Friday, October 12, 2007

Reply to Amanda

Amanda raised a good point in relation to an awareness booklet on the Bystander effect. There is a possibility that the booklet will be thrown out with the junk mail or it will not be read. I feel that with any campaign there is a risk that it will not reach the intended audience. For example, with a television campaign, not all people watch tv, or some may watch pay tv, therefore a section of the intended audience is not reached. I have suggested a booklet and also television campaign to combat this problem and will hopefully reach as many people as possible.

Education within schools is definately a must. By educating children we educate the future. But this does not mean we should forget about the current adults, as they also play an important role in society. Research has indicated that by simply knowing about the bystander effect, people become more likely to be aware of the effect and thus intervene. I hope my blog will educate those who read it, and hopefully this issue will become more known.

Thankyou to those who have commented on my blog, voted on my poll and read the blog. I enjoy hearing feedback from everyone, especially on your own experiences of the bystander effect.

2 comments:

Michelle said...

Hi Bec, I agree education is key to understanding the 'Bystander Effect'. I have been more aware of the Bystander Effect since learning about it in psych. I'm more cognisant of my reactions to situations that I encounter. I work at a hospital and earlier this year a situation occurred where a woman was being spat on and verbally abused by what seemed to be her boyfriend. People who were walking past the two or who were watching on truly looked quite alarmed at what was happening. I was alarmed as well he was quite scary. The guy was extremely loud and abusive, as I was approaching closer to where the woman was I looked at her and nodded my head as if to say I was getting help to which she looked at me and nodded back with a look that acknowledged I would get help (strange as that seems). I was approaching the hospital entrance and I knew that the security team were right there so I went to them straight away, they went to her aid immediately. In fact there were about 6 security guys called to the scene. The so called boyfriend was being questioned by security as I left the scene. To be honest prior to hearing about the bystander effect I would have been one of the bystanders simply watching on not knowing exactly whether to interfere. It is a flight or fight situation and you can do something or choose to do nothing. Good luck with your research. Cheers Michelle

Amanda said...

Hi Bec,
Thanks for the reply and for letting me know on my blog. I think this is a great topic (you can probably tell from all your responses!). Your blog is also doing a great job of helping explain, i don't think you have to worry about that :) Hopefully we will get to read some more from you soon!

Manda