Ps 124 - Perspective and Theories of Psychology

Perspectives and Theories in Psychology

Christina Patrick

Kaplan University

PS124 - Unit 5 Assignment

January 18, 2016

        The video that was selected is called The Bystander Effect. It is defined as the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if bystanders are present (Myers, 2015). The video had actors pretend they were sick in public and showed how no bystanders came to help. The first actor had nobody stop and help him or see if he was alright. Bystanders would walk by him but no one stopped. The second actor was a women and it was the same scenario however a woman did spot her and look at her but said nothing to her until she saw another bystander stop and intervene. The third actor was well dressed in a suit. It took very little time for someone to stop and help him. Since he was well dressed it made him look like an important person so people were more willing to help. It is amazing how people can be afraid of what others might think. People were too afraid to help the person so they did not get involved (Coolpsychologist, 2009).

        Consciousness is defined as our awareness of ourselves and our environment (Myers, 2015). The state of consciousness did impact the behavior and mental process of the subjects involved in the bystander effect. The people that chose to walk by used their conscious decision to not help the person in need. They used their thought process of what will happen if they stop to help. They had to ask themselves a few questions: What will happen to me if I get involved? What will everyone else think if I do stop? Another thought could be “Well no one else is stopping to help so why should I?”

        They bystander effect could be explained as a phobia. This particular phobia is called Social Anxiety disorder (Myers, 2015). People have an irrational fear of what could happened if they help the person in need. So they choose to avoid the situation. The bystanders have a fear of being judged by others so they avoid the social situation all together. But they see someone else get involved in the situation they feel more at ease and will be more likely to get involved as well.

        Social Cognitive theory would be the influence for the bystander effect research. Social Cognitive theory is defined as a behavior is influenced by interaction between people’s traits including their thinking and their social context (Myers, 2015). People mimic other people. In this case people see other people not stopping to help a person in need. When someone does stop to help the person then other people will follow and do the same thing. This would be a group behavior. The bystander effect would fall under social script. Social script is defined as a culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations (Myers, 2015). Nobody knew how to act towards the actor so people avoided the situation. It took the one person to go help and see if they were alright and that is when the other bystanders reacted in the same way.

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