Sometimes people help someone in need in order to reduce the discomfort of that person. Other times, people may help in order to reduce their own discomfort and increase their own well-being. These are called altruistic motivation and egoistic motivation. However, is there really such a thing as a good deed where you only did it for the other person and not at all because it would make you feel good?
The above clip is an episode from a TV series called FRIENDS. In the clip, Joey and Pheobe are arguing about whether a good deed is always selfish or if it can sometimes prove to be selfless. Both sides could have brought about good points had Joey mentioned the social exchange theory and if Pheobe mentioned the empathy-altruism theory. The social exchange theory states that helping is always selfish and never selfless and that people will only help out if the benefits of helping outweigh the costs (Nero, 2016). As previously stated, Pheobe could have made a valid argument by discussing the empathy-altruism theory which states that if someone feels empathetic toward the person in need then one proceeds with altruistic motivation and not with egoistic motivation (Nero, 2016).
How about if an emergency was in your own city? Would you feel more inclined to help out? Would you do it because you care for your city or because you hope to make the news or would you simply not help because you think everyone else has it under control? The bystander effect is a situation where the presence of others discourages someone from intervening during an emergency (Bystander Effect). To what degree would an emergency need to be for you to lend a helping hand? Does it need to be a senseless act of harassment, bullying etc.. or does it need to be a much larger scale, maybe one that is life or death? The clip below gives an example of a study that was done to test the bystander effect as well as how the bystander effect was created. (You can stop watching at 2:00 minutes)
June 17, 2018 was a day that change the lives of many and took the life of one. This was the "Father Day Flood." A natural disaster that destroyed the cities of Houghton and Hancock and ruined the lives of many of its inhabitants. Swollen rivers and streams washed away roads and houses. Hope and faith were gone and chunks of asphalt replaced it. Families had to completely start over with nothing and begin their uphill climb. Maybe some of you were affected yourselves by this flood and required assistance. But to those who were unaffected, did you lend a helping hand or assume someone else would? If you answered yes to either of those questions, why?
I do not want to confuse you, helping someone in need whether it was to make you feel good or because you genuinely wanted to improve the persons well-being is never a bad thing. The fact that you are helping someone is what truly matters. But understanding where our motivations come from can also help open up our mind to why we help others. Sometimes, people fall victim to the bystander effect and do not lend a helping hand at all because they feel they lack the necessary skills to make a difference. Below, I posted an article to help you not become a victim of the bystander effect and I challenge each of you to read it and make a difference in your community by helping when an emergency arises and not feel as though someone else will do it. It takes no skill to make a phone call and it can change and even save a life.
https://www.healthline.com/health/bystander-effect#why-ithappens
Sources:
Nero, Margaret. (2016, September 25). Altruistic Helping versus Egoistic Helping. Retrieved from https://sites.tufts.edu/fall16psy13mnero/2016/09/25/altruistic-helping-versus-egoistic-helping/
The above clip is an episode from a TV series called FRIENDS. In the clip, Joey and Pheobe are arguing about whether a good deed is always selfish or if it can sometimes prove to be selfless. Both sides could have brought about good points had Joey mentioned the social exchange theory and if Pheobe mentioned the empathy-altruism theory. The social exchange theory states that helping is always selfish and never selfless and that people will only help out if the benefits of helping outweigh the costs (Nero, 2016). As previously stated, Pheobe could have made a valid argument by discussing the empathy-altruism theory which states that if someone feels empathetic toward the person in need then one proceeds with altruistic motivation and not with egoistic motivation (Nero, 2016).
June 17, 2018 was a day that change the lives of many and took the life of one. This was the "Father Day Flood." A natural disaster that destroyed the cities of Houghton and Hancock and ruined the lives of many of its inhabitants. Swollen rivers and streams washed away roads and houses. Hope and faith were gone and chunks of asphalt replaced it. Families had to completely start over with nothing and begin their uphill climb. Maybe some of you were affected yourselves by this flood and required assistance. But to those who were unaffected, did you lend a helping hand or assume someone else would? If you answered yes to either of those questions, why?
I do not want to confuse you, helping someone in need whether it was to make you feel good or because you genuinely wanted to improve the persons well-being is never a bad thing. The fact that you are helping someone is what truly matters. But understanding where our motivations come from can also help open up our mind to why we help others. Sometimes, people fall victim to the bystander effect and do not lend a helping hand at all because they feel they lack the necessary skills to make a difference. Below, I posted an article to help you not become a victim of the bystander effect and I challenge each of you to read it and make a difference in your community by helping when an emergency arises and not feel as though someone else will do it. It takes no skill to make a phone call and it can change and even save a life.
https://www.healthline.com/health/bystander-effect#why-ithappens
Sources:
Bystander Effect
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/bystander-effectNero, Margaret. (2016, September 25). Altruistic Helping versus Egoistic Helping. Retrieved from https://sites.tufts.edu/fall16psy13mnero/2016/09/25/altruistic-helping-versus-egoistic-helping/
Really interesting article! Lot's of content to unpack too. I always find the topic of selfishness interesting, especially the question of if anything can truly be done selflessly. The book "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins takes a genetic/biologically approach to this (and despite the book name), shows that many species act selflessly toward others, it's a pretty long book but in my opinion was really thought provoking and interesting. Also great video about the bystander effect, it was super informative!
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading my article! I find the bystander effect very interesting because I feel that everyone thinks they will be a hero if the emergency ever arose and that is simply not the case. More times than not, most people will sit and wait for someone else to begin helping before they even gain the confidence to do so themselves. Also, like I said, the fact of helping someone whether it is for you to feel good or to help them, as long as it actually helps that person in the end then I do not think the motivation behind it really matters!
ReplyDeleteThe extra material you used in your blog was super helpful in driving the concepts home. I really enjoyed reading this blog post because you talk about how you can fight some of these thoughts that might be experienced when deciding between helping and not helping. I do wonder if your own city can also hinder whether you are willing to help. For example, safe areas in Michigan such as Grosse Ile Township or Rochester vs. unsafe areas of Detroit or Flint. What do you think and how can this be helped?
ReplyDeleteI definitely think they people feel more "safe" and prepared to help out in a safer city. The reason I say this is because if you live in a city where you are comfortable and everybody knows everybody then you would be more willing to help out. For example, lets take a robbery as an example. If you live in a city where that kind of stuff does not occur often, you may be more willing to help out vs if it is something you see daily, you might not think much of it and expect someone to do it instead. As far as being able to help this... I do not know if there is much you can do. You can't expect to educate an entire city on the bystander effect, it is just not realistic. As sad as it sounds, if you are in trouble you kind of just have to hope you are in the right place at the wrong time and hope someone is around you that is willing to step up.
DeleteYeah, that is kinda what I was thinking as well!
DeleteI never really thought about the point you made about it kinda becoming a norm, so you'd be less likely to view it as a situation in which you should help or could help. That would definitely be the dream but you're right its not realistic.
I also agree that "safer" cities do seem to have more people willing to help others who are also in the same economic status. I have heard that even in the more dangerous cities there are people who are in the "lower class" who will band together to help each other through hard times, as they know that people will help them in return.
DeleteThis seems to be a common occurrence, to help people who are in the same economic state as themselves. Many are less likely to help though who are of much higher status or much lower.
You make a really valid point about similar economic status. In some ways being familiar with the scenario makes us more comfortable to step up and help.
DeleteGood post, especially with all the external resources you gave us! The Bystander effect has always shocked me, the power that a group can have on influencing if someone helps or not is crazy to me. In your research for this post, did you happen to come across any material on what might be the best way to combat the bystander effect?
ReplyDeleteThe most common ways that articles have discussed to combat the bystander effect was just to be prepared. "That won't happen to me" is a very common saying in today's society. People are just unprepared. Now I am not saying that everyone needs to go take self-defense classes or go get CPR certified, but like every article has told me is just do not be caught unprepared. Understand that bad things can and will happen to or around you so just know that in the back of your head so you can react accordingly. Hope this answered your question!
DeleteYep, thanks!
DeleteI do think that just "being prepared for any situation" is kind of hard to do. You can never be prepared for all situations. The best you can hope for is to know how to handle a few situations and maybe they will somehow help with other ones. I do think most everyone should have at least basic knowledge of CPR or other crisis knowledge.
DeleteThe bystander effect is a scary thing. It’s crazy to me that so many people saw what has happened to Kitty, yet did nothing. One flaw in humans is that we usually look to others for guidance. If no one else is helping, you may feel like you do not need to help either. The video you provided brought up a good point in saying that people (such as nurses) are not impacted by the bystander effect as much as others because they have this training to help people. For me, I served as a deck hand on a boat for two summers and I was trained for man overboard drills, keeping an eye on the water/land for people in distress, and watching all of the passengers to ensure that no one needed help. I was also trained on how to properly contact the Coast Guard in case on an emergency. I have been in situations during work where things got real and I had to go to action to help someone out. Nothing crossed my mind about doing otherwise. However, I’ve never had to deal with anything endangering people’s lives outside of work, so I have no idea if I’d be affected by the bystander affect then. I like to think I wouldn’t, but I feel like a lot of people back in 1964 would also like to think they wouldn’t just let a girl die. I think it’s important that these types of things are talked about because we may not be totally aware of it, and it can potentially lead to someone not being helped when they really need it. As you said, it doesn’t take much to get help in a situation. You did a good job explaining this topic, and your supplementary article was one that I thought helped pull it all together.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to hear about your job and how you would not think twice about helping an endangered person. You mentioned that this is because you are trained in how to help. I believe this is a big part of the bystander effect. I think a lot of people decide not to help because they do not think they are equipped to do so. I think a lot of people can also get "stage fight" and kind of freeze up if they are not comfortable. This also made me think about how I would act in a certain situation. The thing is though, it is almost impossible to know how you would act until you actually get in the moment. I would like to think I could help, but it all depends on the situation. Has anybody actually acted as a bystander? I would love to hear about your experience!
DeleteYes I agree with you, having training is a huge benefit to being willing to help someone out especially if it is in a situation that you are "used to," meaning you have been trained for it. This brings me back to my point of people who are untrained and do not feel like they can make a difference when the fact of the matter is that one simple phone call can make a world of difference. Thank you for reading my post.
ReplyDeleteInteresting read.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I think a large part of the bystander effect is the sort of "social tension" that surrounds being the first one to do something. For example, say you're at an info session and Dining Services brings in pizza. Would you dare to be the first person to get up and get some? Or will you stare blankly at the presenters only a fraction of the way into their hour-long talk, hoping they'll give you all their approval in getting food? Or will you break the norms, break through that 'tension', and be the first to grab a plate and dig in?
Perhaps the bystander effect is just one instance of this "social tension" paradigm.
That's an interesting comparison you brought up. It makes me wonder if your pizza example is linked to more serious matters like the Kitty Genovese case. On one hand, you have a situation where someone's in danger, possibly to the point of death. On the other, there's food available, but the only real negative outcome to getting it would be the possibility a peer or two having a less-than-ideal view of whoever goes first. Would people be just as hesitant in both scenarios? I would hope people would be more active in dire situations, but correlations like that would be fascinating to examine.
DeleteI find this blog post very interesting, especially the bystander effect. I’ve seen this in action in my high school. In middle school, my band director was an EMT and he had all middle school students go through a CPR course to go on a week long trip. This meant that most students in the school had at least basic CPR training. In my sophomore year, we were changing classrooms when a kid collapsed in the hallway. He had a medical condition that I cant remember but had to do with his heart. He had passed out and when he hit the ground many people thought he was kidding around but he had an attack and stopped breathing. I remember coming down the hallway and everyone was just standing around him telling him to stop joking around and to get up. I came up and asked one of my friends in the hallway if anyone had actually checked on him and no one had. Once I brought it up someone who had recently transferred to our school checked and saw he wasn’t breathing and asked if anyone knew CPR, almost everyone said yes, but no one came forward to help. Luckily one of the teachers heard the commotion and saw him on the ground and started CPR, yelled at someone to get the defibrillator, someone to run and get the nurse, and for another to call 911. In this situation most of us knew how to help him, but we were too surprised/scared to do anything. In the end he was ok, but things could’ve been worse.
ReplyDeleteAlso, in response to your question about if we were affected by the father’s day flood, I was not personally affected. I did help the best that I could from my home two hours away, I got water sent up as well as other items like socks.
So in response to your scary story, maybe even being prepared for an emergency won't help diffuse the bystander effect? Maybe it just takes a special person to be able to react correctly and effectively. Wish there was a definite way to help reduce the risk of the bystander effect occurring... and thank you for volunteering your time to help out with the people who needed it after the flood. All the volunteers that came out and helped actually clean up or donate money/food/water was amazing and one of the biggest reasons I love this small community.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post! You got right to the point with your topics. The videos you included in the post really help get your point across. The flooding in Houghton/Hancock did not really damage my house besides the flooding of the basement which was quickly taken care of, but some people were devastated by it including one who lost their life. I feel like the bystander effect is a great topic to look into. For me, if I was put into an emergency situation I would have to stop and think if I am the best person for the situation. If I am the only one around I would be forced to act and sometimes I feel like that can be scary. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThanks Joe! Yes, that is another reason why the bystander effect is a thing. A lot of people will not help because they feel someone else is probably more "qualified" to help. At the end of the day, an inexperienced person helping is always better than no one helping at all.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree, as long as someone helps that is what matters the most. It is a shame that people sometimes just turn their head and walk away. It is very sad what the world has come to nowadays.
ReplyDeleteGreat article! The Father's day flood is a great example of a community effort to rebuild from great losses. I know many people overcame the bystander effect and lended a hand because of the norm of equity. Since people in the community not affected were over-benefited, they helped those that had losses. Was there anyway that you assisted in supporting the copper country strong efforts?
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your article. It gave me a lot to think about and ponder on, especially in regard to good deeds. I personally can't think of an example of a selfless deed that wouldn't ultimately make you feel good. The fathers day flood was a great example, I am from the area and can say it was amazing to see the out pour of support for those that were affected. Great use of examples.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post Ben! This was a very interesting read and had a lot of good points to it. In your post you had mentioned the Fathers Day Flood. I actually had the opportunity to help volunteer during the flood because I was staying up here for the summer. When I first went around town looking at all the damage and seeing all the videos/pictures on Facebook and the news, I knew that I wanted to help out in someway. The reason that I wanted to help wasn't necessarily because I wanted to feel good, but instead I just thought about all the individuals who were affected and if I were in their shoes, what would I need to help me get back on my feet. Two days after the flood is when I first helped out and man was I astounded at all the people who came out from the community to help. Obviously, there were people who were in town and didn't help out, but I think the bystander effect was very minimal at this time. It seemed like almost everyone in the community wanted to come out and help, even if it were small tasks. There was even a point in time where they were turning volunteers away at some work sites because there were so many there helping already. After reading your blog post and looking back on the community coming together to help with the flood, I wonder if that would have happened in a bigger area. Do you think if the flood were to happen in a larger area that there would be just as much community help, or do you think the bystander effect would take over?
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading my post! I agree, the bystander effect was not necessarily an issue for the Fathers Day Flood, that is why I mentioned the amounts of volunteers we had. I just wanted to ask everyone if they did not help and they were available why they didn't! I do think that would happen in a bigger city it just not might seem as impressive because of population size. What I mean is that in a bigger city you have more people so if the same amount of people showed up to volunteer from New York City as they did here in Houghton, it would not be as impressive. So would it happen? Yes.
DeleteI like the way you handled this article. One of my roommates hammers down hard on the social exchange theory, and is convinced that good people don't exist at all because of it. I personally find that idea ludicrous though, and part of that comes from the definition you shared: "people will only help out if the benefits of helping outweigh the costs." Even if that part is true, people still have the option to choose whether to help someone or not. I guarantee that in this decision, choosing not to help has more benefits than going out of your way to help someone (on average), yet there are still people who will help others at a cost when they don't need to. To me, this says that even if you do feel better about yourself for helping someone out, the fact that you bothered to do it in the first place can be selfless by comparison.
ReplyDelete