A lot of people still think that we don't help each other when something like this happens (bystander effect). I interviewed psychologist Marie Lindegaard for my book, who found that in real-life situations (not lab experiments) people do help each other in 90 PERCENT of cases.
A 2011 meta-analysis even found that there's a 'reverse bystander effect'.
When the situation is life-threatening and bystanders can communicate with each other 'additional bystanders even lead to more, rather than less, helping.' pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21534650/
When the situation is life-threatening and bystanders can communicate with each other 'additional bystanders even lead to more, rather than less, helping.' pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21534650/
But what about the famous Kitty Genovese case, who was killed in 1964 in New York when -supposedly- 37 bystanders saw it happening and did nothing?
Turns out: that was fake new avant la lettre. From my book:
Turns out: that was fake new avant la lettre. From my book:
And finally - here's a video of another case I talk about in the book. Woman and baby rescued from drowning by four guys in just 2 minutes. I asked one of them if he felt like a hero. 'Nah, 'he replied, 'you've got to look out for each other in life.'
