The case of Kitty Genovese was witnessed by almost 38 bystanders and it is inferred that the bystander effect was implied in this situation resisted the witnesses to help Genovese. The bystander effect implies that when the number of witnesses is high during an emergency, then they are less likely to consider providing any kind of assistance. This notion is found to prominent than the notion that implies that the urban stimulation of society makes the prevalence of an emergency less apparent (Dovidio et al., 2006). Therefore, Genovese’s case is considered to be highly effected by the increased number of bystanders than the concerned behavior of any individual.
The provision of assistance during emergencies initiate from noticing an event and in this instance, it is possible that most of the people did not observe the prevalence of an event in the crowded area. Similarly, even if they observed the event then it is also possible that they did not consider this event as an emergency and incorporated pluralistic ignorance as no witness seemed to be concerned with the occurrence of an emergency. Moreover, the bystanders also do not feel obligated to respond in such situations because the cries for help did not actually address them personally and hence, they were ignored (Dovidio et al., 2006).
It is also crucial to understand how to provide help in case of emergencies and hence, it is highly likely that bystanders in the Genovese’s case did not know how to help as they could not decide how to respond towards Genovese. The decision to provide help is also crucial because people might not consider providing help to anyone if they think that they will endanger their or someone else’s life by helping someone (Dovidio et al., 2006). Similarly, people can also consider that their intervening behavior might worsen the situation for Genovese and hence, decided not to help.
Reference
Dovidio, J. F., Piliavin, J. A., Schroeder, D. A., & Penner, L. (2006). The social psychology of prosocial behavior. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
