The Bystander Effect

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIvGIwLcIuw


In Psychology this week, my class studied the bystandar effect. In definition, this is the effect that when people are in a group, they are more likely to follow the patterns of that group than they are to take a stand and help someone else, even someone in distress.

This video is disturbing. In summary, an experiment is conducted to see how people will respond to a staged kidnapping on the streets of New York City. For 2 hours, people do nothing but just watch as the girl screams, "This is not my dad, this is not my dad!" as she is being dragged away. It is two hours of doing this experiment before two men finally decide to step in and stop him.

What we need in society is more leaders like the ones we see in this video. As we go through life, we see many things going on and expect someone else to do something about it rather than ourselves. Why not be that person who steps up?