Bystander Effect - MCAT Psychological and Social Foundations

Card 1 of 8

0
Didn't Know
Knew It
0
1 of 87 left
Question

If a person is assaulted on the street of a large city in the middle of the day with many people around, the likelihood that someone will call for help will actually decrease in relation to the larger crowds. This phenomenon is known as which of the following?

Tap to reveal answer

Answer

According to the bystander effect, there is diffusion of responsibility; thus, most people assume, often mistakenly, that “someone else” will take the necessary actions such as calling the police or ambulance. The likelihood of someone taking appropriate action is inversely correlated with the number of people at the scene.

While intriguing, the other choices are incorrect. A self-serving bias is the tendency to attribute successes to ourselves and failures to external causes. Conformity is where one adjusts one’s thinking or behavior because of that of others. Deviance is described as a violation of society’s standards of conduct or expectations. Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome.

← Didn't Know|Knew It →