Bystander Effect

There is a visually handicapped, middle-aged man (Let's call him Mr. X) that usually takes the same bus as me when i go home.
In July 2006 I the bus interchange at Boon lay MRT station was changed. It was moved entirely from the one side of the MRT to the other side. I am not aware of SMRT making it an easy transition for the the visually handicapped but i know what i saw that disturbed me that time. I was as usual on my way to the bus stop when from afar I saw Mr X walking in the right direction (my bus stop) but having trouble finding his way around new obstacles such as the shape of the bus interchange. it used to be a square and easily to walk around whereas now it is more of a paragon where the corners are not easily identified.

http://www.sbstransit.com.sg/images/news_2006jun_14-1_poster.jpg

I was astonished and shocked to find that people saw poor Mr X stumbling around, clearly not knowing his way around and did nothing about it. By the time I got to him he was leaning against the wall, clearly exhausted and in dispair. I walked up to him, grabbed his hand, started talking to him and led him to the bus stop.

What is the bystander effect?
According to Wikipedia, the bystander effect is when someone is less likely to intervene in an emergency situation when other people are present and able to help than when he or she is alone.

Possible causes of the bystander effect is the idea of diffusion of responsibility. People walk by thinking that someone else will surely take care of it or attend to the person. The problem with this is that if everyone thinks this way how will anyone ever help? Luckily there are people that are leaders and not followers.
There are types of diffusion of responsibility:

• groupthink: action taken by a individuals in a group which they wold never do when alone
• bystander effect: if no action is taken to help another individual
  
• hierarchical organizations: someone else tells them to do or not do something which makes it less personal and easier

Examples of Diffusion of Responsibility taken from Wikipedia:

• In a firing squad, one of the shooters may be randomly issued a weapon containing a blank cartridge rather than one with a bullet. This allows each of the members of the firing squad to believe that he did not fire a fatal shot.
• In some electric chairs there are many switches, only one of which is connected. The executioners may then choose to believe that they pulled a non-functional switch.

Interesting? I think so. So, next time you see someone who needs help be the one to act. Be a leader and not a follower! I'd also like to make a quick last point and encourage everyone to start putting themselves in another's shoes. For example if you see someone with an epileptic fit, there are other people tending to that person and you know there is nothing you can do, walk on. This would not be considered the bystander effect because someone is already helping. By walking away you are showing consideration because imagine you have such a fit (which you cannot control) and you wake up to find 30+ people starring at you and realize they just saw you at your most helpless. What a horrible feeling!!

Look up the case study of Kitty Genovese who was died because 38 people (who witnessed) didn't call the police for help when she was being murdered by a serial killer in 1964.

References and interesting articles to check out:

http://psychology.about.com/od/socialpsychology/a/bystandereffect.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Genovese

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/10/01/genovese.ap/index.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/aug/04/ukcrime.features11

http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=198120&Disp=12&Trace=on

Conformity

For my first blog entry I thought I'd like to write about Conformity since it's a very big concept in the world and effects everyone every single day; whether they know it or not.

I found this very short but interesting insight on this topic in an online journal:
http://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/news/2008/mar/13/time-change-results-conformity/

Firstly, what is conformity?
Conformity is any change in behaviour or attitude caused by another person or group.

Do we all conform or is it only the "weak" ones that do?
Do you tell time and use it in your everyday life? Do you queue up in line to order food? Do you follow laws and social norms?
If you answered any of these questions with YES, you have already conformed.
What would we do without time? What would we do without speed limits? What about our laws?
We all conform to a certain extent, like the link suggests, we all conform to time. Someone invented time to make it easier for us but what if you didn't want to conform? If you ended up going to work/school whenever you felt like it; drove on the other than usual side of the road where other cars are coming towards you; what if you drove at whatever speed you wanted, wherever you wanted; what if you greeted the queen with "what's up, yo"; what if you went to school in a bikini; what if you relieved yourself in the middle of the street?
If you think about it, we wouldn't be a very civilized bunch if we didn't conform to the social norms that have been established and even changed over time.
This, of course, doesn't mean that those who stick to social norms are very civilized all the time. Let's take a look at the famous Jonestown Massacre. Read an article here and tell me what you think.
For those who don't know the Jonestown Massacre happened in 1978 in South-America and is a great example of conformity at it's worst. The leader of a small religious community convinced his 900 followers to commit suicide but not before killing their children and the elderly first. Altogether, 914 people died, 276 of those were children.
To understand this Massacre, i thought i'd bring up Asch's length judgment studies where the subject conformed to a completely and obviously wrong answer because the other people in the room were all giving that answer too. What does that tell us about Human Nature?

According to Turner (1991) there are three main reasons why people conform.
1.) People like to think their perceptions and attitudes are accurate and valid. That means that most people will change their opinions or rethink their attitudes if other people disagree with them.

• Asch's Experiment on length judgment
  

2.) People like to be liked and approved of by others and therefore do not like to stand out as different, particularly when in the physical presence of other people.

• Asch's Experiment on length judgment
  

3.) People feel a sense of belonging with the group defined by the norm.

• The Jonestown Massacre in 1978
  

So, what do you think about conformity? Can you give other, more recent examples of conformity or maybe even an experience you had?
Let's learn by sharing. Conform and you shall get all your points for this tutorial. ;-)
If you have the time do something good by playing a game that is free but your playing will feed the hungry. Click HERE - I wonder how many of you will conform. ;-)

Turner, J.C. (1991). Social Influence. Milton Keynes: Open University Press