Acting smart and avoiding the bystander effect

Have you ever read in the news that someone was killed in town? Well, in that same piece of news, was it mentioned that there were alot of onlookers who did nothing to prevent the incident? This is called the 'bystander effect'. A situation whereby onlookers of an emergency do not offer help. It's a social psychological phenomenon. A rather sad one don't you think? I'm not judging because I've not witness such things thankfully. I think anyone caught in that situation of seeing someone getting beaten up would naturally fear for their own lives. They may have their reasons of why they did not intervene. It could be fear, it could be being in a state of shock and not knowing what to do, it could be a dozen reasons why. I've learned not to judge too quickly. 

I remember one time when Muhsin and I were debating about this one news article. There was a road accident involving two cars. In one car there were two old couple and in the other, a bunch of youths. If I remember correctly, the old couple's car overturned and they were were injured of course, but still alive. The article stated that the youths sat in one corner and called for help. One of them was even eating a hamburger. I was quick to say that those youngsters were incorrigible. Muhsin on the other hand was complaining how the writer was being one sided and paint the youngsters in a bad light and even mention how one of them was eating a hamburger. Naturally, I was puzzled as to why he appeared to be defending them. If those youngsters had tried to help overturning back the car of the old couple, they might actually aggravate the dire situation. Muhsin was right. The writer was biased as he/she didn't state from the point of view of those youngsters.   

Well, i'm not here to bore you with why our fellow human beings are such. However, I would like to share the knowledge of what we can do in the face of danger. Of course we can practice self-defense. Another piece of knowledge that may come in handy is the following. 

Research has shown that if you're being assaulted in public and there are many people as eyewitnesses, instead of just crying out for help, it is better that you point directly to someone in the crowd and yell at them to do something. For example, someone is dragging you and you're struggling to fend the person off but having trouble. You see people around you, you quickly point to someone in the crowd and say "You there! You're strong and tall, you can help me!!" 

It's like an instruction but one that you 'assure' the other person that they are capable or have the means to help you out. This way, it builds their confidence and they are likely to help you out. It is no guarantee that it will work but there's a higher chance of your life being saved. Of course if the person you initially pointed out hesitates, be quick and choose another person from the crowd! 

I hope we never have to be caught in such a situation. Nevertheless, I hope this piece of article is useful in sharing the information that my prof passed on to us.