Psychology
The bystander effect and the truth about Kitty Genovese
11 min
The murder that supposedly launched research into why crowds fail to help — and how the real story differs from the legend. Explore diffusion of responsibility and when people actually step in.
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Show notes
The 1964 New York Times article by Martin Gansberg
Latané and Darley's 1968 study on bystander intervention
The 2007 American Psychologist review of the Genovese case
The 2015 documentary 'The Witness' featuring William Genovese
CCTV conflict analysis research from the University of Copenhagen and Lancaster University
In this episode
- 1Intro1 min
- 2The Birth of a Modern Parable2 min
- 3The Psychology of Inaction3 min
- 4Deconstructing the Thirty-Eight Witnesses3 min
- 5The Bystander Effect in the Real World3 min
- 6Outro1 min
Sources
- The Kitty Genovese murder and the social psychology of helping: The parable of the 38 witnesses.
- Murder of Kitty Genovese
- Stand By or Stand Up: Exploring the Biology of the Bystander Effect
- The Bystander Effect Started from a Lie | Office for Science and Society
- Her shocking murder became the stuff of legend. But everyone got the story wrong. - The Washington Post
- Kitty Genovese murder: The real story of the woman killed 'in front of 38 witnesses' in Queens in 1964 | The Independent | The Independent
- What Happened to Kitty Genovese? Revisiting Her Harrowing Murder 61 Years Later
- How the false story of Kitty Genovese’s murder went viral | SBS The Feed
- The Modern Bystander Effect - Retro Report
- Selects: The Kitty Genovese Story - Stuff You Should Know - Omny.fm
- 1964 | How Many Witnessed the Murder of Kitty Genovese?
- Kitty Genovese and the 'bystander effect' - BBC News
- The Killing of Kitty Genovese: What Else Does This Case Tell Us?
- Psychology's tall tales
- Murder of Kitty Genovese
- Murder of Kitty Genovese
- Darley J M & Latané B. Bystander intervention in emergencies: diffusion of responsibility. J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 8:377-83, 1968.
- The Mail | The New Yorker
- Debunking Popular Psychology Myths: Revising The Bystander Effect
- BYSTANDER INTERVENTION IN EMERGENCIES:
- The Kitty Genovese Story in Introductory Psychology Textbooks
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