You're walking down a busy city sidewalk, and you see someone in front of you fall down. What would you do? Now imagine that same situation, but you are the only other person on the sidewalk. What would you do then? According to social psychologists, you are more likely to help when there is no one else around. In contrast, if there are many witnesses, or bystanders, you might not offer help. It is even possible that no one would help the person at all. Psychologists believe this is a natural yet complex human reaction, which they call the bystander effect.
The bystander effect was first discovered in 1964 as a result of a very unfortunate event that happened outside Catherine Genovese's home in New York City. At three o'clock in the morning, someone attacked and murdered Genovese in front of her apartment building. The noise of the killing woke up 38 of Genovese's neighbors All of them looked out of their windows to see what was happening. However, not one of those 38 witnesses did anything to help. No one reported the murder to the police. The whole nation was shocked by the news the next day, and psychologists had no answers to explain why these people didn't help.