Article : BYSTANDER INTERVENTION IN EMERGENCIES:DIFFUSION OF RESPONSIBILITY By JOHN M. BARLEY and BIBB LATANE

After reading the article on the bystander intervention in emergencies, answer the following question:

What are the main forces that lead a person not to respond (or to respond) in an emergency situation?

Describe a situation you have been in (or are familiar with) where you believe this phenomenon occurred. How did you feel, and how did you respond or not respond?

Based on the readings, what main forces guided your response of lack thereof?

Describe a situation you have been in (or are familiar with) where you believe this phenomenon occurred. How did you feel, and how did you respond or not respond? Based on the readings, what main forces guided your response of lack thereof?

Situation 1

A few years ago my husband and I, along with another couple, were attending an event out of town. We were staying in a hotel and were to take a trolley from there to the event.

While my friend and I were waiting for our husbands to come back from parking the car, the trolley that had been there had to leave. There was only one more trolley trip from the hotel to the event that we could take, and we were the only ones left to go. With us all finally ready to go and the last trolley arriving and in a hurry to leave, a lady collapsed in the lobby but was out of sight of the front desk clerks.

Everyone who saw herfroze for a second. My friend and I looked at each other and she stated "We are not missing that trolley". We saw a couple of other hotel guests begin to go to the woman, then while our husbands just stood there, my friend and I quickly ran to the front desk and informed them what happened, stating they needed to call 911 and other quests were assisting her. We all then ran and boarded the trolley, which pulled out as soon as we sat down.

Situation 2

Another situation I am aware of but was not present at involves my brother-in-law and his girlfriend. They were on one of their first dates and had gone to see a movie. The theater was quite full and they were seated in the middle.

It was a gory movie and my brother-in-law does not handle seeing blood well and typically passes out, but his girlfriend was not really familiar with this. During the movie he passes out during a scene, and she panics, trying to get a response from him, repeating his name, shaking him, and stating things like "Are you okay?" and "Do you need a doctor", with her volume and panic increasing every second.

She said not one person turned around and looked, not one person asked if they were okay, and not one person offered to help. This was very upsetting for her. Anyway, he came to and began to chuckle, which after a second caused her to remember she had heard he passes out easily. We all laugh about the story now, but luckily everything was okay and it had not been a dire emergency because they would not have received any assistance from anyone in the theater.

Situation 3

My husband and I, along with our two children, were on our way to a family holiday dinner. We passed a car accident which appeared to have just happened. There were two cars involved, and there was a man walking on the road carrying a young child asking for help. There was blood on them both but it was not clear where it was coming from.

We pulled over and I called 911 to report the accident even though we saw other cars pulled over. 911 services told me they had received multiple calls about the accident and an ambulance was on its way. We saw it coming toward us and pulled out since we knew help was on the scene. Later we were able to confirm everyone was okay and only treated for minor injuries.