#diffusion of responsibility

[almach748-evil]

i am a firm believer that peak gets exponentially harder the more friends you play with. when you’re on your own? you’re focused, optimizing your movements, collecting only items you need and doing your best to familiarize yourself with the mountain.

throw in three of your closest friends and you suddenly get 32% dumber. one person falls and goes and unconscious while trying to do a bit and then another player goes unconscious trying to rescue them. someone runs ahead and uses the statue only to be immediately mauled by the scoutmaster with no way of revival. you shoot blowdarts at your friends while they’re standing on ledges because it’ll be funny.

you couldn’t even be sat next to these people in school without getting sidetracked. good luck scaling a mountain.

[acti-veg]

Literally everyone in the planet could go vegan right now and it wouldn't matter because of big corporations and because of US's military. This idea that "take quicker bathes!" "Go vegan!" will do anything on it's own is ridiculous, I assure you that eating meat does WAY LESS to hurt the environment than war

Yeah and as an added bonus, there is nothing you personally have to take responsibility for or change in your own life because the problem is corporations, war and the US military. Isn’t that just super convenient?

[arcticdementor]

Sam Lowry: I only know you got the wrong man. Jack Lint: Information Transit got to wrong man. I got the right man. The 'wrong man' was delivered to me as the 'right man.' I accepted him on good faith as the 'right man.' Was I wrong? Sam Lowry: You killed Buttle? Jack Lint: Sam, there are very rigid parameters laid down to prevent such things happening. It wasn't my fault that Buttle's heart condition didn't appear on Tuttle's file… We're going to have to bring Mr. Tuttle in, aren't we? And interrogate him at the same voltage as Mr. Buttle - and juggle the books in electrical banking. Sam Lowry: What has Tuttle done? Jack Lint: We suspect him of, uh, free lance subversion. Then all I need to wrap up the case is the Layton woman. Sam Lowry: What has she done? Jack Lint: Oh, she witnessed the Tuttle, uhm, the Buttle arrest and essentially is going around making wild allegations, obviously trying to exploit the situation. She's working for someone and I don't think it's us.

—Brazil (1985)

[wat3rm370n]

[convivialdave]

Diffusion of Responsibility (aka the Bystander Effect) is that the "tendency to act to help" is inversely proportional to the number of people around at the time and the responsibility to act is lessened. It is closely related to the Ringelman Effect (the idea being that individual efforts are not as critical if there are other people around).

How does this manifest itself in business? The idea that as organizations grows, that perhaps employees feel either less valued or less needed for individual contribution. All good managers must share with teams the notion that "every member of the team matters" and that success for the team demands that all members participate (a simple way to encourage this is in getting team members to lead meetings in rotation)

[universalflowuniversity]

Is the Bystander Effect Real?

Is the Bystander Effect Real?

How much does the presence of other people affect our willingness to step in when someone needs help?

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Lazarus G, Sam Lutfi, Nicholas Smith, D.A. Noe, سلطان الخليفي, Piya…

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[givingpsychawayspring2018]

Bystander Intervention in Emergencies: Diffusion of Responsibility (1968)

Key points of this article by Bibb Latane and John M. Darley: 

“Alienation, Machiavellianism, acceptance of social responsibility, need for approval, and authoritarianism are often cited in these explanations.  Yet they did not predict the speed or likelihood of help.  In sharp contrast, the perceived number of bystanders did” (pg. 383).

In reference to the Genovese murder:

“[S]pectators knew others were also watching but were prevented by walls between them from communication that might have counteracted the diffusion of responsibility” (pg. 383).

What can we learn?

If you need help and are in a crowd or they might be multiple spectators, single out individuals and make them personally responsible for getting you the help you need.

[givingpsychawayspring2018]

A Lady in Distress (1969)

In an article by Bibb Latane and Judith Rodin, it was determined that the “presence of an unresponsive bystander strongly inhibited subjects from offering to help the injured woman” (pg. 194).  In their study, individuals who heard what sounded like a woman falling and hurting herself assisted the “victim” 70% of the time, but the presence of one other person in the room who seemed unconcerned changed this number to 7%.  

What does this mean for us?

“Safety in numbers” appears to be an inaccurate concept.  We are heavily influenced socially by those around us.  We rely on others for information about how we should react so we do not stand out too much or embarrass ourselves, and the larger the crowd, the more we are comfortable with the diffusion of responsibility, meaning we feel others should act instead.  

To combat this: tell yourself that it is better to feel momentary embarrassment and help another person than it is to walk away and potentially feel guilty over a situation that you could have helped.