bystander effects can be deadly

An article featured on The New Paper on 29^th Mar 2008 reported a 10 year old girl who lives in Penang fell off her block of flats. The girl named Huang Jia Yin, was on her way home with her mum after tuition classes in school. Both of them separated halfway through as her mum needed to get groceries. Thus, Jia Yin went home alone. But instead of finding her daughter at home after getting the groceries, Jia Yin’s mother found her daughter sprawled at the foot of the block. The article reported that Jia Yin had fallen off the topmost floor in her block as her pink school bag was found on the corridor of the 13^th storey.

Upon reaching the foot of the block, Jia Yin’s mother pleaded with 10 or so onlookers to drive Jia Yin to the hospital. But none of the onlookers responded. Despite offering the option of driving their car to the onlookers, none of them responded. Jia Yin’s mum finally carried her to their car 45 minutes later. But by then, the ambulance had arrived. Jia Yin was pronounced dead half an hour earlier.

This article clearly shows a case of bystander effect. Bystander effect refers to the likelihood that an individual will intervene in an emergency goes down as the number of bystanders increases. The effect does not suggest that victims are less likely to receive help, but the probability that a particular person would step out and help despite having other onlookers around them.

Relating back to the article, there were about 10 onlookers as reported by the papers. But none actually stepped out to offer their help to the distraught mother. Instead, they just stand around, talked among themselves, discussing the event and watched. The action of the onlookers can be explained using the bystander effect theory.

Why does bystander effect occurs? What motivates a person to approach the victim and to offer their help?

For one to decide whether to help the victim, one would consider the followings. Firstly, the person must notice the situation that happened. An unusual and odd event usually catches people’s attention. One should also interpret whether the event was serious and was it an emergency. In additional, they should decide whether they are willing to accept any responsibility for helping as well as the right form of assisting the victim before implementing the action.

I supposed Jia Yin’s fall from her block caught the onlooker’s attention and that the onlookers should have felt that the fall was a serious fall and it was an emergency that their help would be greatly appreciated. A possibility why they might conclude that the fall was not serious might be none of the other onlookers responded to the mother’s plea. Thus, concluding that the fall was not as serious.

Personally, I felt that the key reason for the bystander effect to occur was that the onlookers were not willing to accept personal responsibility for helping. The presence of other onlookers would result in attributing lesser responsibility to themselves as well as relying on other onlookers to go forward and offer their help.

Therefore, without the motivation of wanting to bear the responsibility of their actions, onlookers would not be able think of the right form in assisting the victim and to implement the action.

Honestly, I felt that it does not make much sense for the onlookers to not see Jia Yin’s fall as a serious situation. But then again, when the real situation happens to you, you never know what your action would be then. Thus, one’s true nature might be reveled during such situation.