The bystander effect is social physiological claim that people are less likely to help if there is a group present. There are many examples of this. In the article “Why Do People Film Others in Distress Instead of Helping Them? It’s not as simple as ‘people are the worst'”, Angela Lashbrook uses evidence and reasoning to inform the readers about the bystander effect. There is a video of an older man gettin pushed to the ground by a surge of water on a New York City subway platform. In the video water keeps coming and he is struggling against a gush of filthy water. A person is recording and watches while the old man gets pushed down by the water. At the end of the video it appears that a person is walking past the person who is recording and is going to help the old man.
The bystander effect can apply to a lot of different scenarios. There is a myth about how a woman, Genovese, got st abbed in front of a crowd of 38 witnesses. In actuality there was around 12 people who heard suspicious noises. Two people called the police and one elderly woman held Genovese while she was dying. There are many different factors in scenarios like this. People are more likely to intervene when the situation is clearly an emergency. People are also less likely to intervene when there is a crowd. Everything changes though when a camera is involved.
Filming an incident can let people come to grips with whatever is happening. It also gives people of a sense that they are helping. Instead of just standing there they record the events that are happening and can give that video to officials to help out. Also when cameras are involved people feel like they should help out because the people feel accountable. People are more likely to intervene when a camera is around. Another thing is that when people are talking on the phone or things like that they are less likely to help people. Being on the phone fulfills people’s need to belong and it already has their attention. Also if someone feels that they aren’t physically capable to help then they are less likely to intervene.
The bystander effect has many different effects. People are less likely to intervene if there is a crowd. If there is a camera present then people are more likely to intervene. If people are talking with someone on their phone then they are less likely to help because their phone call gives them a sense of belonging. If someone doesn’t feel physically capable to help then they are less likely to intervene. The bystander effect is a fickle thing. There are many different ways people will react to people who need help.