The Kitty Genovese murder and the social psychology of helping: The parable of the 38 witnesses.

Abstract

This article argues that an iconic event in the history of helping research -- the story of the 38 witnesses who remained inactive during the murder of Kitty Genovese -- is not supported by the available evidence. Using archive material, the authors show that there is no evidence for the presence of 38 witnesses, or that witnesses observed the murder, or that witnesses remained inactive. Drawing a distinction between the robust bystander research tradition and the story of the 38 witnesses, the authors explore the consequences of the story for the discipline of psychology. They argue that the story itself plays a key role in psychology textbooks. They also suggest that the story marks a new way of conceptualizing the dangers of immersion in social groups. Finally, they suggest that the story itself has become a modern parable, the telling of which has served to limit the scope of inquiry into emergency helping.

Bystander Intervention in Cyberbullying

“…For instance, although accounts of the number of witnesses vary widely (Manning, Levine, & Collins, 2007), the rape and murder of Kitty Genovese in New York in 1964 evoked controversy and outrage, as it was reported that upwards of 38 witnesses saw or heard the crime without intervening.…”

Guardianship for crime prevention: a critical review of the literature

“…This research staged an event where helping behavior of naturally present bystanders was elicited in a situation where a person (acting in cooperation with researchers) seemed in urgent need of assistance, but not because this person was at risk of becoming a crime victim. They coined the term "bystander effect," and showed that the likelihood of a bystander intervening is a function of the number of other bystanders present (see also [29]). …”

Magnus Hirschfeld, his biographies and the possibilities and boundaries of ‘biography’ as ‘doing history’

“…Consider, for example, how textbooks reproduce historical myths in Kuhnian fashion such as Watson and Rayner's (1920) 'Little Albert' studies (Harris, 1979) or the linear, 'official' stories surrounding 'classic' experiments in social psychology (Cherry, 1995). Manning, Levine and Collins's (2007) recent demonstration that the Kitty Genovese murder has been misrepresented for decades in undergraduate psychology textbooks shows that this process is ongoing, rather than complete. Thus, it is important to ask why, how and with what effects widely known myths about the history of psychology entrench themselves in popular accounts, rather than simply to undertake a revisionist project of 'correction'.…”