Kitty Genovese’ Case Essay

In 1964, Kitty Genovese was murdered in New York City; after more than 30 minutes she frantically fought with her attackers, and later 38 neighbors screamed that she was calling for help Case paper introduction However, no one is helping - There is no one who has witnessed like a policeman. The name Kitty Genovese has become a strict label of an ugly phenomenon known as a bystanders indifference. It defines the character of the country who is too afraid to lose courage, "can not participate", and it is useless for anyone other than to help yourself. (Gado 2006)

A pair of social psychologists focused on social cognition in this area began to study the causes and consequences of the witness's obvious indifference. Their findings are marked as spread of responsibility or indifference by bystanders. According to theory, as the number of bystanders increases, individuals are less likely to show aid behavior.

What can be considered as reasons for bystanders' indifference are helplessness and confusion during the attack, and not wanting to participate. People may also think that other onlookers such as doctors and policemen are qualified to help. People may also be afraid to "lose face" in front of other bystanders, be replaced with "excellent" assistants, or provide unnecessary aid. Another explanation is that onlookers monitor other people's reactions in case of emergency in order to see if others think they need to intervene. (Latane & Darlie 1969)

Psychological methods assume that many diseases are caused by psychological, behavioral, and social factors such as personal experience, trauma, conflict, and environmental conditions. The psychodynamic approach focuses on intrinsic, often unconscious, motivational attempts to cope with conflicts between individual needs and social needs. Therefore, according to this method, the main motivation for people to stand and watch without intervention is their unconscious. In explaining the indifference of bystanders, behaviorists will point out previous learning experiences. The behavioral approach maintains the fact that bystanders always remember their previous experience in emergency situations, and they never prevent them if they have bad experiences. Cognitive methods are based on thinking and thinking processes that lead to problematic emotions and behaviors. In case of problems, people have a lot of time to think and think about many ideas. (Latane & Darlie 1969)

Historic examples of bystander effects are numerous. Probably the most famous of them is the murder of Kitty Genovese. In the spring of 1964, Kitty Genovese was raped and killed in a parking lot in New York. According to the report, 38 people witnessed an attack lasting about 30 minutes. Due to the spread of responsibility, the witness did not seek help or try to help Kitty. Many studies are studying onlookers' effects. The first psychologists who performed the spread of responsible experiments were John Darley and Bibb Latané. After Kitty Genovese was killed in the late 1960s, Latané and Darley conducted a survey of the impact of the investigation. In their first and most famous research they studied the relationship between group size and reported risk.

In 1964, Kitty Genovese was murdered in New York City; after more than 30 minutes she frantically fought with her attackers, and later 38 neighbors screamed that she was calling for help Case paper introduction However, no one is helping - There is no one who has witnessed like a policeman. The name Kitty Genovese has become a strict label of an ugly phenomenon known as a bystanders indifference. It defines the character of the country who is too afraid to lose courage, "can not participate", and it is useless for anyone other than to help yourself. (Gado 2006)

On March 27, 1964, Kitty Genovese was killed with a brutal attack on the streets of New York City. I made the story of Genovese very tragic because many people discovered Genovese's pain, later discovered by the police, but I did not get her help. Although the total number of witnesses is controversial, the story is still an example of a bystander effect, which is a psychological phenomenon that people are less likely to help when in the vicinity. But there is good news. According to the 2011 survey, the impact of bystanders can actually be restored. The possibility of witnessing a murder is low, but the influence of a bystander may occur online or it may occur. Knowing how people can help each other is important for those building online communities.