You are walking alone on a bright day in May, listening to a sweet jazz melody from an earphone in one ear and the gentle whoosh of a spring breeze in the other.
 
Suddenly, a frail voice from over your shoulder cuts the air. You nervously glance back towards the sound that interrupted the tranquility of your walk.
 
A decrepit old man lies sprawled on the asphalt. He searches for assistance, barely yet surely lifting his shaking arm in your direction. In front of him is a tattered black hat, holding a few wrinkled paper notes and dull metal coins that amount to approximately ₩5,000.
 
You backtrack a few steps and rummage through your pockets to see if you have any extra change. You casually drop some coins into the hat and offer the man a nod of encouragement. The man looks up and gives you a warm smile.
 
However, this kind of gesture of hospitality is rarely seen on the crowded streets of Itaewon, Sinchon, or any other popular spots in Seoul for the homeless nowadays. Instead, manyoften pass by strangers in crowded places. Kevin Tang, a sophomore at SFS, said that although “[he] would definitely go and help” the homeless man in the abovementioned scenario, he feels less of an individual obligation to provide help in the presence of many people. “When there’s a lot of people, homeless people generally ask for help to all the people walking by,” said Tang. “I believe there are a lot of people that are there to help.”
 
This is a clear manifestation of diffusion of responsibility—a socio-psychological phenomenon whereby people feel less responsibility in the presence of a large group because they feel someone else will address the situation at hand.The diffusion of responsibility is also a foundational principle that underlies bystanderism, which describes an inverse relationship between the probability of helping someone in need and the number of people present.
 
Famously illustrated by the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese in Queens, New York (you should go check it out if you don’t know about it), this tendency towards inaction remains puzzlingly ubiquitous in today’s society.We often take pride in the power of the individual—yet when individual responsibility extends to decisive action, people are quick to let go of this power and fall back onto the collective responsibility of a large group.And I assure you, this isn’t some otherworldly inclination; rather, it exists within a large numberof us—including me.
 
For example: I didn’t take the surveys that Mr. Holcomb sent out to students via email during CT. Other students will take it. It’s not like one opinion matters anyway, I thought.
 
But what if he had sent me a separate email that read: “Andrew, I NEED you to answer the survey. Your feedback is CRUCIAL to the improvement of our school community”? Would I have still ignored his message? Probably not.
 
Likewise, delegating responsibility to an individual is effective in halting the diffusion of responsibility that comes from a statement given to a general audience. This is because addressing someone directly allows that person to recognize the importance of his taking action—and rightly so, for the power of the individual is enough to save someone’s life. It’s just up to us to make the most of it.
 
By the way, I’m sorry Mr. Holcomb.
 









Andrew Chung
Grade 10
Seoul Foreign School
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