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Image via WikipediaKitty Genovese: what you think you know about what happened to her is wrong. Kitty Genovese was repeatedly attacked while others watched and did nothing right? Wrong. While the story lead to a long and successful line of research in the area of bystander intervention and diffusion of responsibility, the facts of the story are incorrect. What are the facts behind the Kitty Genovese case and if groups are so unlikely to help, how do you explain how people came together to help at 911? Let’s take another look at the legacy of this famous story in this podcast.
Resources For This Podcast
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Here’s a link to the homepage of the American Psychologist journal. The article of interest is called “The Kitty Genovese Murder and the Social Psychology of Helping: The Parable of the 38 Witneses” by Rachel Manning, Mark Levine, and Alan Collins. You’ll need to get the article from your library however, as it is not available online.
- Here is an interesting article from the online magazine American Heritage called Nightmare on Austin Street which also covers the facts behind the Genovese case. Thanks to Chris Green for this link.
Here are links to the author’s websites:
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There is a great deal of information about what really happened to Kitty Genovese on the Kew Gardens website.
- Here’s a video showing how the “smoke under the door” scenario results in a lack of helping:
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Interesting video on Helping Behavior on YouTube.
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If you’re a Psych Teacher you should definitely join the Teaching In the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) discussion list to stay in touch with your "virtual colleagues" as I do.
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Another great discussion group for psychology teachers is PsychTeacher.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I seem unable to access TIPS; is the site down for any reason, or is the link directing to the wrong page?
Great work as always Michael, love these podcasts!
I just checked the link. It’s working now. Remember that this link only goes to the American Psychologist homepage. You’ll have to check your library to get the text of the actual article on Kitty Genovese (or join APA and pay for online access to the American Psychologist of course). Glad you like the podcast! Michael