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The Kitty Genovese murder and the social psychology of helping: The parable of the 38 witnesses
| Venue: | American Psychologist |
| Citations: | 14 - 2 self |
BibTeX
@ARTICLE{Manning_thekitty,
author = {Rachel Manning and Mark Levine and Alan Collins},
title = {The Kitty Genovese murder and the social psychology of helping: The parable of the 38 witnesses},
journal = {American Psychologist},
year = {},
pages = {2007}
}
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Abstract
This paper 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 we 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, we explore the consequences of the story for the discipline of psychology. We argue that the story itself plays a key role in psychology textbooks. We also suggest that the story marks a new way of conceptualizing the dangers of immersion in social groups. Finally, we suggest that the story itself has become a modern parable, the telling of which has served to limit the scope of enquiry into emergency helping.
