Will You Really Help Somebody in Need?

I was scouring through Youtube looking for videos on one of my favourite pastimes: entertaining prank compilations. I found what I was looking for, and also realised that I could write up a psychology-related blog post related to the matter. I've titled it: Will You Really Help Somebody in Need?

The video above is put in for good humour, however the topic on discussion is anything but humorous. This week on social media I found a video that showed the response of those walking by a man that had fallen down on the pavement in some European country. The man was dressed in baggy, casual clothing that didn't seem all that out of the ordinary from something a young person - or myself for that matter - would wear.

A video camera was set up to record who would actually help this man. He spluttered while walking, then began to cough convulsively, then clutched at his chest while falling down. The crowded street did nothing! People kept walking by even though he was calling out for help. 

Then something else happened. The video switched from the person that was dressed in 'baggy wear' to a man that was dressed in a suit. Same presentation, same fall - however, there was not the same response!

What do you presume happened? Well, of course the bystanders went to his aid so see whether he was okay. The video was entitled The Importance of Appearances Experiment - in this case, appearances could have made all the difference between life and death!

The Walking Dead - Bicycle Girl

Switching back from this video the the earlier one I'd like to start by saying that I'm a massive The Walking Dead fan! It's probably the reason I was looking through zombie scare videos on Youtube. It's also a favourite of a number of friends of mine.

Seeing the video I've shared at the beginning of this post I found myself both laughing, and becoming discouraged. How many people seemed to continue what they were doing even though these 'zombies' were running and seemingly attacking people? There were a great deal! This made me bring this up with a friend of mine.

Upon asking one of those in my social circle whether he would help anybody in need (in the context of a 'Zombie Apocalypse') he lost no time: '"Heck No!" Not even his wife and child (if they were turned). It brought me to consider scenes in The Walking Dead where the protagonist, Rick, would see somebody that was crying out for help and wouldn't intervene. 

Okay, these are fairly extreme situations, so why not discuss something closer to home?

Would you help somebody that's fallen down near you and can't seem to get back up if others were walking by him? Would you really? Research says no, you probably won't. It's a social psychological phenomena entitled The Bystander Effect.

What is the bystander effect? Well, it's when you're less likely to help somebody in an emergency when you're around others rather than by yourself - the more people there are around you, the less likely you're to help (Vaughan & Hogg, 2011). 

In 1964, a 28-year-old woman called Kitty Genovese was murdered in Queens. What was peculiar about her murder is that it was done in public, people saw it through their windows, and heard her cries for help as a man was plunging a knife into her back five times, but nobody called the police. She was able to get into the hallway of the apartment complex across the street while the perpetrator followed her and stabbed another eight times. A man opened his  apartment door, looked at her, and closed the door again. Nobody went out to see whether she was okay. All those there basically ignored her. The blood-stained body was left in the hallway as she died. Eventually somebody called the police, but it was too late - Kitty was dead.

This case set the scene for research to be done into whether people would assist somebody in need. Later, researchers wanted to know whether people would help not only in emergencies, but in any prosocial behaviour (e.g. giving money to a homeless child).

Latané and Darley (1969) were researchers that set out to find answers to these questions. It was found that the overwhelming majority of people didn't actually see the need to help if they were surrounded by others.

When alone, 75% of people went to the aid of somebody in need. When a person saw other groups of people running to the aid of someone in need, they only helped out 38% of the time. When they were surrounded by others that didn't attempt to help, they only helped 10% of the time!

How can we explain this?

Some have posited that when a person sees someone else in need they tend to think another person or group would attend to them - in effect, nobody does (this is called the diffusion of responsibility; Vaughan & Hogg, 2011)!

Another explanation might be that when seeing somebody in an emergency, you might not want to lend a hand for the fear of making a fool of yourself. 'Am I on candid camera?' you might ask. This is called audience inhibition (Vaughan & Hogg, 2011).

Finally, another reason you might not lend a hand is because you're influenced by your surroundings. You look at others for a way to judge how you should act. If nobody else is helping, well why should you feel the need to help? This is called the social influence factor (Vaughan & Hogg, 2011).

However, there are exceptions to these explanations. For example, if you're walking with your uncle Phil and see someone spluttering for air and falling down, you have an increased probability of lending a hand (Latané & Rodin, 1969; Rutkowski, Gruder & Romer, 1983). However, regarding the latter, I've seen plenty of accounts where people that seemingly know one another walk past somebody that's in need without lending a hand.

Christy and Voigt (1994) also provided a clue that we'd be less apathetic to those that need out help if you know the person that's in need, or if it's a child. 

Well, regarding the previous statement, these videos might be of interest...

Even when children are put into the spotlight of the needy, they're ignored. What about if it's your family? Well, the second video might answer that question.

So where do we go from here?

It's a call for recognition and action. 

Are you going to fit into the statistic of being a bystander when the call for help is heard?

References

Christy, C. A., & Voigt, H. (1994). Bystander responses to public episodes of child abuse. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 24, 824-847.

Latané, B. & Rodin, J. (1969). A lady in distress: Inhibiting effects of friends and strangers on bystander intervention. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 5, 189-202.

Rutkowski, G. K., Gruder, C. L., & Romer, D. (1983). Group cohesiveness, social norms, and bystander intervention. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 545-552.

Vaughan, G. M., & Hogg, M. A. (2011). Social Psychology (6th ed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Australia.

Images and video retrieved from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh_oOMD5EyU&list=PLxCq3_41y8SaLHBBWHHuyyPeJc35wTIMQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6jSKLtmYdM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Rsc-2oMB0s

http://manhattaninfidel.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The_Walking_Dead_Bicycle-_Girl.jpg