For several decades, Kitty Genovese has been famous to many psychology students, psychologists and anyone interested in psychology. Kitty was an American woman who became famous for her murder. She was stabbed to death in New York. What was so interesting about her murder was the reaction of her neighbours, which prompted the naming of a psychological phenomenon – the bystander effect or "Genovese syndrome." On March 13th, 1964, Kitty was driving home around 3.15am. She parked about 30 metres from her front door. As she walked to her door, she was approached by Winston Moseley. Moseley overtook her and stabbed her twice in the back. Kitty screamed. Her screams were heard by several neighbours. But it was a cold night, many had their windows shut and few recognized it as a cry for help. One of the neighbours did shout at Moseley, "Let that girl alone". Moseley ran away and Kitty made her way to her apartment. Kitty was seriously injured, in full sight of her neighbours, but no one helped her. Some called to the police, but it was not given a high priority, as it was thought she was "only" beaten up. Witnesses observed Moseley get into his car and drive away. He then returned ten minutes later and found Kitty barely conscious at the back of the building. Out of sight, he attached her again, stabbing her several more times. She tried to defend herself, as was shown by knife wounds on her hands. He sexually assaulted her as she lay dying. He also stole money from her and left her to die. The attacks spanned over half an hour. A few minutes later, a witness did call the police. The police and ambulance arrived, but she died on the way to the hospital. The media then reported that 38 people had witnessed or heard her attack. The New York Times printed an article – "Thirty Eight who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police." This led to a media frenzy and much psychological research. What had possessed these witnesses to do NOTHING whilst Kitty was being stabbed and murdered?

The murder of Kitty also led to psychological research. This psychological phenomenon became known as bystander apathy, the bystander effect or Genovese syndrome. It is basically a phenomenon where someone is less likely to intervene in an emergency situation when other people are present and able to help, than they would if they were alone.

An individual alone is more likely to intervene if someone needs help – bystander intervention. In 1968, John Darley and Bibb Latane studied the bystander effect in the laboratory. They left a participant alone in a room and told them to communicate with other participants via an intercom. He/she was actually just talking to a recording. During the study, one participant suddenly pretends to have a seizure. They found that the amount of time taken before the person seeks help varies according to how many other participants were perceived to be around. In other words, the more people we think are also witnessing an event, the slower the person will be in dealing with the situation themselves. So if you have a large group of people observing an emergency, we would expect they would be less likely to help – we expect others to do the helping!

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