The Bystander Effect & Herd Mentality

I've been meaning to post on this video(1&2) for a while. Essentially, 7 men in DaVinci's Pizza in Akron, Ohio witness one man relentlessly attack another man without interfering. The prosecutor, Sherri Bevan Walsh, was able to use video captured on the pizza parlor's security cameras to convict the attacker, Mark Jones on a felony assault charge and Christine Simms as his accomplice. They received a 4 year jail term and 2 years of probation respectively.

The same video footage that Walsh used to convict Jones can give us a bit of insight into what went on that night. I've watched the video several times now and I can honestly say that no one, NO ONE, did anything right. The scene begins to unfold with Christine Simms entering the pizza place and proceeding to the counter, next to the front of a long line. Now I don't know what she was thinking. Perhaps she had just walked out with her pizza and came back for condiments, maybe she wanted a job application, maybe her sister worked there and she wanted to ask the cashier if she was working that shift, maybe she was cutting line. I honestly don't know what she was doing or thinking, and neither did Joseph Sarpino, a man in the middle of the line talking to his girlfriend on his cell phone.

Talking on a cell phone while standing in line is acceptable only if it is a short conversation. Anything longer than a quick question/answer session is just rude to those around you. Using it to comment on the rude behavior of others around you is just poor etiquette and in this case stupid to boot. If he had a problem with someone cutting line, he should have quietly brought it to the manager's attention. Instead he complains loudly about it to his girlfriend on the phone. Christine, the women who had apparently cut line, overheard this. When confronted by Christine, Joseph should have put down the phone and attempted to carry on a civil conversation with her.  But he didn't.

Christine may have felt a desire to confront Joseph, but there really was no need to confront him. Furthermore, if she did have a valid reason for cutting to the front of the line, she only needed to explain that to Joseph in a calm and collected manner. There was no need for the matter to escalate any further. But it did.

Step in the manager. This is his place of business and he is responsible for what goes on in it. He should have immediately intervened and either brought the tension down, or asked the customers to accompany him to his office where they could work things out. Once there it would have been easy enough to offer them both a free pizza to smooth things out or, alternatively, offer to call the local constable to help sort matters through. If this wasn't possible, then the police should have been called immediately and the irate customers informed of the fact that they were on their way and would handle the situation from there. But he didn't.

Enter the boy friend, Mark. Christine makes physical contact with Joseph. Two pokes to his face none the less. This should not have happened. Now of course Joseph gets angry and finally hangs up his cell phone. Better late than never I suppose, but now he is upset and advances on Christine with a full blown shouting match. What Mark should have done was told Christine to calm down and escorted her out of the establishment. What he did instead was inexcusable. He stepped between Christine and Joseph, which in and of itself is understandable, but he didn't do it so much as to protect his girl friend, but rather to prepare for a fight with Joseph. A guy he easily could have bench pressed. Mark then sucker punches Joseph. During the entire confrontation Joseph had not laid a hand on anyone and was clearly no threat to either Christine or Mark. Mark had put himself in a bad situation and was in a bad position to defend himself when the punch came. He should have been prepared. But he wasn't.

The fight was over before it had really begun. The first two punches were all it took to buckle Joseph's knees. Mark could have turned and walked out at that point. Instead he continues to punch and beat on Joseph. At least 5 more times, Mark has to go so far as to hold Joseph up to hit him. I can't imagine what type of person would find the need to attack someone in this situation. I can't imagine why Christine would have allowed Mark to continue beating on Joseph, why neither of them realized that what was transpiring was not a good thing and would result in very bad things for them I do not know. What I do know though is that for what seems like an eternity, 7 other men in the room watch as Mark throws four years of his life away for half a dozen punches. Let me rephrase that, not only are the 7 men that are watching not helping Joseph, they are not helping Mark by stopping him. They should have done something. But they didn't.

Now, I don't think for a moment that any of those men wanted to be the target of Mark's rage (I actually believe it was Pluralistic Ignorance(3) that caused them to not act rather than fear of personal harm). But at the same time I know they needed to do something. If just one of those men had looked at one of the other men in the room and said "You and I need to do something now!" that would have been enough to have gotten a movement of some sort. I don't think a physical confrontation with Mark was even necessary. If someone had just tried to *reason* with him in a forceful manner it might have been enough for him to come to his senses. "Look, this guy Joseph is a stupid jerk, I don't think he will make the same mistake again! Mark, let him apologize!"  This may have calmed Mark down enough to stop or slow down the fight until the police arrived.

So many things went wrong and nothing went right in this situation. If just one of the participants had used a little fore thought the entire situation could have been avoided. The key lesson here is if you find yourself in an awkward situation, think first! If you find yourself witnessing such a situation, think first, but then act! Remember though that your actions, as well as those around you, will be guided by the Bystander Effect(4), a phenomenon in which someone is less likely to intervene in an emergency situation when other people are present and able to help. But also remember that in a group situation, the individuals in the group will tend to follow each other with a type of Herd Mentality(5). If you can think your way through the situation enough to act (overcoming the Bystander Effect), and pull others into your action plan by making direct eye contact, pointing and using addressing terms such as a name or "you" rather than "someone" or "anyone", others will follow your instructions.

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMIuG3HvV0Y&mode=related&search=
2. http://www.frikid.com/showVideo.php?lid=896
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluralistic_ignorance
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_mentality