Helping Hands: A Lack Thereof

Helping Hands: A Lack Thereof

Friday, March 23, 2012

A fight breaks out in the middle of a busy city street. Many people who were taking care of business in their own lives stop to watch but, no one really gets involved. Taking crisis a step further, the fight becomes violent and it's apparent that one of the people is visibly overpowering the other as the aggressor. But still, the masses of onlookers refrain from helping the immediate danger of the underpowered. This isn't fiction, this is a scenario that is viewed countless times in the media. So why doesn't anyone help?

Recently, I attended a presentation that referenced a communication theorist named George Gerbner. One of the ideas he presented was something called "Mean World Syndrome". The basis here is that if the media presents violence to people at a young age, the people will grow up becoming desensitized to violence believe it is simply another part of life. The presentation included a YouTube video to display the theory and how the news media regularly reports this type of occurrence of desensitization. It also doesn't help that some of the first instincts for people in the world of technology is to start filming the event with their cellphones as it happens.

But is the media the problem, or is just people in general? I ask this because prior to being introduced to Gerbner's theory, I read about something called the "Bystander effect". The basis behind this idea is that the more people who are witness to something tragic in which they could directly provide assistance, they less likely any one of them will actually provide it. Simply put; they figure someone else will help. While in other scenarios with less bystanders, the more likely someone will help.

There's another factor in all of this talk of helping; being attractive. An experiment segment on the show "What Would You Do?" shows that being good looking makes people notice you more. And the experiment also includes that the type of notice is important. In the beginning an average looking woman will strike up a friendly conversation to get some positive notice. In another experiment, she turns up her radio for a negative type of notice, where people didn't mind that her radio was stolen. Then the include a more attractive woman who didn't even make contact with the bystanders and they end up helping. It's also apparent that it doesn't necessarily mean attractive to the opposite sex either.

So in the event you witness something that you could make right, why not lend that hand? You'd not only have someone grateful of your random act of kindness, you'd also be proving all of these theoretical psychologists wrong. You might even become somewhat of a celebrity.