Bibb Latané
American social psychologist known for bystander research with John Darley
Social psychologist who, with John Darley, showed in staged emergencies that the presence of other bystanders can reduce helping. He also proposed social impact theory and later commented on the Kitty Genovese story.
Why this person matters
Darley and Latané turned the reaction to a famous 1964 murder into experiments on diffusion of responsibility. Latané argues that failure to help comes from ordinary social processes, including pluralistic ignorance and public cautiousness, and not from apathy. He names John Darley, Judith Rodin, Lee Ross and Richard Nisbett as co-designers of the experiments.
Main contributions
Bystander inhibition experiments
With John Darley he studied how inactive bystanders affected helping in staged emergencies. Their 1968 article on diffusion of responsibility is a core report. Latané names three processes behind bystander inhibition: public cautiousness, pluralistic ignorance and diffusion of responsibility.
Social impact theory
He proposed that social influence depends on the strength, immediacy and number of the sources present, summarised as Impact = f(SIN).
Reading the Genovese case
In a letter published in the New Yorker on 7 April 2014, replying to Nicholas Lemann's review, he argued that the myth was the claim that apathy caused inaction. He said the apathy story began with a headline written after the murderer's arrest, which had come about through a citizen's report.
Context and limits
Manning, Levine and Collins (2007) found no evidence for 38 witnesses, that witnesses observed the murder, or that witnesses remained inactive. The British Psychological Society's summary adds that prosecutors found only about half a dozen usable witnesses and that no witness reported seeing the stabbing. In 2016 the New York Times noted that later reporting had called significant elements of its account into question. The 2007 authors do not dispute the bystander effect itself.
In your introductory course
Social psychology.Latané appears in the social psychology chapter on helping and the bystander effect. Instructors now pair the experiments with the corrected account of the Genovese case.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 12.7. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1963
Received his PhD from the University of Minnesota, where he studied under Stanley Schachter.
- 1968
Published the diffusion of responsibility article with John Darley.
- 2014
Wrote a letter to the New Yorker on the Genovese murder and the bystander research.
Sources
- Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Latané Responds to New Yorker Article on Genovese MurderSociety or association. Text passages inspected.
- British Psychological Society Research Digest, The truth behind the story of Kitty Genovese and the bystander effectSociety or association. Text passages inspected.
- Wikipedia, Bibb LatanéReference work. Reference article inspected.
- Wikipedia, Murder of Kitty GenoveseReference work. Reference article inspected.