sandr059

Bystander apathy Kitty Genovese was a bar manager in New York, who was brutally murdered as she returned to her home in Kew Gardens, Queens. At least a dozen neighbours in her apartment building later said they had heard and/or seen Kitty struggling with her attacker, who attacked her three times over a 30 minute period as she tried to get to her apartment. At least two neighbours tried to do something – one shouting through his window ‘Leave that girl alone’ and the other ringing the police (who did not send anyone to the scene). Two men directly saw the attack – one then deciding to ‘take a nap’ and the other ringing several other neighbours in indecision rather than ringing the police. Others said that they didn’t want to get involved and did nothing (see http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.co.uk/2007/10/truth-behind-story-of-kitty-genovese.html ). Out of this murder, and a series of social psychological experiments in the 1960s by Bibb Latané and John Darley, the concept of bystand...