Factors That Trigger or Decrease the Bystander Effect

According to Ann Gelsheimer (2007) few important factors that may increase or decrease the bystander effect in any given situation are:

Group cohesiveness

Several researchers have found that increased number of bystanders facilitated helping when the group was highly cohesive and social responsibility was valued as group norm.

Expectation

That one will be interacting with the same group by bystanders again in the future and the eye contact between the bystander and the victim. (Carver, 1980)

Diffusion of responsibility

As the number of people present at the situation increases, each individual feel less compelled to help. They may feel that individual is already receiving help or that help is already on their way.

Empathy avoidance

In order to understand why people often fail to help others in emergency situations, researchers suggest that people’s motivational processes may lead them to avoid feeling empathy for others in time of need. They called this process empathy avoidance. Therefore it is possible that unresponsive bystanders may not imply be insensitive, fail to notice or diffuse responsibility. They may be motivated to avoid feeling empathetic or sympathetic.

Some people think if they feel empathy for the need of another person they may feel a desire to help that person. So they avoid empathy that helps them avoid the costly motivational consequences of those feelings. Empathy may be costly to the individual in terms of time, emotional distress, effort, money or opportunities missed while helping people. (Shaw et al, 1986).

Moral disengagement

Research on social cognitive theory and moral disengagement provides and explanatory model of how members of an economically prosperous society that assigns moral codes guaranteeing basic human rights to all people could simultaneously allow the continuation of suffering for so many due to poverty and homelessness. According to social cognitive theory, moral agency is grounded in a self-regulating system based on moral standards that have been learned. “People regulate their actions by the consequences they apply to themselves. They do things that give them satisfaction and a sense of self-worth. They refrain from behaving in ways that violate their moral standards, because such behavior will bring self-censure.” (Bandura, Barbaranelli, & Caprara, 1996)

However this system only works when positive or negative emotional responses towards our own behavior are activated. An individual can maintain their moral standards despite of their contradictory behavior by choosing to disengage in some of their internal controls. By using various methods of moral disengagement an individual can maintain their personally gratifying their moral standards without feeling any guilt.

Moral hypocrisy

According to Gelsheimer self deception is one way to appear moral to oneself while violating one’s moral standards to have self interest. Moral hypocrisy can be attained by manipulating the perceived information so as to avoid confronting the differences between one’s own behavior and moral standards. Several researchers have found that subjects who were forced to take moral decisions in front of the mirror generally engaged in less morale hypocrisy. It seemed like they could not face seeing themselves act immorally when able to observe themselves in a mirror.

Perceived risk

Role of perceived risk in Bystander effect refers to the perception of the bystanders in evaluating the risk involved in helping the victim. Studies have found that many people do a cost benefit analysis before helping anyone in need. The cost refers to the potential troubles that they might have to face while helping the person in need (monetary, investment of time and other resources). The benefits that person could receive include – recognition, fame, social acceptance etc.

Self efficacy

Perceived self-efficacy may be defined as people's beliefs about their capabilities to produce certain levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives. Self efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave. Such beliefs produce these diverse effects through four major processes. They include cognitive, motivational, affective and selection processes.