‘Heroic actions are a natural tendency’: why bystander apathy is a myth | Society

IIt was early on the morning of January 1 last year when Colin McGarva dove into a swollen river in Worcester to save an unconscious woman. McGarva said he didn’t think twice about the risk to himself or the devastating loss his newborn son would suffer if he too had been swept away by the fast-flowing icy waters.

“I didn’t take the time to think because the instinct – the instant reaction – is to help someone in need,” he said. “Someone’s life is an important thing. Helping is just something you have to do.”

The concept of heroism was widely debated last week following the mass knife attack on a high-speed train from Doncaster to London. While initial reports were of panic and confusion as passengers – some injured and bloodied – moved through the carriages, stories of heroism quickly emerged.

Samir Zitouni, an LNER employee, was the most prominent. Taken to hospital after putting himself in danger to save the lives of passengers, he was praised by police and the transport secretary for his “courage beyond measure”.

“There are people alive today who would not be alive…without his actions,” announced Transportation Secretary Heidi Alexander. But, according to his family, “for us, he was always a hero”.

Is there a hero in each of us? Bystander intervention experts say yes; that we are all more likely than not to act with selfless heroism in moments of acute threat.

“The idea that people panic and run screaming for the exit is Hollywood fiction,” said Professor Stephen Reicher, an expert in group behavior at the University of St Andrews.

“Usually people stay and help each other,” he said. “We saw this in the 7/7 tube bombings and the Admiral Duncan pub attack in London in 1999, where people looked out for each other even if they feared more bombs.

“In our own research into the Leytonstone Tube attack in 2015, there was an astonishing level of spontaneous coordination by bystanders: some leading others away from danger. Some distracting the attacker. Some confronting the attacker. Everyone was able to act through others. Heroism was a characteristic of the group, not just the individual,” he added.

Professor Clifford Stott, a specialist in crowd psychology and group identity at Keele University, agrees. Modern research, he says, has shown that “bystander apathy” is a myth. Instead, strangers often work together in emergency situations with a very sophisticated unit.

“What modern research shows is that the public is very good at protecting themselves and that the heroic actions that make headlines are actually underlying, natural tendencies in all of us.”

He says this reveals something very positive about the human condition, but it also indicates that society would benefit from fostering and harnessing this natural ability by helping people feel able to take control in an emergency.

“This will become increasingly important because of the broader challenges society will soon face – at the very least, there will be many more massive climate-related emergencies,” he said. “We need to build local resilience and build infrastructure within local communities that helps them organize and manage the motivation for people to intervene. »

Professor John Drury, a social psychologist specializing in the study of collective behavior at the University of Sussex, agrees. “Authorities arriving at the scene of an emergency must support and facilitate the strong and natural tendency of people to come together and help each other,” he said.

The language used by police and other first responders was subtle but essential, he said, emphasizing the use of positive, unifying language: “Talk about ‘the community’ rather than ‘the public,’ and ‘us’ and ‘us,'” he said. “Focus on strengthening that feeling of connection within the group you’re speaking to and between you and that group.”

Dr Gill Harrop, who runs the bystander intervention program at the University of Worcester, said many institutions were already working actively to build a culture of helping.

“We are seeing this happening now with bystander intervention training in schools, colleges, universities, the police and even the NHS,” she said. “We’re slowly but surely creating communities of active spectators. And it’s wonderful.”