Diffusion of responsibility means that people sometimes don't act to help others, thinking someone else will.

Conformity also exerts a strong pull, causing people to shy away from doing or saying the right thing.

It is important to consider how one should respond when a person needs help before it occurs.

After extensively researching Holocaust history for my novel over the last two years, I've become much more aware of two related phenomena in social psychology: diffusion of responsibility and conformity. Both can hold individuals and groups back from doing the right thing.

Diffusion of responsibility

This phenomenon, also called the bystander effect, suggests that when someone is being harmed, the more witnesses present, the less likely anyone is to help or rescue them.

An oft-cited example is the case of Kitty Genovese in New York City in 1964, who shouted for help repeatedly while being assaulted on the street. No neighbor or bystander responded to help, and she was left to die on the street that day.

The bystander effect has since been examined in various social contexts. There are several reasons, some rational and some irrational, why otherwise well-meaning and moral people do not get involved to help a fellow citizen in danger.

Foremost, people don’t respond because they believe that someone else will.

They may feel unsure of their capacity to help or conclude that others would be more capable.

Or, they might hesitate to act to avoid accountability for their actions if they are unsuccessful. Or, they might simply refuse to put their own safety at risk.

On the darker end of the spectrum are those who hold a bias against the race, gender, or other trait of the victim. Their prejudice leads them to justify that the person, to some degree, deserves what is happening to them.

It is easy to excuse ourselves from rescuing someone in danger. That is why heroes are recognized as those who........

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