#psychology #group-behavior #bias

idea

The bystander effect is a social behavior which observes that the presence of other people lowers the chance someone will volunteer. It was initially studied following a murder witnessed by several people, none of which acted promptly[1]. Although this story has since been deemed flawed, the bystander effect has been experimentally and statistically verified[2] in scenarios both dangerous and more common, such as volunteering and participation[3].

The larger the crowd, the less likely someone will volunteer[2].

The bystander effect can be witnessed in the professional world in shared ownership scenarios: when something requires action, and no-one is a clear owner, it is likely that nothing will get done ; thus the adage: when everyone is responsible no-one is responsible.

Personal example: multiple updates required to our shared platform, and no-one willing to take action or volunteering to do it ; even in a company with values such as ownership, bias for action, insist on higher standards and earn trust.

links

The bystander effect is a form of group cohesiveness behavior (group bias)

references

[1]: Wikipedia / The murder of Kitty Genovese is the story that illustrated it first. It has since been showed that the reporting itself was flawed.

[2]: [Psychological Bulletin, Fischer, P. et. al / The bystander-effect: A meta-analytic review on bystander intervention in dangerous and non-dangerous emergencies.]ref - statistical analysis of the effect

[3]: James M. Hudson , Amy S. Bruckman / The Bystander Effect: A Lens for Understanding Patterns of Participation (2004) - studies effect of crowd on people volunteering to participate in a course.