Bystander Apahy

10 Pages 2438 Words

, possible physical harm, public embarrassment, possible involvement in police procedures, lost work days and jobs, and other dangers. Urban people are very concerned with the way they appear to others. Anything that may separate them from the "in-group" of society is usually seen as too risky to take part in. And strangely enough, helping people in need is seen as one of these risks. A study was done on seminarian students to see how likely they were to stop for a young student in distress. As reviewed by Brenner and Levin, out of the total 40 that passed the distressed student, only 16 stopped to help. Before allowing the students to come upon the confederate in need, the experimenters presented students with either writings about job applications, or the Good Samaritan Parable. This proved to have no effect on the likelihood of the student offering to help. I find this somewhat perplexing; one would think that especially after being shown text about helping someone in need as being "the right thing to do" that they would stop because of the guilt that may plague them. But the study showed that the main factor determining the choice to stop was whether or not they were in a hurry. I personally doubt that there would be any repercussions for being late if the reason was helping a fellow seminarian in need. But this study proves that people think otherwise. It has also been proposed that territoriality and social distance may be good predictors of willingness to prevent criminal behaviours. As presented by Gillis and Hagan, the disorganization theorists (Simmel et al.) claim that the unwavering activity of urban areas results in psychological withdrawal from others as a way to avoid stimulation overload. People in cities are no more likely to help neighbors than complete strangers, but their "social accountability" holds them responsible for friends and family. According to Gillis and Hagan, people are more willing to intervene when the...