#psychbr

Kitty Genovese was a 28 year old bartender from New York who was tragically stabbed to death in March, 1964. Kitty was initially approached by her killer whilst walking towards her apartment, he approached her with a knife and despite her attempts to run, he stabbed her twice in the back whilst she screamed, until a neighbour yelled from out of his window to leave her alone. Although he  fled, the attacker returned and proceeded to rape kitty, fatally stab her and steal her money. 

Perhaps the most tragic element of this story, and the one that makes it so famous, is the estimate that there were roughly 38 bystanders to this murder. 

A bystander is an individual who is a witness to an event but does not partake in it nor intervene - in this case, the event was homicide. Neighbours who witnessed the attack allegedly did not come to Kitty’s aid as she began to bleed to death, the time frame of the attack was half an hour. The excuses given by the neighbours were: they called the police but their calls were not prioritised, they did not report the true severity of the crime and or they assumed someone else would call.

This case led to the development of the ‘bystander effect’ theory well known today. This theory argues that being in the presence of others deters individuals from helping in emergency situations as it lessens the responsibility we feel towards the individual in need. Latane and Darley explored this in their research. In one study, individuals would be sat in a room that would eventually be filled with smoke to see whether they would report it. They found that when the participants were alone, 75% reported smoke. However, when in a room with two others this fell to 38% - thus supporting the theory.

Kitty’s story is an example of the bystander effect as the neighbours did not try to help her despite the emergency, likely because they didn't feel solely responsible as they were not the only ones to witness it, thus, they didn't feel responsible for her safety. 

I must add that despite its popularity, the bystander effect has been criticised recently. For instance, some argue that the extent to which the neighbours can be seen as witnesses to the crime is exaggerated as none of them saw all of what happened, therefore, they may have truly not understood the severity of the situation. There are also allegations that claim the neighbours' lack of action was perhaps motivated by homophobia, as Kitty cohabited with her girlfriend.

hi hello.

i’m rhi.

i’ve been following some studyblrs on tumblr for a while now and i thought it was about time i made my own.

really this is just a way for me to be a little bit more motivated in my next few years at uni (it actually counts now, unlike first year).