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The bystander effect or Genovese syndrome is a social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases where individuals do not offer any means of help in an emergency situation to the victim when other people are present. The probability of help has in the past been thought to be inversely related to the number of bystanders; in other words, the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that any one of them will help. The mere presence of other bystanders greatly decreases intervention.
旁观者现象是一种社会心理学现象，指在紧急情况由于有他人在场而没有对受害者提供帮助的情况。救助行为出现的可能与在场旁观人数成反比，即旁观人数越多，救助行为出现的可能性就越小。
This happens because as the number of bystanders increases, any given bystander is less likely to notice the incident, less likely to interpret the incident as a problem, and less likely to assume responsibility for taking action.
这是因为随着旁观者数量的增加，任何一个旁观者就越是不容易注意到发生了什么，也越是不容易将发生的事情看做是麻烦，因此也就越是不容易产生采取行动的责任感。
The case of Kitty Genovese is often cited as an example of the "bystander effect". It is also the case that originally stimulated social psychological research in this area. 28 year-old Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death on March 13, 1964 by a serial rapist and murderer on her way back to her Queens, New York apartment from work at 3am. According to newspaper accounts, the attack lasted for at least a half an hour during which time Genovese screamed and pleaded for help. The murderer attacked Genovese and stabbed her, then fled the scene after attracting the attention of a neighbor. The killer then returned ten minutes later and finished the assault. Newspaper reports after Genovese's death claimed that 38 witnesses watched the stabbings and failed to intervene or even contact the police until after the attacker fled and Genovese had died. This led to widespread public attention, and many editorials.
Kitty Genovese案例一直被视为“旁观者效应”的经典案例。Genovese小姐于1964年被一个系列强奸杀人犯用刀捅死。根据报纸报道，这个过程长达30分钟。在引起一位邻居的注意后，杀人犯逃离现场，十分钟后重回现场并继续捅Genovese小姐直到她死亡。报纸报道38位目击者目击了凶杀过程，但是没有一个人出来阻止或者打电话报警。这在当时引起了社会上很大的轰动。
相关阅读：碾童案之「好心人good Samaritans」
