As we have been examining human behavior these past few days I noticed a parallel to the Rodney King documentary that we watched earlier. One of the questions brought up was why the policemen who were observing the beating didn’t intervene or report it. I think this has to do with the ideas of conformity and the bystander effect. The policemen were in a group of witnesses, just like in the case of Kitty Genovese. Even if one of them thought something was going wrong (which might not even have been the case) they might not have wanted to report it for the fear of stigma and not being part of the group.
Of course I’m not saying this is okay behavior, I’m simply trying to analyze why they acted the way they did. I also think this has to do with the fact that they have a privilege as policemen and don’t have to report it since they know they won’t have to face any consequences
You bring up a valid point because many people may not act upon a situation because they don't want to be judged by others and this happened in these two incidents.
ReplyDeletei agree with what you are saying. It does have to do with the bystander effect. When no one reacts you do not, because you will feel like it is not your place.
ReplyDelete