Editing Diffusion of responsibility (section)

===[[Helping behavior]]===
Social psychological  experiments have demonstrated that individuals' failure to assist others in emergencies is not due to [[apathy]] or indifference, but rather to the presence of other people.<ref name="Latané Nida" /> This is explained by both [[bystander effect]] and diffusion of responsibility. In 1968 and a series of experiments that followed, [[John M. Darley|John Darley]] and [[Bibb Latané]] demonstrated that an individual's choice to help or intervene when there is an emergency depends on the number of bystanders.<ref name="Darley J"/> Group size significantly influenced the likelihood of helping behavior in a staged emergency: 85% of participants responded with intervention when alone, 62% of participants took action when with one other person, and only 31% did when there were four other bystanders. Other studies have replicated the phenomenon, including reports from real emergencies such as calling an ambulance for overdose patients and offering [[CPR]] after cardiac arrest.<ref name="Tobin">{{cite journal | last1 = Tobin | first1 = K. E. | last2 = Davey | first2 = M. A. | last3 = Latkin | first3 = C. A. | year = 2005 | title = Calling emergency medical services during drug overdose: An examination of individual, social and setting correlates | journal = Addiction | volume = 100 | issue = 3| pages = 397–404 | doi=10.1111/j.1360-0443.2005.00975.x| pmid = 15733253 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name="Vaillancourt">{{cite journal | last1 = Vaillancourt | first1 = C. | last2 = Stiell | first2 = I. G. | last3 = Wells | first3 = G. A. | year = 2008 | title = Understanding and improving low bystander CPR rates: A systematic review of the literature | journal = Journal of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians | volume = 10 | issue = 1| pages = 51–65 | doi=10.1017/s1481803500010010| pmid = 18226319 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name="Tiegen">{{cite journal | last1 = Tiegen | first1 = K. H. | last2 = Brun | first2 = W. | year = 2011 | title = Responsibility is divisible by two, but not three or four: Judgments of responsibility in dyads and groups | journal = Social Cognition | volume = 29 | pages = 15–42 | doi=10.1521/soco.2011.29.1.15}}</ref>

In ambiguous situations, the individual's appraisal of the situation and subsequent action or inaction largely depends on the reactions of other people.<ref name="Latané B">{{cite journal | last1 = Latané | first1 = B. | last2 = Darley | first2 = J. M. | s2cid = 28550502 | year = 1968 | title = Group inhibition of bystander intervention in emergencies | journal = Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | volume = 10 | issue = 3| pages = 215–221 | doi=10.1037/h0026570| pmid = 5704479 }}</ref> Other bystanders' interpretation of an emergency influences perception of the incident and helping behavior.<ref name="Bickman L">{{cite journal | last1 = Bickman | first1 = L | year = 1975 | title = Social influence and diffusion of responsibility in an emergency | journal = Journal of Experimental Social Psychology | volume = 8 | issue = 5| pages = 438–445 | doi=10.1016/0022-1031(72)90069-8}}</ref> In one study, diffusion of responsibility does not occur if another bystander is perceived as being unable to help.<ref name="Bickman L2">{{cite journal | last1 = Bickman | first1 = L | year = 1971 | title = The effect of another bystander's ability to help on bystander intervention in an emergency | journal = Journal of Experimental Social Psychology | volume = 7 | issue = 3| pages = 367–379 | doi=10.1016/0022-1031(71)90035-7}}</ref>

Group psychology can also influence behaviour positively; in the event that one bystander takes responsibility for the situation and takes specific action, other bystanders are more likely to follow course. This is a positive example of the usually-pejorative [[herd mentality]]. Thus, the presence of bystanders affects individual [[helping behaviour]] by processes of [[social influence]] and diffusion of responsibility.