What Is Genovese Syndrome?

Genovese syndrome is a term we use when describing a psychological phenomenon in  which, instead of helping, people are paralyzed in emergencies when people need their help in the face of some danger. This sounds really weird, doesn’t it?

The name Genovese Syndrome comes from a crime that took place in the United States in 1964 when a man stabbed a woman named Kitty Genovese in front of this apartment and dozens of eyewitnesses. No one did anything to help the woman.

This was such a great shock that Social Psychology has been trying to find an answer to this since 1968. Why did none of these people help him? The study came to a sad conclusion. The more eyewitnesses to a crime or dangerous event, the less likely it is that no one will offer their help, and vice versa. The fewer eyewitnesses, the better chances you have.

Genovese syndrome

The murder of Kitty Genovese took place on March 13, 1964 in New York. There are several examples of people living alone in big cities, and how little they are interested in other people. But this incident was an unfortunate symbol of the dark side of such apathy, which is also really common in large cities.

Facts about Genovese syndrome

Police said the stabbing happened like this:  Kitty Genovese was on her way home after a long day at work. He parked his car near his apartment. As he got out of his car, a man ran up to him and stabbed him twice in the back.

His cries for help drowned in the loneliness of the night. No one nearby tried to do anything to help him. A few minutes later, this attacker fled the scene, leaving Kitty wounded on the ground.

After a few minutes, the  assailant returned to the crime scene  and found Kitty on the floor of the building that led to her apartment. That’s when the attacker continued to stab Kitty for almost half an hour.

A few minutes after the attack ended, one of the eyewitnesses called police. When first aid arrived, it was too late to save Kitty Genovese’s life. He died in an ambulance on his way to the hospital.

Genovese striker

Kitty’s striker,  Winston Moseley, managed to reach out a few days later. He was married, a father of three, a mechanic. Under pressure from police, he confessed to the murder of Kitty, but also the murder of two other women.

His psychiatric evaluation showed that he had necrophilic tendencies and that his personality was antisocial. He was sentenced to life without parole for these murders. 

The murder of Genovese caused great unrest in the country and immediately became a controversial topic. The biggest controversy arose when people heard that there had been at least 38 witnesses to this murder. 

At least 38 people saw what was happening to Kitty, but none tried to help her. No one even called the police except when the attack was over. But why? Why didn’t anyone do anything?

Decentralization of responsibility

The story of Kitty Genovese caused genuine confusion and led to numerous psychological and psychosocial studies. John Darley and Bibb Latané investigated this case in every minute detail and developed the phenomenon of decentralization of responsibility.

This phenomenon has to do with the effect of Genovese syndrome or bystander. In the simplest terms, it means that it is less likely that anyone will help you in a crisis if there are a lot of people around you.

The basic idea of ​​this phenomenon is that people who witness the  situation assume that someone else will intervene. But the problem is that when everyone assumes this, no one does anything. This was the conclusion of these two researchers, which they reached with their amazing social research.

Here are the reasons for this phenomenon:

• The fact that everyone can see, but no one helps.
• The idea that there is someone else on site who is more qualified to help the victim.
• A feeling of insecurity or shame about intervening when so many people would see it.

Conclusion

Before concluding this article, we want to point out that when you think about what Genovese syndrome means, you can get an idea of ​​how dangerous being passive is.

If, as citizens of the world, we are unaware of this fact and do nothing to fight it, any of us may find ourselves in this situation where we are doing nothing to help those in need.

Genovese syndrome should serve as a lesson in  social situations that we can improve  so that we never allow such things to happen again.