The Bystander Effect and The Evil of Inaction

The Bystander Effect and the Evil of Inaction As someone with a background in the biological sciences, I know how

important factors like genetics are for determining who we are. However, the social sciences, like sociology, constantly surprise me with how much power our social environment has over how we act and interact with those around us. This artifact was inspired by the TED talk by Phillip Zimbardo, a psychologist best known for his Stanford prison experiment (Zimbardo, 2008). In this study, conducted in 1971, normal, healthy participants were designated as either prison guards or prisoners as part of a mock prison. Within days, the prison guards were participating in the psychological torture of the prisoners, as the prisoners passively accepted the abuse. The experiment had to be stopped after just six days due to the emotional breakdown of several of the students. He also draws a parallel to the Abu Ghraib incident, where US soldiers were found to have abused the prisoners. Zimbardo argued that these evil actions did not solely stem from the inherent evil of these people, but is instead heavily dependent on the social environment they are part of (e.g. the prison) and those in power who shape the social environment (e.g politicians). Conversely, Zimbardo also argues that the social environment can also promote good actions and the emergence of heroes. In addition to arousing evil and heroic actions, Zimbardo also asserts that situations can drive people to passivity, making them guilty of what he calls The Evil of Inaction (Zimbardo, 2008, 20:48). Certainly there were those in Abu Ghraib who knew what was happening and realized that it was wrong, but still chose to do nothing. A phenomenon related to inaction stemming from the social environment is called the bystander effect. The bystander effect refers to situations where the more people are present, the less likely one of them will offer help to someone in need, since they assume someone else will help. This effect was tragically illustrated in 2010, when Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax, after saving a woman from a mugger in Queens, NY, was stabbed multiple times and lay bleeding on the sidewalk (Hutchison, 2010). Surveillance footage showed that more than 20 people walked by Tale-Yax, with one even walking away after rolling him over and seeing blood. By the time someone called 911, Tale-Yax had been laying there for an hour and a half, and emergency responders found that had already died. Tale-Yaxs case was probably even further complicated by the fact that he was homeless. Finding the homeless sleeping in the streets has become such a common occurrence that most people dont even give them a second thought, much less consider stopping to see if they need help. This aspect of our social environment is captured in the photograph in the background of my artifact (Black, 2007). Even though the homeless man is right there in plain view, the vast majority of those passing by would be like that little girl, at best giving a glance in his general direction as they continued on their way. Indeed, in a sense, the homeless population is a constant victim of the evil of inaction. Personally, I too have callously walked and driven past several of the homeless who were asking for spare change, thinking that there was some soup kitchen or shelter out there that could take care of their needs. This additional wrinkle of social status in the bystander effect is illustrated in the video found on Coolpsychologists channel. In this video, an experiment is shown where various actors lay on the side of a busy sidewalk pretending to be sick or injured. The first actor, dressed in a coat and jeans, lay on the sidewalk groaning for more than twenty minutes without someone even stopping to see what was wrong. The next actress was slumped over and unresponsive for four minutes before a couple went to

check on her. In the third scenario, when the first actor, now dressed in a suit and tie, slumps over on the sidewalk, he is almost immediately helped by a passerby (Coolpsychologist, 2009). This video does give some us some hope though, as well as credence to Zimbardos claim that a situation can just as easily create heroes as it can create evildoers or apathetic bystanders. In the second scenario, the woman is finally helped by a man. This initial seed of action spurs another pedestrian, who previously seemed paralyzed into inaction, to approach and see what is wrong (Coolpsychologist, 2009, 2:22). The fact that one person was willing to overcome the prevailing situation of inaction was enough to break the bystander effect, and change the situation into one where people would be willing to offer their help. As Zimbardo declares in the conclusion to his TED talk, while the situations we are in hold great power over how we act, with effort, individuals still have the ability to move counter to our social environment and become heroes.

Black, J. (2007, October 27). Man sleeping on Canadian sidewalk [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/File:Man_sleeping_on_Canadian_sidewalk.jpg Bystander effect. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved July 14, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect Coolpsychologist (2009, June 9). The Bystander Effect [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSsPfbup0ac Hutchison, C. (2010, April 28). Why Homeless Hero Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax Died on NYC Street. ABC News. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/dying-good-samaritan-hugoalfredo-tale-yax-symptom/story?id=10488434 Zimbardo, P. (2008, February 28). Philip Zimbardo: The psychology of evil [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_on_the_psychology_of_evil.html

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The Bystander Effect and the Evil of Inaction As someone with a background in the biological sciences, I know how

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