The Order of the Tribe and Other Frustrations

Bystander-Effect

Despite there being documented research on the social phenomena we know as “The Bystander Effect” by psychologists John M. Darley and Bibb Latané since 1968[i], most people are baffled and angered when they see it being demonstrated. Multimedia and social media, in particular, have alerted more people to the way humans respond under crisis situations. However, this exposure just seems to have highlighted how little we understand human nature. Instead it tends to reinforce confirmation bias in our belief systems. As a researcher, I find watching the reactions of viewers at least as interesting as the experiments being conducted. It is very instructive as to why many deep underlying principles found in self-protection are not properly absorbed.

 

The Bystander Effect debunks the survival rule that there is safety in numbers. Being a naturally social species, humans like to think they can rely on their fellow homo sapiens for support in a time of crisis. It’s a strong evolutionary code that dominates the primate world[ii] and humans have developed from coordinated hunting/gathering tribes to running global operations through being social. The philosophy of inter-dependency is very intuitive for this reason. Our Palaeolithic ancestors were hardwired to believe that by having a group not only ensured more successful hunting, but also better protection from other predators. From this hardwiring the younger cognitive processes of the brain created sophisticated structures in their religions, militaries, governments and businesses. All of these structures generally preach the importance of teamwork, and we developed moral codes and laws that we felt allowed us to better co-exist. Therefore, it seems abhorrent to us that humans would collectively abandon a fallen comrade in his hour of need. And yet this is a very common occurrence.

 

When a mentally unhinged man ran naked through a railway station and chased a woman, she found refuge with a worker at the station, but little else was done to defuse the situation. The man continued to interfere with passers-by and exhibit bizarre behaviour. Video footage shown on social media sites outraged marital artists who couldn’t understand why there wasn’t an en masse effort to control and contain the man.

Footage of a person lying on the road as cars drive around them horrified many of us at the utter lack of compassion that seemed to be on display. There have also been numerous experiments where actors have faked illness and fallen down in crowded areas only to be routinely ignored as they have pleaded for help. It’s horrible to watch and seems to undermine universal laws for humanity.

Invariably the responses I have heard and observed from a cross-section of people have been utter disgust at their fellows humans, usually followed up with their own reflection on the sad state of society and reasons why we have become so uncaring and uncharitable. Different people will shoehorn their own political, philosophical, religious and irreligious arguments, believing that this consistent psychological phenomenon is somehow reflective of a lack of whatever it is they believe to be morally right. What demonstrates to me is lack of objective understanding of human behaviour. Everyone has their own rose-tinted reference to their past to call upon, which rarely tallies up with the hard statistics and research done on crime figures and social upheaval. The breaking down of communities definitely contributes towards crime and especially recreational crime, but the Bystander Effect is something totally removed. In fact, the Effect is an act of community.

There are several theories as to why large numbers of people will not come to the aid of a victim.  These include diffusion of responsibility whereby everyone feels that someone should or has taken action in some way. Being tribal by nature, humans tend to tow the party line, so to speak, and are unlikely to help if no one else is taking action. This might be the nub of the issue.

Typically if someone isn’t trained to take action they won’t if no one else is contributing. This might also tie in the 10/80/10 rule. Ben Sherwood reported in “The Survivor’s Club” that in a crisis 10% of people will panic and react irrationally, often making the problem worse. 80% of people will freeze as their brain tries to find experience or training to deal with the situation. This might be the sympathetic nervous system’s “freeze” response. The purpose of the flight or fight responses seems pretty self-explanatory, but there is a lot debate regarding why we might freeze in a crisis. Some argue that it is something of a sensory overload, as we are caught between flight and fight.  Others consider that it might be a type of automatic shutdown allowing for minimum pain if we are to die. There are those who contend that it is a survival mechanism, minimizing our movement so that a predator finds it hard to see us. However, the 10/80/10 Rule postulates we are merely searching for more information, so that we might be like the remaining 10% who act in accordance with their experience and training. Therefore, those who do not act are really just obeying the default arrived at by the rest of community as well as their own lack of experience.

 

I cover herd mentality and the Bystander Effect in a lot of my self-protection training, but it has a special place in my anti-abduction work. My children’s seminars yielded a lot of interest from students who were just as flabbergasted as the aforementioned adults. At a seminar I conducted in Denmark one child asked the crucial question, “What can we do to beat the Bystander Effect?” The answer is to train to be a leader. I don’t mean these buzzword laden “Leadership” schemes that clubs have adopted to market self-help to parents or the patronizing roles children are sometimes given that really amount to little more than being the club equivalent to a school milk monitor. What I mean is genuine empowerment. Teach children to take charge in a crisis, as a professional would.

Off-duty police, medics and firefighters will over-ride the Bystander Effect if a crisis occurs that their level of expertise can handle. They will take charge of the situation and give the appropriate orders to the 80% who await them. A person training in self-protection should be taught to over-ride similar impulses and be trained coordinate people to act positively in order aid another.

Once people are motivated towards a cause they feel is just a lot can be achieved in a short space of time. Sadly we see many otherwise kindly, courageous and caring individuals motivated towards acts of persecution and destruction if they are convinced enough by the ideas of assertive leaders. History is full of examples of cults of personality all over the world convincing groups of people and entire nations to commit atrocities. However, for the most part, human beings are naturally altruistic. Nature may be full of hard savagery and brutality, but within social groups there are more examples altruism. This is needed in order to help bond groups together.

 

Contrary to the nihilistic beliefs endorsed by many who mistake the Bystander Effect to be an example of the breakdown of society and basic morals, human beings have consistently one another in times of crisis. During the air strikes on World War II there was a tremendous outpour of selfless charity shown by people helping those who had been injured or had their homes destroyed. Just to show that time had not broken down such human compassion, the western world witnessed it again six decades later after 9/11 attacks on New York with similar shows of massive altruism being shown. This completely counters the pessimistic view of how humans would behave in a post-apocalyptic situation. Usually such dramas depict our species behaving in a manner that more closely resembles rats or arachnids than primates, turning on and devouring one another without hesitation as law and order break down. In truth, we have seen how people in concentration camps and desperate poverty act to one another. Sharing and cooperation is a very human trait. Acts of evil tend to be motivated when positions of authority come in and guide people in other directions.[iii]

As we have discussed, even untrained and inexperienced individuals are likely to offer assistance to someone in trouble when they are alone or in very small groups. In larger groups they just need strong leadership that recognize the psychological phenomenon that is taking place and how to counter it effectively.

 


[i] Darley, J. M. & Latané, B. (1968). “Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of responsibility”. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

[ii] http://anthro.palomar.edu/behavior/behave_2.htm

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