Kitty Genovese was a young Italian-American barmaid. March 13, 1964, at 3:15 a.m., she drives back to her home in the Queens district of New York. To her misfortune she will be spotted, followed, and savagely stabbed by a repeat rapist.
A few days after the murderer’s arrest, the police investigation revealed that the young woman’s martyrdom lasted nearly 35 minutes, and that 38 habitants neighboring buildings, awakened by his cries for help, witnessed the drama without helping him. None of them even called the police, which, however, would certainly have saved his life.
Beyond the city of New York, this tragedy revolted the entire United States. The murderous predator driven by his death urges was certainly guilty, but what should we think of the 38 good American citizens, men and women, who saw and heard the victim’s killing, from the comfort of their windows? A question is on everyone’s lips and in everyone’s heads: “What would we have done in their place? ?”
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The Kitty Genovese affair and the “bystander effect”
00:43:06
To find an answer to this moment of collective cowardice, several psychology universities decided to analyze the different parameters of this tragedy, and to carry out a certain number of experiments to try to obtain a scientific answer. The psychological effect of such a situation has been given a name: “the Genovese syndrome”.
The conclusion of the various experiments carried out was as follows: when one is attacked, or in a state of distress, and there are ten witnesses to what is happening, probably none will help you. Each person will dilute their own responsibility to the point of thinking (even wrongly): “If I don’t intervene, it’s the other who will intervene”.
The “Genovese syndrome” is also linked to the number of witnesses present: below five people, there is a little more chance that someone will come to rescue a victim. On the contrary, if you are the only person who can step in and save someone’s life, there will be little doubt… You will help them.
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2024-04-07 12:55:00
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