The phenomenon of many bystanders doing nothing to save someone is called the diffusion of responsibility effect.
For example, the behavior of those who did not take action in the Tangshan barbecue restaurant beating incident is the best example of this phenomenon.
In fact, the definition of this phenomenon comes from a late-night murder incident in the United States. The incident occurred at 3:20 on the night of March 13, 1964. In front of an apartment in the suburbs of New York, the United States, a young woman named Juno Bibai was killed. He was assassinated on his way home from work in a bartender. When she shouted desperately: "Someone is going to kill someone! Help! Help!" Hearing the shouting, nearby residents turned on their lights and opened their windows, and the murderer ran away in fear. When everything returned to calm, the murderer returned to commit crimes. When she screamed again, nearby residents turned on the lights again, and the murderer ran away again. When she thought nothing had happened and returned to her home and went upstairs, the murderer appeared in front of her again and killed her on the stairs.
During this process, although she shouted for help and at least 38 of her neighbors came to the window to watch, no one came to save her or even called the police. This incident caused a huge sensation, and this phenomenon was defined as the responsibility-sharing effect.
This phenomenon cannot just be said to be the callousness of everyone, or a manifestation of the increasing moral decay. Because on different occasions, people's aid behavior is indeed different. This also includes the beating incident at the Tangshan BBQ restaurant mentioned at the beginning. Even if you were the only one at the scene to help, you would only be beaten by the nine thugs.
Some psychologists have done research and related psychological analysis. For example, when a person encounters an emergency situation, if he is the only one who can provide help, he will be clearly aware of his responsibilities and help the victim. Because if he refuses to save his life, he will feel guilty and guilty, which will require a high psychological cost. Even after many years, I can't get over this incident. And if there are many people present, the responsibility of helping the seeker will be shared by everyone. This is the responsibility diffusion effect. The result is that responsibility is dispersed. Each person shares very little responsibility, and the bystander may not even be able to help him or her. They are not aware of their responsibilities, which creates a mentality of "I will not save others, but others will save them", resulting in a situation of "collective apathy".
How to reduce or avoid this situation is not only a psychological category, but should also be raised to the national, social and government level. Or let’s talk about the Tangshan barbecue restaurant beating incident. On the surface, it is a responsibility sharing effect, and the crowd is indifferent. , but digging a little deeper, are there loopholes in the rule of law that allow evil people to take advantage of the loopholes and become rampant, while honest people suffer losses? Is there a nest of cats and mice in the law enforcement team, working together to kill honest people? Again, looking at the essence through phenomena, the emergence of every effect requires the resolution of some deep-seated contradictions in society. Otherwise, such tragedies will happen again!
