As people, we like to pride ourselves knowing that we have helped another person and impacted their lives in some way. Examples include helping an elderly woman cross the street, or helping someone carry their groceries to the car. But if people take pride in helping, why is it that there are times that we stop to help others and times where we do not? To answer this question, we must look at all the other components and factors that come into play, like our social surroundings. It would be assumed that the more people there are, the more people would stop to help someone if a person on the street was hurt, but surprisingly, the opposite is true. Research shows that people are more likely to help in a one-on-one situation as opposed to large…show more content… And would people be more likely to help out others if they knew about the bystander effect? Experiments show that more people would actually help others in need if they were aware about the bystander effect. “When people learn the meaning of these aggression experiments, they were inoculated somehow, and therefore less like to be manipulated in the future” (Larsen, Ommundsen, Veer, 394). Why does this phenomenon happen? Other sources write, “When you are the only eyewitness present, 100% of the responsibility for providing help rests on your shoulders. But if there are five eyewitnesses, only 20% of the responsibility is yours” (Burkley). [ Good use ]It is not to say that the bystander effect always happens because there is a large crowd of people present; there are many factors that influence if it happens or not. An important factor here is knowledge. Knowledge, in this case, is a powerful tool when dealing with the bystander effect. When people are more aware of the bystander effect, they are more likely to stop and intervene. I[ Great addition to the text!]n one study, investigators lectured a psychology class about the effects of bystander intervention, but did not present the same lecture to another psychology class. The experimenters came back two weeks later, and observed the students behavior when they saw a person lying on a park bench. “Compared with only 25% of students who hadn’t received the lecture on bystander intervention, 43% of students who had received the lecture intervened to help the person. This study worked, probably because it imparted new knowledge and perhaps also because it made people more keenly aware of the importance of helping” (Lilienfeld, Lynn, Ruscio, Beyerstein). These studies show that knowledge and awareness is the key to reducing the event of bystander
