Bystanders at SLCC 1.10.09

When traveling on roads seldom traveled by others, it is a given that if there happens to be a stranded individual in need of help, that assistance is immediately offered (that is, if by first impression this individual doesn’t look like a serial killer seeking their next victim.) In contrast, it’s almost given that if someone in New York City’s car broke down and they happened to be stranded, the only assistance and attention they’d receive would consist of angry horns and fingers.

The bystander effect is, "the phenomenon in which the greater the numbers of people present, the less likely people are to help a person in distress. When an emergency situation occurs, observers are more likely to take action if there are few or no other witnesses,” says Kendra Van Wagner from About.com.

A famous example of the bystander effect is the case of Catherine “Kitty” Genovese in the early 1960’s. Kitty was returning to her home in New York City on March 13, 1964, around three in the morning when she was attacked in front of her apartment complex. After the attacker had stabbed Kitty and noticed multiple lights turning on in the complex with the residents coming to their windows, he ran. Kitty crawled her way to a staircase in the apartment complex crying for help, but nobody came. The attacker had stayed close enough to see if anyone was coming, and when he’d decided nobody was, he returned to his victim to stab her multiple times more and ended her life. It wasn’t until thirty minutes after the original witnesses noticed Kitty struggling outside that the first 911 call was placed. By then it was too late.

There are five major steps a bystander goes through before any action is taken. The first is they have to notice there is an event at all. Most often, an individual is so tuned into themselves rather than what’s happening around them and can walk right past an emergency without realizing. Second, they have to realize it is an emergency. If someone sees something and notices that nobody else is doing anything about it, they’ll conclude there is no emergency at hand. Third, they either assume responsibility, or assume somebody else will. Fourth, the bystander decides if they know what to do or not. And fifth, they act. This final step that sounds so simple is often the hardest due to the bystander’s fear of danger, lawsuit issues, or embarrassment.
Numerous sociological factors such as pluralistic ignorance and informational social influence help this phenomenon occur on a practically daily basis. Societal norms are accepted when in a large group of people and everyone blends together to fit in. This same process disconnects everyone from each other at the same time. When nobody stands out, nobody’s acknowledged. When nobody’s acknowledged, everyone’s free to come and go as if they’re invisible from the world. Nobody’s an individual- only a member of a larger, unfocused picture.

Any public area is susceptible to the bystander effect. This feeling of disconnection is easily acknowledged by most people on Salt Lake Community College’s campus. Spencer Blake, a popular sociology professor at SLCC, said “College is not only a place of learning, but it’s widely supposed to be a place of social Networking, a place to branch out and meet new people frequently. The problem here at SLCC is that everyone treats it like a truck stop restroom- you come and go and try to not tough anything in the meantime.” Denver Jensen, a business major here at SLCC completely agreed. He said, “I’ve noticed in my classes that the only conversations held between students in the first week or two are only held between students who already knew each other before. I pray for people like them to be in my classes to break that horrible first day silence. I think it’s that fear of looking someone in the eye that makes SLCC’s campus another target for the bystander effect day after day.”