Bystander Effect occurs when specific conditions are met and is not just a prevailing rule of human behavior.
The original incident that inspired this phenomenon was shown to be overly exaggerated to reinforce the idea of the inherently violent and apathetic human - which does sell well in newspapers back then and social media now.
If the attack was non-ambiguous, percieved as a high danger/emergency, against the social order/ group cohesion, and bystanders feels competent - do you think you wouldn’t get help? Stop being sold that you are alone and everyone else are apathetic uncaring “humans”, humans legitimately wouldn’t have gotten this far as a species without helping one another.
Totally anecdotal, but I work in 911 dispatch, so I have a bit of insight on people involving themselves in emergencies
It’s really hit or miss.
Fires, gunshots, medical emergencies, fights, things blowing up, car accidents, noise complaints, aircraft crashes, I’ve probably taken a call about it, and those calls have come in from the person involved, a neighbor , a random passerby, their grandmother who lives in another state, or some random follower on tiktok.
And sometimes we get a hundred calls about the same thing. There are times I can just about answer the phone with “911, if you’re calling about the [thing] in [place] we’re already aware, help is on the way.” And be right about 90% of the time while that thing is going on. (To be clear I don’t do that, because almost every time I crack a joke about my job or vent about stupid shit our callers do, some self-righteous dipshit comes at me with a whole “if that’s how you talk to your callers maybe you’re not cut out for this job” spiel as if no one ever vents about the idiots they have to deal with at work.)
And there are other times where we get exactly one call about something serious happening in a very public place and we’re left wondering if it was a prank call until our police/fire/EMS get out there and confirm that yes, everything is exactly as described or even worse, it’s a total shit-show and all hell’s breaking loose.
Sometimes it seems like a whole town is turning out to help people with a minor fender-bender, and sometimes hundreds of people are driving right by an overturned vehicle.
Usually, of course, it’s somewhere in-between. We got a handful of calls about something but our phones aren’t ringing off the hook about it.
Moral of my rant is, a lot of times people will step in to help or at least call 911 in an emergency, but you can’t always count on that. The idea of the bystander effect is exaggerated and misinterpreted, but the core takeaway about it is solid. You can’t always take it for granted that someone else is going to do something to help, so if you find yourself in a position where you can be the one who helps, you should do so.
Firstly, the bystander effect has been essentially debunked
Secondly, pointing something out (even if it’s bullshit) isn’t a shower thought, it’s stating the bloody obvious (but in this case, it’s just propagating an outdated trope)
Low effort
The bystander effect is a theory, not fact. It can explain after the fact why people in groups feel less responsibility to do something. But it isn’t universally applicable to all assaults in public. There are many variables at play. So “highly unlikely” is an exaggeration in my view.
It’s not even a theory, it was a hypothesis with some loose evidence and while it likely explains some amount about human behavior it’s not anywhere on par with actual theories even by social science standards
Go watch the train stabbing video. You know the one.
If a singular instance make you believe everything is indeed that way, then maybe the problem is you.
Its not singular. You been to many rough bars?
Most likely not. Only an idiot goes to those. There are the remaining 95 % of bars to choose from. Leave the rough bars for some idiot lads that like spending their time there.
There are also plenty of counterexamples of helpful, sometimes even brave, bystanders.
I don’t drink.
Good choice
No, I don’t know which one. And I don’t want to watch people get hurt so I won’t seek it out either. There are incidents in this world that fit the theory of the bystander effect. That is not what I question. I’m questioning your calculation of odds regarding intervention. There are enough examples of “heroes without capes” that did intervene as well, also within groups of people.
A shower thought doesn’t have to be well thought through. On the flip side, you don’t have to double down on it when folks point out the flaws.
