The Bystander Effect

When do you help others?  Discuss.

Discuss the following scenarios:

• You attend a meeting of your entire class.  The class president asks for volunteers to plan the homecoming dance.  No one volunteers.  Do you?*
• You are driving home from school.  A disabled car is on the side of the road.  The driver is waving you down.  Do you stop?  Are their specific circumstances that might cause you to stop?

Watch and discuss The Today Show's investigation of the bystander effect.

After completing the classwork, do you think the bystander effect theory is valid?

*(what if the class president was your best friend?  What if you really cared about homecoming or it was something else that you did really care about, like the canoe trip...)

Then, watch and discuss What Would You Do? Bike Thief.