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  • Essay / The Kitty Genovese Murder Case - 2234

    On March 13, 1964, a woman named Catherine "Kitty" Genovese was returning to her apartment in Queens, New York at 3 a.m. when she was impaled to death. by a serial killer. According to reports, the said attack lasted around 30 minutes. During the attack, Kitty Genovese screamed for help several times. The killer left the scene when a neighbor's attention was drawn. Ten minutes later, the killer returned to the scene and murdered Genovese. It was revealed that 38 people witnessed the attack and murder, but all thirty-eight only reported it after the murder. This ordeal attracted the attention of many people, including scientists and psychologists, who wanted to understand why this happened. Later, the events published by the media turned out to be false. It seemed that the news was also experiencing a bystander effect, as their information did not contribute to the actual facts. There were no 38 witnesses to the crime, but several heard the screams and some calls were made to the police during the attack. But we were still talking about something that affected people's minds during emergencies. This phenomenon is known as the bystander effect. There have been several cases quite similar to Genovese's. Besides the Genoese case, these events attracted the attention of many scientists and even the news had something to say about “apathy”. Is the bystander effect real? My hypothesis is that the bystander effect is in fact a real everyday phenomenon that limits the help people offer. This is due to the number of spectators present during a given situation. The bystander effect is the idea in social psychology that refers to cases in which...... middle of article ...... although the researchers were not looking for it, the results represent ideas that can help the bystander effect in a situation. Smaller numbers increase the completion percentage in an emergency. The victim, if consistent, also plays an important role in the bystander effect. When a victim is unable to communicate verbally with bystanders, the chances of getting help decrease. If a victim is able to communicate, the help provided may be more effective. Indeed, this can help to break the diffusion of responsibilities. A victim looking directly in the eyes of a passerby may even trigger a faster reaction in them. These are all ideas that psychologists are still studying today, and many even consider that knowledge of this phenomenon is a necessity. The bystander effect plays a key role in society today. More and more people ignore a person in distress.