...Katie Wallace Psychology 2301 May 9, 2013 Mrs. Strickland Silent Witnesses: The Kitty Genovese Murder 1. After the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese, John Darley and Bibb Latane were in shock as the rest of the city/world that a 28 year old lady could be stabbed in a neighborhood with about 38 by standers or more and say or do nothing. Why didn’t anyone try and help her? How could people stand by and watch this go on? People speculated that the failure of people to get involved might be due more to the influence (socially) that bystanders have on each other. To test this theory, Darley and Latane, two psychologists, decided to conduct a study. “Diffusion of Responsibility” Everyone hopes that someone else will be the first to step up and take action. When no one does act, seeing there are other people around provides an excuse for the individual not taking any type of action. I truly believe that most people, not all, have a fear of getting involved in anything horrific, domestic, or just plain wrong because they don’t know the outcome or consequences that that may bring upon themselves. Then you have the people that simply don’t believe in getting involved in other peoples’ drama or situations, so they do hope that someone else will do something because no matter what, they’re not taking any interest in what’s happening. 2. A lot of the reasons for the neighbors not getting involved were absolutely ridiculous! “I didn’t want to get involved. I thought two lovers were...
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...Description: The behavior under consideration in this paper is the murder and sexual assault of Catherine ‘Kitty’ Genovese. This behavior may be manifested in a number of ways by a variety of individuals for a number of different reasons; such as violent attacks on women. While technically defined as a crime by the state or federal statutes the behavior in question is also regarded as deviant, norm-violating and immoral. It is the purpose of this paper to first describe the murder and sexual assault of Catherine ‘Kitty’ Genovese and then to relate it to two chapters in the textbook entitled ‘It’s a Crime: Woman and Justice” by Roslyn Muraskin. In addition to that I will also examine the fact that thirty-eight witnesses heard or watch the thirty-five minute killing of Ms.Genovese and not one of them assisted or called for help until after she was dead. The murder was committed on the early morning of March 13, 1964 at about 3:15am in the New Gardens section of Queens in New York. Catherine, who was also known as Kitty had just gotten off of work, where she was a manger at a bar. She parked her car in a Long Island Railroad parking lot about 20 feet away from her apartment. As she began to lock her door to her car, she noticed a figure in the dark that was moving quickly toward her. Becoming alarmed she began to walk quickly and then ran as she realized the stranger was following her. She must have thought that since the entrance to her building was so close...
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...Bystander Apathy Experiment Bystander Apathy Experiment (1968) On March 13, 1964, Kitty Genovese was attacked and stabbed by a man later identified as Winston Moseley. Despite Genovese’s cries for help, none of the people in the nearby apartment building who heard her cries called police to report the incident. The attack first began at 3:20 AM, but it was not until 3:50 AM that someone first contacted police. In 1968, John Darley and Bibb Latane became intrigued by the incident and decided to conduct an experiment which was given the name the Bystander Apathy Experiment. Their main goal was to figure out why people, in cases like Genovese’s, did not come for help. These two psychologists asked volunteers to participate in a discussion which was claimed to be extremely personal. Each individual was separated in different rooms and had to communicate with each other through an intercom. During this “extremely personal” conversation, one of the members would fake an epileptic seizure through the intercom. When the volunteer believed that he/she was the only other person in the discussion, 85% left the room and began to seek help for the individual with a fake seizure. Next, the two psychologists decided to see what would happen if three or four people were in this discussion, instead of just one; and just as they suspected, only 31% went to look for help once the seizure began. So what exactly is the bystander effect? Psychologists predict there are two major factors that...
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...Everyday thousands of Americans simply don't have enough food to feed their family and their children. Most turn to government assistance, such as WIC and food stamps for support. However, not all needy families qualify and some may not receive enough food stamps. In that case, they turn to local food pantries for help with food. The donations they receive can truly make a difference. Out of the realm of typical behavior, I recently donated two turkeys to Our Daily Bread Food Pantry to be distributed to their client families for their own Thanksgiving celebrations. The volunteers were overwhelmed with the support received during this time when the economy is weak. They were tremendously grateful for the local generosity and asked that I "please keep giving." I'm a firm believer in doing helpful deeds. I'm a naturally kind and compassionate person, and I believe that every negative experience in one’s life can result in something positive. I would not consider my behavior to be prosocial for the reason that I had no motive for donating both turkeys to the local food pantry designed to help others. My behavior was altruistic. Why? My act was voluntarily to help needy families with no expectation of a reward in any form, except perhaps a feeling of having done a good deed. Prosocial behavior ranges over a continuum from the most selfless acts of altruism to helpful acts that are motivated entirely by self-interest (Taylor, Peplau, Sears, 2006). The fact that I was...
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...woman named Catherine Genvese, known by friends and family as Kitty. While neighbors may have ignored her cried for help, the article focused national attention on neighborhoods indifference. By doing so Mr. Gansberg’s article told about something that became symbolical in what many people recognized as the beginning of a culture full of violence and apathy in the United States. This case became so important that social scientists still debate the causes of what is now known as “The Genovese Syndrome”. In the short story “Thirty Eight Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police” written by Martin Gansberg published on March 27, 1964, describes a true story that took place in Queens New York on March 14, 1964. The events that took place that night became widely known in American culture to be the cause of what is now known as “The Genovese Syndrome”. It was the birth of a culture that was indifferent and apathetic. The cruel murder of an innocent woman named Catherine (Kitty) Genovese happened in a civilized community surrounded by law abiding citizens, yet no one helped. The lack of action by her neighbors and “friends” became symbolic in America. It was the start of an evolving culture of violence. It...
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...Helping People have their own motives for wanting to help someone in need. Some people help because that’s just the type of person they are also known as altruism. There are some that believe that if you help someone, you will be rewarded for that deed; which is also known as the social exchange theory. In some cases, the person who is trying to help another person feels empathy for the person they are trying to help; which is different from sympathy. Empathy is the feeling of oneness with the emotional state of another. Sympathy is a sense of feeling sorry for another person. There are different motives for wanting to help another person in need; but when are we suppose to help? Are we supposed to help a stranger on the street who is trying to feed themselves? What about helping to feed a starving child? Are we supposed to help our family and friends more than strangers? When do we help? These are some questions that everyone should ask themselves. In most cases, some find it easier to walk away from a person in need then to take out time to help. One famous term for not helping a person is the bystander effect. The bystander effect refers to the phenomenon in which the greater the numbers of people present, the less likely people are going 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 (Wagner). In the past forty-six years, there have been many incidents...
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...Bystander Apathy and Effect Bystander Apathy or effect would be when someone around you is a situation but you don’t do anything to help then with the situation or aren’t doing anything to stop it, you are just standing there watching it happen. The number of bystanders is greater than the number of people who will actually step up and give help during the situation. The greater number of bystanders means the less likely people will get any help throughout a situation. Bystander effect or apathy means people will not help a victim even if the situation is bad, they will just allow it to happen to not get involved with the problem (Wikipidea Contributors). On Friday the 13 in March 1964 Catherine Genovese was arriving home from work when...
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...Objectively Comments The stuff was about a murder case that took place on March 14,1964 the murder victim was named Catherine Genovese. Miss Genovese was coming from her occupation at night to get home, and a tragic event took place. Miss. Genovese was stalked, stabbed and murder and numerous witness didn’t do anything around it. The incident took place on Austin Street around 4:30AM, and witness saw she was in danger never called the police. And so the attacker came to face her with the knife, and ended up voting out her. The police interviewed the witnesses that took in numerous time she was in danger, and never visited the police; they alleged they were afraid and didn’t believe it was going to intensify into a slaying. At 4:25 AM when...
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...Have you ever been a witness to an event that you wish you could have avoided; something small, such as name-calling, or something more serious, such as a physical attack? Did you react in a way that you would later regret, or did you step in? Were others near you when this occurred? The Bystander Effect is the theory behind you responding in the way that you did. As said in the "10 Notorious Cases of the Bystander Effect," the theory is supported by the fact that "individuals do not offer help in an emergency situation when others are present." It is argued whether or not bystanders should be held responsible for getting involved. If one witnesses an occurrence to which they neither report nor act upon, they can not be charged with...
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...Bystander Apathy Experiment (1968) On March 13, 1964, Kitty Genovese was attacked and stabbed by a man later identified as Winston Moseley. Despite Genovese’s cries for help, none of the people in the nearby apartment building who heard her cries called police to report the incident. The attack first began at 3:20 AM, but it was not until 3:50 AM that someone first contacted police. In 1968, John Darley and Bibb Latane became intrigued by the incident and decided to conduct an experiment which was given the name the Bystander Apathy Experiment. Their main goal was to figure out why people, in cases like Genovese’s, did not come for help. These two psychologists asked volunteers to participate in a discussion which was claimed to be extremely personal. Each individual was separated in different rooms and had to communicate with each other through an intercom. During this “extremely personal” conversation, one of the members would fake an epileptic seizure through the intercom. When the volunteer believed that he/she was the only other person in the discussion, 85% left the room and began to seek help for the individual with a fake seizure. Next, the two psychologists decided to see what would happen if three or four people were in this discussion, instead of just one; and just as they suspected, only 31% went to look for help once the seizure began. So what exactly is the bystander effect? Psychologists predict there are two major factors that contribute to the bystander...
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...Group Inhibition of the Bystander Intervention in Emergencies Social psychologists, Latane and Darley (1968), performed a certain study to find out why people may resist giving help or why people fail to assist themselves or others in the presence of an emergency. They figure maybe there are factors that contribute to this problem and for that reason they formed an experiment. Before getting into their experiment, they considered a tragic event that took place in 1964, in New York City. A female named Kitty Genovese was walking down the street in her neighborhood, and a man walking towards her with a knife began to stab her. Kitty screamed for help and no one responded the first time. The second time she repeated screaming for help only one male responded. At this point the police dept. was still not notified. Kitty had been stabbed multiple times before someone finally decided to dial 911. There were a total of 38 bystanders/eyewitnesses that did not take action as said by the police investigative team. This raised a major question to everyone. Why would no one be of help in this type of emergency? Latane and Darley (1968) used this case as a background to their own experiment. Their main question of course, was simply why are there “bystanders”? In our minds we most likely think that the more eyewitnesses there are in a state of emergency someone will definitely dial 911 or reach out for some type of help. But that is not the case according to Latane and Darley. They...
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...Dissent and Altruism are a matter of personal conviction, but situational factors are also involved. Analyze five situational factors that are involved when a person decides to rock the boat and choose conscience over conformity. Dissent and Altruism is the inclination to assist others selflessly or take dangerous actions on behalf of others. (Wade & Tavris, 2008, p. 298) It is partly a sense of moral goodness of one’s own conduct, intentions or character together with a feeling of obligation to do what is right. Additionally, there are external or situational factors that can influence a person’s decision to state an unpopular opinion, choose conscience over conformity or assist a stranger in trouble. The decision by someone to act courageously can be influenced by multiple situational factors. Situational factors can influence both Altruism and dissent. Below, we examine five of those factors. 1. You become aware that there is a need to get involved or assist: Before someone can act without relying on something or someone else, they must be fully aware that their action is absolutely needed. Private Johnson Gideon Beharry, of the Princess of Wales Royal regiment, in 2004 acted courageously to save his fellow soldiers. He drove his armored vehicle with his hatch open, exposing his face and head to enemy gunfire. Beharry drove the crippled warrior through the ambush, taking his own crew and leading five other warriors to safety. He then extracted his wounded...
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...the influence of Bystander Effect on pro social behaviour Introduction: Kitty Genovese, a New York City woman, was stabbed to death near her home on March 13, 1964 with her neighbors witness the whole thing happen but no one called the police. This common portrayal of her neighbors as being fully aware of what was transpiring but completely unresponsive. This went on to become a psychological paradigm and an stimulus on psychologist to investigating the effect of bystanders on individuals willing of helping others. Bystander Effect refers to the tendency for individuals to be less likely to help other person in need when other bystanders are present, or believed to be present, as compared to when they are alone (VCE psychology unit 1 and 2 textbook). And pro-social behaviour is any behaviour intended to help or benefit another person, group or society. One of the classic experiments is conducted by John Darley and Bibb Latané in 1964 called Bystander Apathy Experiment to investigate the influence group size displays the probability of reactions to the incident. The aim of the current study was to conduct a series of experiments to investigate the influence of Bystander Effect on pro social behaviour. The independent variable was the the number of people that present when the accident happens. The dependent variable was the likelihood of the witnesses to help. It was predicted that the the participant aged 15 to 30 from Facebook would more likely to help when they were...
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...A bystander is a person who is present at an event or incident but chooses to stay quiet instead of speaking up. People in the Holocaust chose to stay quiet because they were afraid of the consequences. I agree that being a quiet bystander does nothing but help those who are evil. Being quiet when you know you should not will not help anyone. For an example in First, they came by Pastor Martin Niemoller stanza 5, “Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.” This shows how when the Nazis came for the different people no body spoke out, and finally when they came for the last people there was no one left to help. For instance in Eve Buntings Terrible things page 23, “Help they screamed, But there was no one left to...
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...If a bystander does not speak up are they guilty of the action that happens? In Wiesel's Nobel Prize acceptance speech(Wiesel), and Black Like Me (Griffin) you can see the difference a bystander may or make. If you are a bystander and watch something happen without speaking up then you are responsible for that action. Even if it means putting your life in danger it is a bystander's duty to speak up, as it gives the victim hope where they thought it could never be found. No one can know what the victim is going through until they try to understand it for themselves, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view--until you climb around in his skin and walk around in it.” (Lee 39) You may think you know...
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