Psychology2016

496 CHAPTER 12

But why does the number of bystanders matter?

Diffusion of responsibility is the phenomenon in which a person fails to take

responsibility for either action or inaction because of the presence of other people who

are seen to share the responsibility (Leary & Forsyth, 1987). Diffusion of responsibility

is a form of attribution in which people explain why they acted (or failed to act) as they

did because of others. Contrary to popular belief, bystanders who fail to act do not typ-

ically do so out of apathy (a lack of caring about the victim) but instead may care quite

deeply. They do not act because of diffusion of responsibility, among other concerns

(Glassman & Hadad, 2008). “I was just following orders,” “Other people were doing it,”

and “There were a lot of people there, and I thought one of them would do something”

are all examples of statements made in such situations. Kitty Genovese and LaShanda

Calloway received no help because there were too many potential “helpers,” and not one

of the people listening to cries for help took the responsibility to intervene—they thought

surely someone else was doing something about it.

FIVE DECISION POINTS IN HELPING BEHAVIOR What kind of decision-making process

do people go through before deciding to help? What are the requirements for deciding

when help is needed? Darley and Latané (1968) identified several cognitive decision

points that a bystander must face before helping someone in trouble. These decision

points, which are discussed in the video Deciding to Help and outlined in Ta b l e 1 2. 2 , are

still considered useful more than 40 years later.

of the participants left the room to report the smoke. In the “three participants” condition,

only a little more than one third of the participants reported the smoke, whereas only one

tenth of the participants who were in the room with confederates did so (Figure 12. 5 ).

diffusion of responsibility
occurring when a person fails to
take responsibility for actions or for
inaction because of the presence
of other ReoRle who are seen to share
the resRonsiDility.

Figure 12.5 Elements Involved in Bystander Response

In a classic experiment, participants were filling out surveys as the room began to

fill with smoke. As you can see in the accompanying graph, the time taken to report

smoke and the percentage of people reporting smoke both depended on how many

people were in the room at the time the smoke was observed. If a person was alone,

he or she was far more likely to report the smoke and report it more quickly than when

there were three people.

SOURCE: Latané & Darley (1969).

Per

centage r

eporting smoke

Time taken to report smoke (min)

Alone

Groups of 3

0 1 2 3 4 56

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

Interactive