User:Cproskin/sandbox

DIFFUSION OF RESPONSIBILITY: In our society, we are faced with situations wherein people are in need of assistance. There are occasions where we as people help those in need; however, there are times when people walk away from those in need and act as if the issue was not occuring. Explaining why people walk away can be hard to explain. Many people would rather not get involved in a situation that does not directly affect him/her. By not getting involved, a person can not be held liable for anything that occurs. Just as in other areas of social psychology, Fritz Heider observed that a person may refrain from a person in need because the person may be frightened that if he/she should contact with the person suffering, true sympathy could overtake him/her, and then he/she would become involved on an emotional level and supply help that may later regret. Diffusion of responsibility is explained by stating that people are less likely to feel responsible for something that is occuring if there is a big group of people present. If people are confronted with a situation where no one else is helping someone in need then they too feel as though they do not need to help either. The Kitty Genovese murder is a case that is commonly known about when talking of diffusion of responsibility. The murder occured in New York in 1964. Genovese was killed in the open, outside of an apartment complex. There were thirty eight witnesses who observed screams, and even parts of the murder taking place, and no one acted upon this. No one contacted the police, and many people recognized that no one else was intervening; therefore, nothing was done. This situation of the thirty eight witnesses definitly prompted Latane and Darley to start the work that displayed the phenomenon known as the bystander effect. People will react differently in situations when he/she is alone versus being withing a group. Individuals part of a subgroup that is within a larger group are not as likely to show egocentrism; however, smaller sized groups are more likely to posses egocentrism than what is expressed in larger group. Someone experiencing diffusion of responsibility does not have to feel obligated to help a person in need. The obligation could change if a person is singled-out in a situation, like in a situation where a person is directly asked for help. Other than that certain situation, the majority of people do not help someone in need if no one else in their group has taken action first.