
A few other things will determine whether a bystander will help a victim, among these are their self interest ( which might better be described as egoism or an exclusive concern for their own welfare), mood and also simply having empathy for other people (Lord, 1997).
The mood of a bystander can often determine whether he/she will help. It has been found that people in a good mood want to portray themselves as good people. These people will often help as a way to gain praise, and positive reinforcement (Berkowitz 1987; Gibbons & Wicklund, 1982).
Telling your potential helper that they are good kind people, or giving them other praise will also likely stroke their ego and increase the chance of them helping you. Or tell them that they will be viewed as big heroes if they help you.
A person who is contemplating helping someone in trouble will weigh up the gains, and is mindful of the possible consequences of doing so. Those costs and benefits are weighed up before a bystander will help someone in need.
Now let's look at a few other factors which can reduce bystander effect.
1: Bystanders know one another. Clearly, when a bystander knows the victim, help is likely to come from them. This goes back to the question three, namely of whether they are responsible to help. Ofcourse if they know the victim this will make them feel very personally responsible.
Other researchers have concluded that the bystander effect reliably occurs only under conditions of anonymity (Gottleib and Carver, 1979). If you remove the condition or veil of anonymity, help will be more likely to occur.
Simply put, if a bystander is likely to have to face the victim sometime again in the future, help is more likely to be given.
A bystander is less likely to ignore someone in need if they risk interacting with him in the future. Telling the bystander you are a neighbor or live or work in this area is one technique that could work in persuading them to help someone they might have to see again.
2: Witnesses have special bond to the victim.
We often want to help people that either look like us (dress or nationality) (Dovodio, 1984), or have other possible similarities. But it's not only similarities that can make a bond with the victim. Having an opposite gender can be an issue too. Specifically, women are more likely to receive help IF the bystander is male (Eagly & Crowley, 1986). However, a shared appearance and opposite gender are not the only ways a bystander might feel like they have a bond with a victim. It has been proven that bystanders who themselves have been abused or been victims of violent crime are often more likely to help because they not only recognize what is happening, but they also know what to do and can empathize better with the victim than someone else who has never been a victim of violence.
3: Bystanders have considerable training in emergency intervention. It has been shown that people who are trained in emergency situations are more likely to help. They simply know what to do. This can be related to question three again. People are less likely to help if they believe they do not have the skills necessary to help effectively. According to research by Cramer, McMaster, Bartell, and Dragna (1988) feeling safer around a person who is trained to help in an emergency is warranted because they are more likely to help. Again as before, tell a bystander specifically what to do so they feel like they can help effectively even if they are not trained as emergency personnel.
4: Witnesses have knowledge of the bystander effect.
The more people are aware of bystander effect, and recognize the reasons why they might not help when in their hearts they know they actually should be helping, the more likely they are to overcome the effect and come to the aid of a victim.
Simply getting word out about this phenomenon alone will increase the chance of more people helping in an emergency.
Tell friends and family about this psychological phenomenon.
Bystander Apathy is a real and possibly dangerous phenomenon with incidents that still occur today. This will only be exacerbated even more so if people are not aware of its force during an incident.
The key in all the techniques of reducing bystander apathy is not to simply be a silent victim. Aside from fighting the criminal also seek help from bystanders by using techniques that will influence and persuade a bystander and thus increase the likelihood that they will help you. While whether you will be helped might not be completely in your hands, you can certainly reduce the unwillingness of some people to help.
Do not be a cooperative and silent victim. It's likely to prolong the attack and decrease the chance of receiving help from bystanders.
Emanuel Roth
Owner/Operator
ROTH Tactics and Solutions
