From Empathy to Apathy: The Bystander Effect Revisited

The bystander effect, the reduction in helping behavior in the presence of other people, has been explained predominantly by situational influences on decision making. Diverging from this view, we highlight recent evidence on the neural mechanisms and dispositional factors that determine apathy in b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current directions in psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society 2018-08, Vol.27 (4), p.249-256
Main Authors: Hortensius, Ruud, de Gelder, Beatrice
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Apathy
Empathy
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Summary:The bystander effect, the reduction in helping behavior in the presence of other people, has been explained predominantly by situational influences on decision making. Diverging from this view, we highlight recent evidence on the neural mechanisms and dispositional factors that determine apathy in bystanders. We put forward a new theoretical perspective that integrates emotional, motivational, and dispositional aspects. In the presence of other bystanders, personal distress is enhanced, and fixed action patterns of avoidance and freezing dominate. This new perspective suggests that bystander apathy results from a reflexive emotional reaction dependent on the personality of the bystander.
ISSN:0963-7214
1467-8721
DOI:10.1177/0963721417749653