frozen in fear. But clearly there was no danger to them to offer me a hand. What happened? Why didn’t they help?Social psychologists have explained this tendency of groups to not offer help to a person in need as the bystander effect, in which people basically stand around wondering what to do and notice no one is doing anything so they follow the norm.
Individuals may also feel a diffusion of responsibility as in thinking, “Why should I help when there are so many other people here who can help?” This explains the phenomenon from an observer’s perspective.
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