Picture this: you’re strolling down the street when someone takes a tumble on the sidewalk. You freeze, scanning the crowd, waiting for someone—anyone—to step in and help. But nobody moves. You wonder, “If everyone else is ignoring this, should I stay out of it too?” This is the bystander effect in action: a curious social phenomenon where the more people there are around, the less likely anyone is to help in an emergency. The reasons? A variety of factors such as fear of social judgment, diffusion of responsibility, lack of clarity, and sometimes even plain indifference.
Want to break the cycle? Click on to uncover why it happens and how we can all be the ones to take action.