Scientists connect police brutality with bystander effect via experiment

In a new study published on July 9, scientists correlated the bystander effect with police brutality. The collective psychology expounds that, when something happens, if there is a bystander other than yourself, you will not take the initiative. This bystander effect for the first time has been observed outside of humans in rats as per research conducted by scientists at Harvard and has been published in the journal Science Advances. 

Explaining the diffusion of responsibility with a larger group, such as the police organization, researchers said that individuals might feel less personally responsible for helping others due to the culture. In an experiment set up among mice, scientists found that the rodents were more likely to help a struggling peer when they're alone, compared to when they are in a group. To test the bystander effect in rats, scientists restrained one rat using a small device and tested other rats to see how they would respond. To test the overall behaviour, researchers administered the anti-anxiety drug similar to Valium to some of the rats which they categorized as "bystanders". The experiment revealed that while most rats with the drug were inactive to “help” or respond to distressed rat, the rat not on drugs didn’t help the restrained rat either. 

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Police are confederates by training, Mason explains. They're taught not to intervene.

Part of "mammalian inheritance"

A neurobiologist at the University of Chicago and the lead study author, Peggy Mason said, “It’s the indifference of these other rats that changes the experience for them. This is not a human cultural phenomenon," Mason says. "This is part of our mammalian inheritance." Scientists related the behaviour with the scenario of police officers that used excessive force or coercion in their departments and their bystander officers neglecting to step in. Mason pointed out that while many civilians in similar settings intervene and question, the police system was not flawed due to some “bad apples” but it had to do with biologically-based bystander effect. “We have to toss out this bad apple explanation,” Mason says. "What we have is a systemic, institutionalized problem." 

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(Images Credit: Harvard release/ AP)