China’s Bystander Problem
In 2011, a two-year-old toddler named Yueyue from Foshan, China, was hit by a van on the road. Subsequently, eighteen passers-by walked away indifferently without taking any action to help her, despite her evident agony and need for medical attention. In the seven minutes it took for someone to finally bring Yueyue off the road, she had already been hit by another vehicle. Yueyue eventually succumbed to her injuries. This incident shocked the world and similar incidents in China were thus subjected to intense scrutiny. In the months prior to this incident, the media had already been keeping up a running narrative of these acts of indifference . Yueyue’s case simply drew greater attention to the emergence of this …show more content…
Studies provided strong evidence which rejected the importance of an individual’s qualities, like apathy, inhumanness and the lack of conscience, as causal determinants of the bystander effect. Rather, the bystander effect is caused by social factors arising from interactions with other bystanders (Clark & Word, 1972). Some of these factors include the number of bystanders present at the scene of the emergency, diffusion of responsibility among the onlookers, ambiguity of the emergency situation and conformity. Since the bystander effect emerges due to these near-universal underlying social factors, they can, at least in part, explain the causes of the bystander practice in …show more content…
Asch’s (1955) study of the effects of group pressure on conformity , proved that when confronted with opinions different from their own, a significant number of people would choose to conform to the majority opinion despite the fact that they may feel that the majority opinion is wrong. This desire for conformity can be extrapolated to the bystander effect, as the underlying urge to conform to the passive majority deters individuals from being the first to offer aid in the crowd, even if they personally feel that the inaction is wrong. After all, we have a “profound human desire to be accepted” (Berger, 1963) and the fear of being ridiculed and shunned by the majority for being different is a risk that many would not take.
China’s Unique and Turbulent Past
While many studies have examined the general causes of the bystander effect, analyses of the determinants of the bystander practice specific to China’s unique and historical context are limited. China has experienced tumultuous changes over the past fifty years and issues such as the fear of extortion by victims, changes in the economy, rapid urbanisation and the rise of individualisation may have contributed to the emergence of the bystander
In 2011, a two-year-old toddler named Yueyue from Foshan, China, was hit by a van on the road. Subsequently, eighteen passers-by walked away indifferently without taking any action to help her, despite her evident agony and need for medical attention. In the seven minutes it took for someone to finally bring Yueyue off the road, she had already been hit by another vehicle. Yueyue eventually succumbed to her injuries. This incident shocked the world and similar incidents in China were thus subjected to intense scrutiny. In the months prior to this incident, the media had already been keeping up a running narrative of these acts of indifference . Yueyue’s case simply drew greater attention to the emergence of this …show more content…
Studies provided strong evidence which rejected the importance of an individual’s qualities, like apathy, inhumanness and the lack of conscience, as causal determinants of the bystander effect. Rather, the bystander effect is caused by social factors arising from interactions with other bystanders (Clark & Word, 1972). Some of these factors include the number of bystanders present at the scene of the emergency, diffusion of responsibility among the onlookers, ambiguity of the emergency situation and conformity. Since the bystander effect emerges due to these near-universal underlying social factors, they can, at least in part, explain the causes of the bystander practice in …show more content…
Asch’s (1955) study of the effects of group pressure on conformity , proved that when confronted with opinions different from their own, a significant number of people would choose to conform to the majority opinion despite the fact that they may feel that the majority opinion is wrong. This desire for conformity can be extrapolated to the bystander effect, as the underlying urge to conform to the passive majority deters individuals from being the first to offer aid in the crowd, even if they personally feel that the inaction is wrong. After all, we have a “profound human desire to be accepted” (Berger, 1963) and the fear of being ridiculed and shunned by the majority for being different is a risk that many would not take.
China’s Unique and Turbulent Past
While many studies have examined the general causes of the bystander effect, analyses of the determinants of the bystander practice specific to China’s unique and historical context are limited. China has experienced tumultuous changes over the past fifty years and issues such as the fear of extortion by victims, changes in the economy, rapid urbanisation and the rise of individualisation may have contributed to the emergence of the bystander