Bystander Effect

Behavioral Studies

A social-psychological phenomenon in which individuals are less likely to help a person in need when other people are present, due to diffusion of responsibility.

In educational settings the bystander effect is relevant to anti-bullying programs, peer intervention and campus-safety training, where students are taught to act rather than assume someone else will.

Related Terms
Social Learning Theory
A theory, associated with Albert Bandura, holding that people learn by observing, imitating and modelling the behaviour, attitudes and outcomes of others.
Motivation
The internal and external forces that initiate, direct and sustain goal-directed behaviour, including learning.
Self-Efficacy
An individual's belief in their own capacity to succeed at a specific task or in a particular situation, a concept central to the work of Albert Bandura.
Behaviorism
A theory of learning holding that behaviour is acquired through conditioning and shaped by interaction with the environment, focusing on observable responses rather than internal mental states.
Metacognition
Awareness and control of one's own thinking and learning processes, often described as 'thinking about thinking'.