Bystander effect, when people watch accidents instead of helping

When you are in a public place and witness an accident that befalls another person before your very eyes, surely your conscience cannot refuse to help that person, can it? In fact, not everyone will provide help. This condition is referred to as bystander effect. Bystander effec t is a phenomenon that has often occurred in society, why is that?

What is the bystander effect?

Bystander effect is a phenomenon in social psychology when someone needs help but the people around him are not there to help. This is because these people think that there will be other people helping the victim.

However, because everyone was thinking the same thing, in the end there was no one to help at all. Hence, this phenomenon is called bystander because these people just watch the victim ask for help while hoping that someone else will help her.

Cause of the bystander effect

According to Bibb Latane and John Darley, co-originators of the term bystander effect , there are two reasons why this phenomenon can occur.

1. Diffusion of responsibility

What is meant by diffusion of responsibility here is a situation when people do not feel they have to help and take responsibility for the victim's situation because there are many people around him.

They feel that helping others in the public space is a shared responsibility, so someone has to start so that the victim can be helped.

The more people there are in the public sphere, the less they will want to help. This is because these people feel irresponsible for that individual.

2. Overly seeing the situation

When helping someone, especially accident victims, it is necessary to take appropriate and socially acceptable methods and steps. Usually, when someone asks for help, you may notice the other person's reaction first.

In addition, you or others may feel afraid to help because you don't know the proper way to provide help.

Then, you will pay attention to your surroundings, whether other people will help or not. If it helps only a little, you or someone else is less likely to help because you feel you are finished.

The reason behind why other people don't want to help

There are various reasons why someone is afraid to help others. Starting from being afraid of being wrong to feeling wronged after helping that person.

For example, when there was a traffic accident, a man was lying in the middle of the road and it was already night. You see there are lots of people watching accident victims who may be unconscious.

Not infrequently, when faced with this situation people will choose to pass because they do not know how to do first aid, so they are afraid of hurting the victim even more. On the other hand, other people are also worried that they will be accused of accidents.

Therefore, people are picky when they help others.

In addition, humans are more likely to help when they know that person because there is a bond. If this happened to a stranger, you may be more afraid of being seen as meddling in other people's business than it will affect the victim.

Sample case

Domestic violence (KDRT) is an incident bystander effect which you may often encounter in the surrounding community. For example, when you witness or hear a neighbor being hurt by his partner, then he asks the neighbors for help, but many of the neighbors or you don't do anything.

It is included in bystander effect . The biggest reason most often expressed by people is not wanting to interfere in other people's household matters.

Although there may not be a direct visible negative impact, the bystander effect will affect your moral value to fellow humans.

Tips for dealing with the bystander effect phenomenon

Actually, facing a phenomenon bystander effect can be done easily when there is a strong intention to help. Here are some tips you can do:

• Fostering a sense of empathy and sympathy for others when you are an observer.
• Contacting those who can help, such as medical assistance, ambulance, or the nearest security guard.
• Take the initiative to help the person if nothing helps because the bystander effect is like a domino. If there are people who help, then everyone will try to help.
• Participate in educating people to stay active and fight apathy when others need help.

If you are the person who asks for help, maybe asking for help from a certain person can drop the domino. This can be done by doing eye contact so that people who are asked for help feel reluctant and find it difficult to refuse. The bystander effect phenomenon applies to both adults and children.

In conclusion, the bystander effect is a phenomenon that depends on each individual. Do they want to classify themselves as apathetic groups or not to cause this incident.

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