‘As with many great changes, nobody had really noticed anything happening until it was too late. People went about their business, wilfully ignorant to the suffering of others.’

Excerpt from ‘We Men of Ash and Shadow’

Most of us have at some point or another, visualized what we would do in an emergency situation. Watching events like natural disasters or acts of terrorism unfolding on television and via social media, it’s no surprise that many people ask themselves ‘if that were me, what would I do?’.

The truth is, that as much as we may like to envision ourselves rising to become great heroes of the hour (this can be known as the conquering hero daydream, but more on that in another post) until you find yourself in a situation wherein you are watching an event unfold, there is no way of knowing how you would react.

Even as socially responsible humans, our ability to react to events depend on many factors. Our biology, psychology, morality and instincts all have a hand in how we respond to the world around us. Sometimes these factors work in sync and sometimes they don’t. We could argue that in order for us to evolve morally, we must fight a constant battle between our subconscious instincts and our conscious decisions.

We strive (or at least most of us do) to be good people and to do good things.

But there are times when, even if we want to act a certain way, our efforts are hampered by our natural inclinations. It has nothing to do with courage or the absence of it. The human mind is wired for survival. Shock, fear paralysis and cognitive dissonance are very real and common reactions to unanticipated events.

That isn’t to say that people aren’t capable of great acts of heroism. There are plenty of examples of amazing feats of kindness, bravery and selflessness. The point is that often, when people don’t act it is as a result of psychological factors and nothing to do with apathy or cowardice.

Take for example, the story of Kitty Genovese. The murder of Kitty in 1964, New York, made headlines not only for the brutality of an attack on an innocent woman in broad daylight, but also because of the reportedly high number of witnesses who observed the event but did nothing to help or intercede. Although later reports claimed the number of witnesses was lower than originally thought, there were still several people who saw the incident take place, yet the police were not called to the scene until some time after Kitty had lost her life. This event helped coin the term ‘Genovese Syndrome’ or ‘The Bystander Effect.’

Whilst our morally conscious selves may automatically feel judgement towards these witnesses and wonder how they could stand by whilst something so horrific happened, we must also strive to understand the psychological reasons behind this lack of action.

Psychologists posit that the ‘Bystander Effect’ is the social-psychological reaction to witnessing a traumatic event in the presence of others. Studies suggest that the more witnesses there are to an incident, the less likely it is that someone will offer assistance. Supposedly, the tendency towards inaction can be attributed to three main factors – shared social responsibility, the fear of incomplete information and the innate ‘flight or fight’ mode.

Shared social responsibility is the concept that, in any large crowd, the social responsibility to react to a crisis is shared equally among all people. Bystanders are less likely to react in a crowd because we tend to (subconsciously) assume there will always be a person of higher responsibility within a large number of people.

An example of this would be at the scene of a traffic accident – if you were the only person to witness the accident you would be far more likely to call an ambulance than if you were in a crowd. This is because your subconscious mind will assume that there is someone more qualified to handle the situation (such as a doctor) and as such you are far less competent – you may even fear that your interaction will make the situation worse.

When confronted with an unanticipated event, such as an attack, we often question whether our interpretation of the scene is correct. This was the case for many of the witnesses to the Genovese murder who, when questioned as to why they did not call the police, stated that they had interpreted the situation as a ‘lovers quarrel’ as opposed to a deliberate and unprovoked attack.

This is what we mean when we talk about assuming the information we have is incomplete. The lack of reaction from others in a crowd to a situation will further cement our perception that whatever is happening cannot be as bad as first thought.

A secondary effect of incomplete information is the fear that intervening in a situation can have negative or dangerous effects on ourselves as individual. Simply put, many people will not intercede when a mugging occurs even from a distance because that would divert attention away from the victim to themselves, potentially putting them at risk of attack. To our morally conscious minds this may seem like cowardice, but as mentioned earlier, our brains are wired to protect ourselves.

So does this mean that, if faced with a traumatic incident, we would all just stand by and let it happen?

Of course not. Humans are socially evolved to understand that we survive longer and have a better chance if we work together. We are naturally cooperative creatures (although a quick scroll through the internet may sometimes make it seem otherwise).

The Bystander Effect is just an example of where our conscious and subconscious decision making can conflict. Nelson Mandela once famously said – ‘courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it’ – well, it could be argued that courage is not just the triumph over fear itself, but over the subconscious bias to put our own well being above that of others.

We all like to think that we could be heroes (if you can read that sentence without thinking about David Bowie you’re doing better than me) – but the truth is that being a hero doesn’t always come naturally.

Doing the right thing socially, morally, and ethically is a decision we make. It takes effort. That’s why it’s important that while we celebrate those that do act in these situations, we do not preemptively judge those who struggle. None of us are born socially responsible – it is something we learn and strive to get better at.

In the end, all we can all do is try to be the best people that we can be, and hope that others around us will try to do the same thing.

Until next time – be good to yourselves, your bodies and your minds.