Conditions That Influence Diffusion of Responsibility
For this Discussion, you will examine conditions that influence diffusion of responsibility. Consider the following scenario of Brenda:
Brenda was completing a 1-year internship in Baltimore. Luckily, she found an apartment not far from school. To get some exercise, acquaint herself with her new surroundings, and listen to her music, she walked to and from school every day. The 2-mile route took her past Johns Hopkins University, an extremely busy campus teeming with students and passersby. On her way home one day, music blasting in her ears, Brenda suddenly found herself head down in a muddy ravine right in front of the university’s main quad. Someone had come up from behind and pushed her…hard. She was not hurt, but at that moment, she was head down, feet sticking up in the air, in full view of everyone on the Hopkins’ campus. Attempting to right herself, she wondered why none of the many onlookers offered their assistance.
Review the Learning Resources for this week and examine how social psychology theory and research explain the diffusion of responsibility.
Consider the reasons why none of the onlookers stopped to help Brenda.
Post an explanation about why none of the onlookers offered their assistance. Your explanation must be informed by social psychology theory and research.
Diffusion of Responsibility Essay
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In the provided case scenario, Brenda fell into the muddy ravine in full view of everyone along John Hopkins University, but none of the onlookers offered help. The diffusion of responsibility theory best explains why none of the people helped Brenda. This theory indicates that people are less inclined to take action when in a group as opposed to when they are acting alone (Hayashida et al., 2021). Four factors justify the onlookers not helping Brenda within the diffusion of responsibility model. These include group size, self-awareness, anonymity, and culture. First, the large number of onlookers contributes to the diffusion of responsibility in such an emergency. People are unlikely to offer a hand in the presence of a multitude because of the group size effect. Second, self-awareness is essential in explaining why no bystanders helped Brenda. Since the onlookers were in a group, each bystander experienced reduced self-awareness, which diminished the possibility of assisting (Liu et al., 2022). In this vein, the potential helpers paid attention to other people in the group and the victim, thus reducing their responsibility to assist Brenda.
In addition, anonymity is another factor influencing responsibility diffusion in the provided case scenario. Anonymity can be conceptualized via its role in reducing self-awareness. Increased anonymity is linked to increased dispersion and, thus, greater responsibility diffusion. In this context, a person would likely be responsible in a less identifiable situation because of weakened self-awareness. Therefore, the onlookers failed to help because people are unlikely to be accountable when their identity is revealed in group settings. Lastly, it is evident that many bystanders are Americans whose culture is anchored on individualism (Liu et al., 2022). The individualist culture of Americans prevented the onlookers from taking action to alleviate Brenda's suffering.
References
Hayashida, K., Miyawaki, Y., Nishi, Y., & Morioka, S. (2021). Changes of causal attribution by a co-actor in situations of obvious causality. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 588089. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.588089
Liu, D., Liu, X., & Wu, S. (2022, June). A Literature Review of Diffusion of ...