Sometimes I wonder if there\u2019s an RLSH alive that doesn\u2019t know the Kitty Genovese story by heart.\u00a0 When I taught Social Psychology, this story was a centerpiece in my group behavior component, as was my own \u201cGenovese Experience.\u201d
\nPhoenix, Arizona has a tradition, it seems in welcoming new residents to its warm embrace.\u00a0 It seems that everyone I know who has moved here found themselves in an auto collision within a few months of setting down roots.\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s a form of initiation, but my family and I were no exception.
\nMy wife was driving our smallish Toyota Corolla though an intersection when a Bronco pulled out of a gas station on the corner and stopped directly in front of us.\u00a0 She slammed on her brakes and cranked her steering wheel, but we didn\u2019t stop in nearly enough time.\u00a0 \u00a0When a Corolla collides with a Bronco, it\u2019s easy to determine the winner.\u00a0 Our poor car became a large metal accordion with screaming children in the back seat.\u00a0 Ever choleric, my wife immediately leapt from her side of the car to confront the other driver.
\nThe children were screaming and, twisting about, I saw that they were each bleeding from the area of their eyes.\u00a0 I tried the door on my side of the car, but it wouldn\u2019t open.\u00a0 I called out to my wife.
\n\u201cHoney!\u00a0 Call 911\u201d
\nShe kept screaming at the other driver instead.
\n\u201cHoney!\u00a0 The kids are bleeding from the eyes!\u00a0 Call 911 now!\u201d
\nMy wife, ever relentless, began to scream at the other driver about how our children are now bleeding from the eyes.
\nIt was then that I realized that we had drawn a crowd.\u00a0 Accidents almost always draw quite a bit of attention.\u00a0 This one was no exception.\u00a0 There were approximately 10 or 12 people standing near the intersection, staring with intense interest and doing nothing to help.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not that people don\u2019t want to help, <\/em>\u00a0I told my class, it\u2019s just that the situation dictates that they do nothing!<\/em> The bad news, folks, is that when Kitty was being stabbed, each person was thinking that the next person would do something, everyone silently watched\u2014which established a norm via social referencing, and no one seemed to feel as if they could safely intervene.\u00a0 One person who did consider calling the police felt that she would get in trouble, as she was an undocumented immigrant.<\/em> ***<\/p>\n I looked back out at the crowd of bystanders.\u00a0 Ignoring my wife, I pointed at the most salient person in the group. Sometimes I wonder if there\u2019s an RLSH alive that doesn\u2019t know the Kitty Genovese story by heart.\u00a0 When I taught Social Psychology, this story was a centerpiece in my group behavior component, as was my own \u201cGenovese Experience.\u201d Phoenix, Arizona has a tradition, it seems in welcoming new residents to its warm embrace.\u00a0 It seems […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17,24],"tags":[417,504,621,743,1430,1775,2262,2445,2753],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16357"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPeople most often determine their behavior in groups by a few basic rules:\u00a0 Social referencing, efficacy, and diffusion of responsibility. <\/em>I remembered saying, Let\u2019s take a look at a few of these.<\/em>
\nI started writing up on the board\u2026<\/p>\n\n
\nThe good news is that this can be remedied.\u00a0 All that needs to be done is for someone in the observing crowd to be assigned the responsibility of some simple, helpful task that should be well within his or her competency.\u00a0 As soon as he or she does this, in theory, social referencing dictates that others will follow suit and help on their own.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u201cYou!\u201d\u00a0 I shouted.\u00a0 \u201cCall 911!\u201d
\nThe young man\u2019s glazed stare changed quickly as he blinked away his socially induced apathy.\u00a0 A light seemed to come on in his eyes and he nodded quickly and sprinted off.
\nI never saw him again.
\nI set my sights on another person.
\n\u201cYou!\u201d I pointed at a young woman in the crowd. \u201cDo you have a cell phone?\u201d
\nShe nodded, already digging in her purse.
\n\u201cPlease! Call 911 now!\u201d
\nShe nodded again and began dialing.\u00a0 Everyone else fell into roles like well-placed pieces in a puzzle.\u00a0 One man ran into the gas station and bought water bottles for my children and a young lady used handkerchiefs and bottled water to wash the blood from my children\u2019s faces to reveal very small cuts above their eyes.
\nOne thoughtful gentleman suggested that I climb out of the car on my wife\u2019s side.\u00a0 I felt a little silly then.
\nSoon, the ambulances arrived and my children were in much more calm spirits thanks to the aid of the not-quite-apathetic bystanders.
\nBystander apathy is indeed endemic to the human condition.\u00a0 However, it can be countered with some very simple techniques.
\n-Rook
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"