In 1964, a young woman named Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death outside her home in Queens, New York. At the time of incident, her neighbours were fully aware what was going on outside due to hearing her desperate screams for help, yet non called for help nor went to help her. When news broke out, the whole nation was shocked of the event and became the incitation to research further on what American Psychologists John Darley and Bibb Latane refer to as the "Bystander Effect".
Below are videos of bystander effects experiment conducted in the public.
The bystander effect is a social psychological phenomenon whereby an individual will not intervene to help when other people are present. Researchers say that this phenomenon is related to the number of bystanders present. When there is a great number of bystanders around, there is less likely, help will be offered to someone in need.
This is due to the fact that when there is a large number of people around, other people assume that someone else will jump in to offer assistance, especially if there are many others around who could potentially do so.
The presence of others makes one feel less personally responsible for responding to events and each additional person present lowers the chances of anyone helping at all.
A second mechanism behind the bystander effect is the reliance upon others to help interpret ambiguous circumstances. When alone, individuals are responsible for deciding how to respond appropriately to a situation. But when there are others present, we look to them for guidance, especially when an unusual or novel event is occurring, (such as an emergency). Unfortunately, this can cause everyone in the situation to assume that nothing needs to be done, if no one else is doing anything at the moment (an effect referred to as “pluralistic ignorance”).
The video below shows how social psychology can effect other peoples movement.
Some notable examples that have relations with the bystander effects.
Brooklyn Hospital Case
In June 2008 a woman collapsed in a Brooklyn hospital waiting room, but was ignored by other people present in the room and two security guards. People tried to help her only after an hour had passed. The woman died.
Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax
In April 2010 Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax was stabbed to death in New York City after coming to the aid of a woman who was being attacked by a robber. Yax was on the sidewalk for more than an hour before firefighters arrived. Almost twenty-five people walked by while he lay dying on a sidewalk in Queens, several stared at Yax, one of them took pictures, however none of them helped or called emergency services.
Wang Yue
In October 2011, a two-year-old girl, Wang Yue, was hit by a small, white van in the city of Foshan, China, then run over by a large truck when she was not moved by bystanders. A total of 18 people ignored her, some going so far as to walk around the blood, and the girl was left for 7 minutes before a recycler, Chen Xianmei, picked up the toddler and called for help.
As a way to educate the audience and show them what is bystander effect and how does people react to such situations, I need to create a way that they can see visual content in the form of text or graphic, or even motion video.
This project is to create an installation art that reflects to how human reacts toward a distress situation occurring to others in the public.
Background
The bystander effect, a phenomenon that a person is more likely to help another person in a distress situation or a situation in need of help, in the public among a great number of people present.
Based on studies conducted by American psychologist, there are two major factors that is the cause to the bystander effect.
First is the number of people presence in the area of distress which makes a diffusion of responsibility. Since the responsibility to take action is thought to be shared among others, they do not feel obligated to lend a hand.
The second reason is the need to behave in correct and socially acceptable ways. This shows when other observers just do not react, they feel there is not a need to intervene or not appropriate in some cases.
Problem Identification
- Will the user react to a distress situation when being alone or in a group?
- How will this project help the society?
- What can the user learn when being alone and in a group to handle the bystander effect?
- How will the study of the bystander effect help the audience?
Aim and Objectives
- To explore the relationship between science and the effects of urbanism.
- To explore the culture of urbanism.
- To encourage audience to lend a hand.
- To investigate the issues concerning to the bystander effect.
- To create awareness among the society.
Motivation
My motivation comes from an article regarding a young women, Kitty Genovese, that was stab to death outside the door leading to her apartment in 1964.What makes me sad was that she cried for help after getting stab, but no one wanted to intervene and help her. She was left to died outside the streets due to the bystander effect.
Source: http://listverse.com/2009/11/02/10-notorious-cases-of-the-bystander-effect/
This video shows a study test of the bystander effect conducted in the New York streets.
This is a video of a news report on the bystander effect in the US.
Research Topic
Landslide, a massive movement of soil and rock debris that move downhill due to the action of gravity.
Background
A natural hazard of the world, when landslide occur, it can be one of the most devastating, costly and damaging phenomenon to a country. This normally has an influence due to human activities even though it may not be directly or indirectly to the cause. One for the main factors that help propel landslide is major developments in a certain area where expansion of development expand to unstable hill slope for roads and building sites. When this occur, it becomes a secret recipe for the grounds to become loosen and soft with the aid of raining.
Landslides occur when the stability of a slope changes from a stable to an unstable condition. A change in the stability of a slope can be caused by a number of factors, acting together or alone. Natural causes of landslides include:
Groundwater (porewater) pressure acting to destabilize the slope.
Loss or absence of vertical vegetative structure, soil nutrients, and soil structure (e.g. after a wildfire).
Erosion of the toe of a slope by rivers or ocean waves.
Weakening of a slope through saturation by snowmelt, glaciers melting, or heavy rains.
Problem Identification
Coming up with an installation that can educate the audience may have certain question to keep in mind.
- How to attract the audience.
- What can the user learn from the installation.
- How does this effect them.
- Is the installation exciting to learn.
- Is the installation effective in spreading awareness.
Aim and Objectives
This project has a sole purpose to educate and spread awareness of how and what causes landslide to happen. This challenges me to come up with an idea on how to make it appealing to educate the audience.
Motivation
The Highland Towers Disaster is considered one of the most famous landslide incident in Malaysia. Occurred on 11 December 1993 in Taman Hillview, Ulu Klang. What was an apartment building back then turn out to be a tragedy when one of its block collapse with out a warning due to landslide. This devestating tragedy claim 48 lives which included high profile individuals and foreigners.
The primary cause of the tragic incident had been 10 days of unrelenting tropical rainfall that caused an enormous mudslide that toppled Block 1. The city's fire and rescue services faced an unprecedented situation as they struggled to find survivors in the massive heap of twisted wreckage, while relatives and friends waited desperately for news of the missing. In the aftermath of the tragedy, came an avalanche of urgent questions. Why had Highland Towers collapsed, and who should be called to account? In the first documentary account of this emotionally charged real life story, we hear the raw heart-rending stories of the men and women who lived through the tragedy and those that lost loved ones. We are taken back to the crucial hours and days – with never-before-seen footage, caught on tape by the BOMBA rescuers themselves – as emergency crews and ordinary people worked around the clock in the hope of finding survivors buried under the layers of rubble.
Source: http://www.historyasia.com/synopsis.aspx?libId=1401&sId=826&sTime=1320
Ideation and Concept
The main concept and idea is an installation that would show how landslides occur and the key areas in an interactive way through art installation.
Review, Analysis and Precedence Studies
A short documentary from History channel showing a live footage caught during a landslide.
Various steps must be taken into consideration to create a final output that is effective in delivering the message to the audience. This includes doing research and studies on the selected topic, so that a suitable art installation can be produced.