Re-Post: Is Social Media Use Connected to the Bystander Effect?
Throughout summer 2024, we’re reposting previous blogs that showcase the range of topics in psychology. We’ll return to posting new content in August, 2024.
By Rayna Yaeger
You are out at a restaurant hanging out with your friends, and you all hear a scream. You all look at each other to determine what to do next. What if someone is hurt? What do you do first, call for help or start to videotape the incident? We often think that when we are in an emergency situation, we would call for help, especially before or instead of recording. However, it has been demonstrated that acting in help of a stranger in an emergency situation is often not our first response (Pittaro, 2019). Instead, the bystander effect is what most often occurs when we are presented with a public emergency. The bystander effect occurs when the presence of other people discourages someone from intervening due to a diffusion of personal responsibility (Pittaro, 2019). Therefore, people are more likely to help when there are few or no other people around. Now, can the bystander effect occur online if there are no physical bystanders? Does social media usage have an effect on the diffusion of responsibility people feel in their physical lives?
People have attempted to answer these questions by understanding the social impact theory and theory of deindividuation. The social impact theory is when someone’s decision to help will decrease with the more people present as we feel less and less responsible (Martin & North, 2015). The theory of deindividuation suggests that when people think they will experience less public attention, they think that there will be little to no negative reactions to their lack of helping behavior (Obermaier et al., 2016). Researchers have found that without the physical presence of other bystanders, social media users felt no responsibility to intervene as they felt more anonymous (Obermaier et al., 2016). Even when there have been instances of online bullying or discrimination, people feel little to no responsibility to be involved in supporting those who have been harmed. These findings support the theory of deindividuation in that when people are online, they feel like no one is watching their behavior and they feel even less responsibility to intervene than if it were an in person setting. Additionally, with more bystanders, personal responsibility and intention to act are both at a constant low level, and the more severe a cyberbullying or self-harming post was, the more people felt a responsibility to intervene (Obermaier et al., 2016). Similarly, others have found that when people send a request for help over email, students only respond to help when they were emailed individually as opposed to being included in an email to multiple people (Martin & North, 2015). The findings indicate that people simultaneously feel more responsible when a situation is more severe or individually directed, however are less likely to intervene when there are more people available.
Additionally, Pittaro (2019) wrote about how this online diffusion of responsibility may affect in-person action. Pittaro (2019) hypothesized that the more we use social media, the more desensitized we become to emergency scenarios and act more as observers than participators. Pittaro (2019) gave the example of how Khaseen Morris was beaten and killed, and his peers watched and recorded his murder. No one called the police, tried to save him, or tried to get help. Pittaro (2019) hypothesized that their motivation was to post a video to gain peer attention, and that was more important than taking action to help someone in imminent danger.
Based on the limited information available, there is a connection between more social media usage and more susceptibility to the bystander effect. When more bystanders are present online or in person, our feeling of responsibility and intention to act are reduced. We feel more responsible to act when something more severe occurs; however we may still decline to act based on a large amount of other people available. At the same time, even in extremely severe instances, we may be more likely to record the incident rather than act in support due to desensitization or motivation for peer acceptance. Although more information is needed, it’s important for each of us to think about what we would do in an emergency situation either online or in person. Would you call for help?
References
Martin, K. K., & North, A. C. (2015). Diffusion of responsibility on social networking sites. Computers in Human Behavior, 44, 124-131. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.11.049.
Obermaier, M., Fawzi, N., & Koch, T. (2016). Bystanding or standing by? How the number of bystanders affects the intention to intervene in cyberbullying. New Media & Society, 18 (8), 1491-1507. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814563519.
Pittaro, M. (2019). Social media and the bystander effect: Are we more likely to help a person in need or record the incident for “likes”?. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-crime-and-justice-doctor/201909/socialmedia-and-the-bystander-effect .