• Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
    • Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral

Bystander Effect?

Ken

Ken

Well-Known Member
V.I.P Member
I saw this and wondered if it might apply to me. I know that I have never felt a part of any group. So I doubt if I would ever feel that I should wait for someone else to react. However, at the moment I don't recall any instances where a reaction was necessary when I was in a group. I guess that might be because I always avoid groups. I also doubt if I would remember anything about the group in such a situation, much less remembering if some in the group reacted and I didn't. I guess I just don't think that way.

I'm curious what you might make of this article?

https://www.sciencealert.com/bystander-effect-autism-may-make-people-more-immune-to-phenomenon
 
Ken said:
I saw this and wondered if it might apply to me. I know that I have never felt a part of any group. So I doubt if I would ever feel that I should wait for someone else to react. However, at the moment I don't recall any instances where a reaction was necessary when I was in a group. I guess that might be because I always avoid groups. I also doubt if I would remember anything about the group in such a situation, much less remembering if some in the group reacted and I didn't. I guess I just don't think that way.

I'm curious what you might make of this article?

https://www.sciencealert.com/bystander-effect-autism-may-make-people-more-immune-to-phenomenon
Click to expand...
It is a thing but it isn't universal.

Over the decades, I have come across accidents. Sometimes, people stood around talking and staring. Sometimes, people would take action, though not always useful action. What is often required is that someone take action, and then others follow. That's a specific personality type.

I'm the guy who stands off to the side, deciding what needs to be done, and then I try to do it. I'm sure that looks to the world like I'm just another oblivious spectator until I step in, but I need to analyze before I act. If I were a dog, I'd be a livestock guardian dog in a world with little use or respect for such. The dog lives with the herd but is not of the herd.

I think the "bystander effect" is an evolutionary trait. If a predator has taken a member of the pack/tribe/herd, it doesn't pay to try to intervene. You might be next.
 
People tend to come to me in emergency situations, and employers will let me handle employees alone, because l usually look out for the organization, and balance customer service with whatever is going on. I usually evaluate critical issues quickly. So perhaps l don't fit this bystander mold. Yet, l can't handle a family emergency involving my mom. Lol
Also l don't join mob mentality, that groups of people can fall into.
 
Last edited:
In junior high, whenever a pupil was late to class and knocked on the door, I would spring up and walk over there to open it, even when I was at the other end of the room. Otherwise the rest of the class would stare at each other as no-one could decide who should grant entry. It's definitely been my experience that I'm not as affected by the bystander effect as others. I also tend to respond when a group is asked something and the others avoid answering, and tend to be quite impulsive in general if I see something as being the clear best course of action.
 
I don't know how I would react in that kind of situation. I think it's impossible to know how one would act unless you've actually been in such an emergency situation. I like to think I would act even if others don't, but on the other hand, I'm not a very confident person and I often feel detached from things happening around me, as if watching it on TV or through a screen and not really part of it. I often don't process what's going on around me in real time, where a situation is rapidly evolving. But an emergency situation might not need much processing: someone is hurt, call an ambulance.
 
I don't think I have the bystander effect.
This reminds me of a time when I was in a busy supermarket and the fire alarm was going off. It was loud enough to hear but it seemed that everyone was ignoring it, so I assumed there was a reason they were ignoring it so I ignored it too and went on with my shopping.
But the fire alarm did mean we had to evacuate the building, because one of the staff spoke on the intercom telling us to evacuate. There wasn't a fire obviously.
I think everyone was thinking the same thing, that there must be a reason the fire alarm was being ignored. Some people were looking around seeing what others were doing and then reacted (by doing nothing). I'd call it the Snowball Effect.
 
Last edited:
Usually I'll be panicking on the inside but not reacting out of fear of being the odd one out. Sometimes I wonder if other people are feeling the way I feel inside and trying to keep composure, or if they're genuinely just relaxed and going about their day when something potentially scary is going on.

My need to conform and blend in is actually what terrifies me the most
 
I wasn't panicking, except when we all had to troop outside and stand there awkwardly waiting to be told to go back in. It was a late Friday afternoon, getting dark and was freezing outside, and there must have been about 300 people.
 
Ken said:
I saw this and wondered if it might apply to me. I know that I have never felt a part of any group. So I doubt if I would ever feel that I should wait for someone else to react. However, at the moment I don't recall any instances where a reaction was necessary when I was in a group. I guess that might be because I always avoid groups. I also doubt if I would remember anything about the group in such a situation, much less remembering if some in the group reacted and I didn't. I guess I just don't think that way.

I'm curious what you might make of this article?

https://www.sciencealert.com/bystander-effect-autism-may-make-people-more-immune-to-phenomenon
Click to expand...
I think there is some truth to this. I just haven't seen a article suggesting it before, but it makes sense. I am not influenced by "groupthink". In fact, I have a high aversion to it. I don't like being in a church congregation, as I am seriously "weirded out" by it. The same thing with any large group of people whether it be at an amusement park, a festival, a cruise ship, whatever. People in groups take on another identity and at the very least, I get uncomfortable with the hive mind, and the worst-case scenario, it can be a dangerous mob.

Do what is right, and I don't give any thought to what the group thinks.
 
I agree with the article. I also am immune to group think and actively dislike herd mentality. I tend to think that where ethical issues arise, there is also a tendency for autistic people to be honest and to dislike injustice/unfairness so this could also be a factor in autistic people calling out issues like this. I know that for me honesty and fairness are very important, and I have gotten 'in trouble' for being honest and calling out unfairness many times, at work and in personal social situations.
 
Perhaps it stands to reason. I know in my own case I'm not apt to do nothing and walk away in the event of someone in close proximity having some kind of great difficulty. Reminds me of a few years ago when outside a Walmart I noticed a group of people just staring at an elderly man who seemed to be collapsing while attempting to hang onto his shopping cart.

I didn't give it a thought, and simply walked right up to him, held him back up so he had a secure hold of his cart and asked him if he needed any help. He seemed more than anything just embarrassed at the time, and he politely told me was ok. I took him at his word and went on my way. But it still galled me that all those people just looked and did nothing.

Yet I wouldn't have given my autism a thought in terms of what would or would not prevent me from helping someone under such circumstances. But who knows? Maybe it does come down to a lack of herd mentality. I'm honestly not sure... yet that experience has always bothered me that no one seemed to help the poor man.

I also wonder at times just how many people are aware of, or misunderstand their states' Good Samaritan Laws?

So are we so cold and lacking empathy? :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
Interesting. I made a pretty good living as the guy that jumped headlong into ‘dangerous’ technical situations. One of my headaches was identifying and training people who were able to do it. There are lots of qualified technical professionals who can approach an isolated system that is malfunctioning. Most of them choke when there is a fleet floating offshore and armed aircraft aloft shooting at drones. Even among veterans of real time operations, there seems a natural fear of getting involved when things get hairy. Without the threat of impending extinction or disciplinary action, many military types hesitate. Just my observations after observing maybe a hundred qualified techs. (Although seasoned submariners are a breed of their own. Their calm makes me nervous.)

My solution felt like a defeat. Most people freeze when minutes cost millions, and can’t be trained to think carefully when all eyes are on them. Cross training be darned, I put the rare find in the key positions and set others in support positions. The accomplished players without the ‘right stuff’ (yes, it was a naval weapons test center, and we also had some ‘steely-eyed missile men’ amongst us) would get the night shift where standing and staring for a while was normal and acceptable.

I was undiagnosed in those years and chalked my success up to not really caring what anybody thought. What? They were gonna step in? I tend to get lost in a good mystery, but I know there are people who can produce while soiling their breeches. I guess that’s true courage.
 
While herd mentality like what I described in my post is common in the UK, I don't think it's very common here for people to just ignore a person in distress. I've seen people in distress before who needed help but someone else beating me to it by stepping in to help them first. Usually the nearest person to them steps in to help, if not then the second nearest person. It's a common courtesy thing here.
 
Misty Avich said:
While herd mentality like what I described in my post is common in the UK, I don't think it's very common here for people to just ignore a person in distress. I've seen people in distress before who needed help but someone else beating me to it by stepping in to help them first. Usually the nearest person to them steps in to help, if not then the second nearest person. It's a common courtesy thing here.
Click to expand...
I just made a post about people usually having an instinct to keep their hands from danger, so to speak. But, I’m with you and others; when it’s a human being, there’s no excuse for an able person to hold back. When I hear of people ignoring cries for help, I think of those old psychology class films of how rat behavior changes when overpopulation begins to occur. Even the appearance of the rats changes. Heaven help us.
 
The Pandector said:
I just made a post about people usually having an instinct to keep their hands from danger, so to speak. But, I’m with you and others; when it’s a human being, there’s no excuse for an able person to hold back. When I hear of people ignoring cries for help, I think of those old psychology class films of how rat behavior changes when overpopulation begins to occur. Even the appearance of the rats changes. Heaven help us.
Click to expand...
Ha! There sure is herd behaviour in rats. I have a lot of pet rats, and if one of them don't like the special rat treats I buy then none of them will lol. They're worse than humans! :tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy:
 
It also reminds me of times in the classroom when everyone was chatting while working then all of a sudden the noise of the chattering faded and the more it faded the more everyone thought "there must be a reason we're going quiet", so the whole class went quiet suddenly. It was actually quite funny when that happened.
 
I notice this with streetlights too. I almost always wait for the green light before crossing a street, but oftentimes, a small group of people starts walking on a red if they don't see cars close by, then others see that people are walking across the street, so they probably can too, and then people getting to the lights also start crossing the street. Of course, at this point you have a steady stream of people crossing, and they frequently block cars which have now arrived and have the green light.

Seeing this frustrates me immensely. I never cross a street without being well aware of potential dangers.
 
Ironic to consider the research of Dr. Stanley Milgram in this regard. That when people are in a structured authoritarian environment, they are more prone to follow orders with negative consequences for others, even if it runs against their own sense of ethics.

Granted that some later viewed this study as flawed...though I can't help but wonder if such opinions themselves are merely attempts to paint humanity in a much brighter light. While psychologists may be quick to dismiss such research, while political scientists and historians...not so much.

https://www.simplypsychology.org/milgram.html
 
Last edited:
An interesting thing I've figured since viewing this thread, is the coffee mugs at work. There's only about 10 of us at work and most drink tea and coffee (I say most, because I'm probably the only one who don't). But when dirty mugs pile up in the sink, I've heard each co-worker say "why are they so lazy not to wash up?" But they are all as bad as each other there. I thought it was just putting the blame on to everyone but themselves, but I think it's due to the herd mentality effect; each person puts his or her mug in the sink thinking it will just get washed up by someone else, and this continues until there's a pile of dirty mugs in the sink but it's always "the others" who make the mess.

Very interesting, is human behaviour. And I'm not saying I'm immune to it, because I'd probably be as bad as them if I drank tea and coffee. Instead I bring in my own drink.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New Threads

Top Bottom