𝗜𝗧 𝗜𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗠𝗬 𝗕𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦𝗦!
Everybody' business is nobody's business.
This proverb sounds familiar. In fact this is a psychological phenomenon that probably takes place in our daily lives, THE DIFFUSION OF RESPONSIBILITY, or it is also known as the bystander effect. The diffusion of responsibility can be roughly explained in the following way, we are less likely to be helped if we are in a place where there is more presence of others.
To explain this phenomenon, many experiments have been conducted to study people's behavior and attitudes when in specific situations. You can search Darley and Latane's experiments to find out more. There are several reasons for this phenomenon:
- They feel their help is almost unnecessary because there will be someone to help.
- They may feel confused and do not know how to handle due to lack of experience or just because they have never seen before.
- They feel like they don't want to help (this amount is very small, but still exists)
Who will give a hand? Will this amount increase when we live in other places with fewer people? The answer is no.
The number of people involving in helping you in any situation will be the same. The difference is that time is a matter of timely action. If you have an accident in a crowded place, it will take longer for you to get help. So the good news is that your hero will still come, just don't know when they will arrive.
In fact, this phenomenon not only refers to cases of emergency help, but it is present in many other everyday situations. Have you ever been assigned to a team and suddenly realized that one or a few members of the group disappeared until the job was completed, they refused to contribute their efforts. Or you can see in the classrooms, if the teacher only reprimanded their class in general, the children will only obediently for a short time and then everything is back in order, they will continue to be noisy.
So how to turn responsibility diffusion into accountability. Some authorities recognized this and they have taken specific measures such as detailed order to help specific cases, established specialized hotlines. How do individuals who are dispersed of their responsibilities need to manage to receive the help they desire. If a victim makes eye contact and asks a specific individual for help, that person will feel more compelled to take action. That means, personalize your request to everyone around you and don't be afraid to try it many times if you haven't already received the desired help.
The diffusion of responsibility shall only take place on a small scale and personal, or it could even be more serious than what we imagined? A much more consequential type of diffusion of responsibility occurs within hierarchical organizations. Subordinates who claim to be following orders avoid taking responsibility for committing what they logically
know to be illegal or immoral actions. This kind of group behavior led to such crimes against humanity as the Nazi Holocaust.
__kobi
Pic: DevianArt
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