The bystander effect or Genovese syndrome is a social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases where individuals do not offer any means of help in an emergency situation to the victim when other people are present. The probability of help has in the past been thought to be inversely related to the number of bystanders; in other words, the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that any one of them will help. The mere presence of other bystanders greatly decreases intervention.
旁觀者現(xiàn)象是一種社會(huì)心理學(xué)現(xiàn)象,指在緊急情況由于有他人在場(chǎng)而沒有對(duì)受害者提供幫助的情況。救助行為出現(xiàn)的可能與在場(chǎng)旁觀人數(shù)成反比,即旁觀人數(shù)越多,救助行為出現(xiàn)的可能性就越小。
This happens because as the number of bystanders increases, any given bystander is less likely to notice the incident, less likely to interpret the incident as a problem, and less likely to assume responsibility for taking action.
這是因?yàn)殡S著旁觀者數(shù)量的增加,任何一個(gè)旁觀者就越是不容易注意到發(fā)生了什么,也越是不容易將發(fā)生的事情看做是麻煩,因此也就越是不容易產(chǎn)生采取行動(dòng)的責(zé)任感。
The case of Kitty Genovese is often cited as an example of the "bystander effect". It is also the case that originally stimulated social psychological research in this area. 28 year-old Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death on March 13, 1964 by a serial rapist and murderer on her way back to her Queens, New York apartment from work at 3am. According to newspaper accounts, the attack lasted for at least a half an hour during which time Genovese screamed and pleaded for help. The murderer attacked Genovese and stabbed her, then fled the scene after attracting the attention of a neighbor. The killer then returned ten minutes later and finished the assault. Newspaper reports after Genovese's death claimed that 38 witnesses watched the stabbings and failed to intervene or even contact the police until after the attacker fled and Genovese had died. This led to widespread public attention, and many editorials.
Kitty Genovese案例一直被視為“旁觀者效應(yīng)”的經(jīng)典案例。Genovese小姐于1964年被一個(gè)系列強(qiáng)奸殺人犯用刀捅死。根據(jù)報(bào)紙報(bào)道,這個(gè)過(guò)程長(zhǎng)達(dá)30分鐘。在引起一位鄰居的注意后,殺人犯逃離現(xiàn)場(chǎng),十分鐘后重回現(xiàn)場(chǎng)并繼續(xù)捅Genovese小姐直到她死亡。報(bào)紙報(bào)道38位目擊者目擊了兇殺過(guò)程,但是沒有一個(gè)人出來(lái)阻止或者打電話報(bào)警。這在當(dāng)時(shí)引起了社會(huì)上很大的轟動(dòng)。
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