23: How the Social Context Influences Helping — Read

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23.1: Introduction
This page examines how social situations impact altruism, centered on the Kitty Genovese murder case. It highlights the public shock over indifference when witnesses failed to help her despite her cries for assistance. Initial reports misrepresented the number of passive bystanders, raising questions about what discourages people from intervening.
23.2: Latané And Darley's Model Of Helping
This page explores the psychology of helping behavior, focusing on the model by Latané and Darley developed after the Kitty Genovese case. It identifies stages of emergency response and discusses the diffusion of responsibility, demonstrating that individuals are less likely to help in groups due to social influences like pluralistic ignorance. Studies show smaller groups react more swiftly.
23.3: Key Takeways
This page explores the influence of social contexts on helping behavior, featuring Latané and Darley's decision model of bystander intervention. The model delineates the steps individuals take to decide whether to assist someone in need, such as noticing the event and interpreting it as requiring help.

This page titled 23: How the Social Context Influences Helping was last modified on Tue, 08 Sep 2026 06:17:58 GMT and is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Kate Votaw via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

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