Ten years of research on group size and helping.
Abstract
In the decade following Latane and Darley's publication of the discovery that the presence of other people inhibits an individual from intervening in an emergency, numerous researchers have attempted to replicate this finding, extend its range of applicability, and determine what boundary conditions limit it. In the present article, we review both published and unpublished research, with special attention to the nature of the precipitating incident, the ambiguity of the helping situation, laboratory versus field settings, characteristics of the subjects, of the victim, and of other bystanders, and the amount and kinds of communication among bystanders. We conclude that, despite the great diversity of styles, settings, and techniques among the studies, the social inhibition of helping is a remarkably consistent phenomenon; but we identify some conditions under which the effect can be weakened or eliminated. Finally, we explore the implications of these findings for assessing and increasing a victim's likelihood of receiving help. Some 10 years have passed since Latane and Darley (1970) published their monograph reporting the results of a program of research on bystander intervention in emergencies. This research provided strong support for the general proposition that "the presence of other people serves to inhibit the impulse to help " (p. 38), Their work elicited a good deal of interest, and it has stimulated a large amount of subsequent research in this area. We see at leas…
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As the number of witnesses increases, the chance of help being offered diminishes.
“The collected data shows a robust tendency, namely that the chance of help being offered diminishes as the number of witnesses increases.”
From Pluralistic ignorance in the bystander effect: informational dynamics of unresponsive witnesses in situations calling for intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Latané and Nida (1981)
Summarizing 33 studies with face-to-face interaction, the effective individual probability of helping was 50%, with an effective individual response rate in groups only 22%.
“Summarizing 33 studies with face-to-face interaction, the effective individual probability of helping was 50%, with an effective individual response rate in groups only 22%.”
From Pluralistic ignorance in the bystander effect: informational dynamics of unresponsive witnesses in situations calling for intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Latané and Nida, 1981
Most of the studies in the meta-study involved groups of 2.
“Most of these studies involved groups of 2.”
From Pluralistic ignorance in the bystander effect: informational dynamics of unresponsive witnesses in situations calling for intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Latané and Nida, 1981
The meta-study of Latané and Nida (1981) strongly indicates that determining social influence occurs in groups of size 2.
“The meta-study (Latané and Nida, 1981) strongly indicates that determining social influence occurs in groups of size 2.”
From Pluralistic ignorance in the bystander effect: informational dynamics of unresponsive witnesses in situations calling for intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Latané and Nida, 1981
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“Diffusion of responsibility, where an individual feels a reduced sense of responsibility to act when in a group rather thanwhen alone, may be due, in part, to audience inhibition, or the fear of being embarrassed in front of other people (Latané & Nida, 1981).”
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“…interactions are employed, ranging from charitable donations (e.g., Hare, Camerer, Knoepfle, & Rangel, 2010) to investing time to help others (e.g., Latané & Nida, 1981; Leiberg, Klimecki, & 1 Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany 2 Würzburg University,…”
Helping to Improve the Group Stereotype: On the Strategic Dimension of Prosocial Behavior
Hopkins, N., Reicher, S. D., Harrison, K., Cassidy, C., Bull, R., & Levine, M. (2007) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167207301023 · Cited by 186 · see citing works
“Much attention focused on the idea that the larger the group, the greater the diffusion of responsibility such that each individual feels less obligation to act (Latané & Nida, 1981).”
BackgroundCyber-bystanding in context: A review of the literature on witnesses' responses to cyberbullying
Allison, K. R., & Bussey, K. (2016) · Children and Youth Services Review · doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.03.026 · Cited by 185 · see citing works
Bystander Intervention in Cyberbullying
Brody, N., & Vangelisti, A. L. (2015) · Communication Monographs · doi:10.1080/03637751.2015.1044256 · Cited by 184 · see citing works
Bystander Responses to a Violent Incident in an Immersive Virtual Environment
Slater, M., Rovira, A., Southern, R. W., Swapp, D., Zhang, J., Campbell, C., & Levine, M. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0052766 · Cited by 179 · see citing works
Group cohesiveness, social norms, and bystander intervention.
Rutkowski, G. K., Gruder, C. L., & Römer, D. (1983) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.44.3.545 · Cited by 177 · see citing works
“Latane and Nida (1981) concluded their review of 10 years of research on group size and emergency helping somewhat pessimistically by noting that it has contributed little to the development of practical strategies for increasing bystander intervention.”
BackgroundApplications of social norms theory to other health and social justice issues.
Berkowitz, A. D. (2003) · Cited by 172 · see citing works
Drury, J., Cocking, C., Reicher, S. D., Burton, A., Schofield, D., Hardwick, A., Graham, D., & Langston, P. A. (2009) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/brm.41.3.957 · Cited by 170 · see citing works
Obermaier, M., Fawzi, N., & Koch, T. (2014) · New Media & Society · doi:10.1177/1461444814563519 · Cited by 171 · see citing works
“In the face-to-face context, this bystander effect occurs in emergencies, such as epileptic seizures, and in nonemergency situations, such as if a glass of water is accidentally spilled (Latané and Nida, 1981).”
BackgroundSocial Engineering in Cybersecurity: Effect Mechanisms, Human Vulnerabilities and Attack Methods
Wang, Z., Zhu, H., & Sun, L. (2021) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2021.3051633 · Cited by 165 · see citing works
When is a bystander not a bystander? A typology of the roles of bystanders in workplace bullying
Paull, M., Omari, M., & Standen, P. (2012) · Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources · doi:10.1111/j.1744-7941.2012.00027.x · Cited by 162 · see citing works
Are Audit-related Ethical Decisions Dependent upon Mood?
Curtis, M. B. (2006) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-006-9066-9 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Justice for Earthlings: Essays in Political Philosophy
Miller, D. E. (2012) · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Heroism Research: A Review of Theories, Methods, Challenges, and Trends
Franco, Z. E., Allison, S. T., Kinsella, E. L., Kohen, A., Langdon, M., & Zimbardo, P. G. (2016) · Journal of Humanistic Psychology · doi:10.1177/0022167816681232 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
Robinson, S. N., Robertson, J. C., & Curtis, M. B. (2011) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-011-0990-y · Cited by 155 · see citing works
“one of the most robust and reproduced in the discipline’’, citing reviews such as Latane and Nida (1981) .”
BackgroundGroup remembering: Does social loafing underlie collaborative inhibition?
Weldon, M. S., Blair, C., & Huebsch, P. D. (2000) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1037//0278-7393.26.6.1568 · Cited by 153 · see citing works
Mutual inhibition in collaborative recall: Evidence for a retrieval-based account.
Finlay, F., Hitch, G. J., & Meudell, P. R. (2000) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1037//0278-7393.26.6.1556 · Cited by 149 · see citing works
Borst, I., Möser, C., & Ferguson, J. (2017) · New Media & Society · doi:10.1177/1461444817694599 · Cited by 148 · see citing works
Tourism Ethnocentrism and Its Effects on Tourist and Resident Behavior
Köck, F., Josiassen, A., Assaf, A. G., Karpen, I. O., & Farrelly, F. J. (2018) · Journal of Travel Research · doi:10.1177/0047287518755504 · Cited by 146 · see citing works
Charitable Giving by Individuals: A Study of Attitudes and Practice
Radley, A., & Kennedy, M. (1995) · Human Relations · doi:10.1177/001872679504800605 · Cited by 145 · see citing works
Lying in the name of the collective good: a developmental study
Fu, G., Evans, A. D., Wang, L., & Lee, K. (2008) · Developmental Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2008.00695.x · Cited by 144 · see citing works
“Social psychological research (Lanate & Nida, 1981; Forgas & Williams, 2001) has long revealed that people’s social behaviors are strongly influenced by social situational factors, which may also be the driving force for adults’ decisions to tell blue lies (Barnes, 1994; Bok, 1978).”
BackgroundMotivating interdependent teams: Individual rewards, shared rewards, or something in between?
Pearsall, M. J., Christian, M. S., & Ellis, A. P. J. (2010) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0017593 · Cited by 139 · see citing works
Bystander intervention in computer-mediated communication
Markey, P. M. (2000) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/s0747-5632(99)00056-4 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
“As a whole these processes have been labeled ``the bystander e ect'' because they explain why, as group size increases, a bystander is less likely to aid a victim (Latane & Nida, 1981).”
BackgroundChan, C.-S. R., Parhankangas, A., Sahaym, A., & Oo, P. P. (2019) · Journal of Business Venturing · doi:10.1016/j.jbusvent.2019.04.002 · Cited by 130 · see citing works
The team scaling fallacy: Underestimating the declining efficiency of larger teams
Staats, B. R., Milkman, K. L., & Fox, C. R. (2012) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2012.03.002 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
Rosenbloom, T., Nemrodov, D., & Barkan, H. (2004) · Transportation Research Part F Traffic Psychology and Behaviour · doi:10.1016/j.trf.2004.10.004 · Cited by 126 · see citing works
Philpot, R., Liebst, L. S., Levine, M., Bernasco, W., & Lindegaard, M. R. (2019) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/amp0000469 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Baumeister, R. F., Ainsworth, S. E., & Vohs, K. D. (2015) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x15000618 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Barhight, L. R., Hubbard, J. A., & Hyde, C. (2012) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01839.x · Cited by 121 · see citing works
“The adult social psychology literature has a rich tradition of studying bystander intervention (e.g., Latané & Darley, 1970; Latané & Nida, 1981; van den Bos, Müller, & van Bussel, 2009).”
BackgroundSagan, S. D. (2004) · Risk Analysis · doi:10.1111/j.0272-4332.2004.00495.x · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Butts, M. M., Lunt, D. C., Freling, T. H., & Gabriel, A. S. (2019) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2018.12.006 · Cited by 120 · see citing works
Civil Courage and Helping Behavior
Greitemeyer, T., Fischer, P. A., Kastenmüller, A., & Frey, D. (2006) · European Psychologist · doi:10.1027/1016-9040.11.2.90 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
Moral disengagement and cyberbullying involvement: A systematic review
Cricchio, M. G. L., García‐Poole, C., Brinke, L. T., Bianchi, D., & Menesini, E. (2020) · European Journal of Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1080/17405629.2020.1782186 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
Gunarathne, P., Rui, H., & Seidmann, A. A. (2018) · MIS Quarterly · doi:10.25300/misq/2018/14290 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
Riem, M. M. E., Bakermans‐Kranenburg, M. J., Huffmeijer, R., & van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2013) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2012.12.023 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
“…exclusion can be risky and may elicit anxious feelings since individuals who help an ostracized person face the risk of being excluded themselves (Latane and Nida, 1981) Therefore, another process explaining our findings may be that oxytocin decreases anxious feelings and thus increases…”
BackgroundInterventions Against Norm Violations
Baumert, A., Halmburger, A., & Schmitt, M. (2013) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167213490032 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
Lotz, S., Baumert, A., Schlösser, T. M., Gresser, F., & Fetchenhauer, D. (2011) · Negotiation and Conflict Management Research · doi:10.1111/j.1750-4716.2011.00084.x · Cited by 112 · see citing works
“…and Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 297 Such kinds of confrontations reflect social behaviors such as whistle blowing (e.g., Hopman & van Leeuwen, 2009), civil courage, or other costly forms of bystander intervention (Latané & Nida, 1982; Levine & Crowther, 2008) against witnessed norm violations.”
BackgroundBrief report: The bystander effect in cyberbullying incidents
Macháčková, H., Dědková, L., & Mezulanikova, K. (2015) · Journal of Adolescence · doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2015.05.010 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
What is moral courage? Definition, explication, and classification of a complex construct.
Osswald, S., Greitemeyer, T., Fischer, P. A., & Frey, D. (2010) · American Psychological Association eBooks · doi:10.1037/12168-008 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Kozlov, M. D., & Johansen, M. K. (2010) · Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking · doi:10.1089/cyber.2009.0310 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
From My Lai to Abu Ghraib: The Moral Psychology of Atrocity
Doris, J. M., & Murphy, D. (2007) · Midwest Studies in Philosophy · doi:10.1111/j.1475-4975.2007.00149.x · Cited by 107 · see citing works
Social identity, group processes, and helping in emergencies
Levine, M., & Manning, R. (2013) · European Review of Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/10463283.2014.892318 · Cited by 106 · see citing works
“Over the years, literature reviews (Dovidio, 1984) and meta-analysis (Latane & Nida, 1981) have established the bystander effect as one of the most robust and reproduced in social psychology.”
BackgroundUse of Individual-Level Data to Investigate Group Phenomena Issues and Strategies
Hoyle, R. H., & Crawford, A. M. (1994) · Small Group Research · doi:10.1177/1046496494254003 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
The Voice Bystander Effect: How Information Redundancy Inhibits Employee Voice
Hussain, I., Shu, R., Tangirala, S., & Ekkirala, S. (2018) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2017.0245 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
David against Goliath? Group size and bystander effects in virtual knowledge sharing
Voelpel, S. C., Eckhoff, R. A., & Förster, J. (2008) · Human Relations · doi:10.1177/0018726707087787 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Public Attitudes Toward Reporting Partner Violence Against Women and Reporting Behavior
Gracia, E., & Herrero, J. (2006) · Journal of Marriage and the Family · doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2006.00288.x · Cited by 98 · see citing works
“Finally, research suggests that the likelihood of helping behavior is lower as the size of cities increases (Batson, 1998; Latané & Nida, 1981).”
BackgroundGracia, E., Pérez, J. F. G., & Lila, M. (2009) · The Spanish Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1017/s1138741600002018 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
- Authors
- Latané, B., & Nida, S.
- Affiliations
- The Ohio State University (US)
- Venue
- Psychological Bulletin
- Published
- 1981-03
- Volume
- 89
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 308-324
- ISSN
- 0033-2909 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1455
- OpenAlex
- W2163256700
- Cited by
- 749
- References
- 50
- Citations by year
- 2026: 21 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 48 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 34 · 2018: 35 · 2017: 36 · 2016: 34 · 2015: 45 · 2014: 31 · 2013: 62 · 2012: 26
- FWCI
- 26.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Psychology of Social Influence
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Emergency Medicine › Cardiac Arrest and Resuscitation
- Keywords
- bystander intervention, group size, diffusion of responsibility, emergency situations, helping behavior, victim characteristics, boundary conditions, replication
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