place like this street in New York City if you were unfortunate enough to be the victim of a crime or taken ill unexpectedly you might think that surrounded by all these people someone would intervene after all isn't there safety and numbers psychologists say no research suggests that often a victim is less likely to receive assistance when surrounded by a group rather than a single bystander when people are in a crowd it's easier to pass the buck it's what psychologists call the diffusion of responsibility Liverpool Street Station in London a busy thorough fair for commuters unknown to these passers by Peter is an actor as part of an experiment on bystander apathy he's pretending to be ill help help how long before he gets help please some please help me help me sir please help me helping would be inconvenient or even risky he lies there for more than 20 minutes and no one raises an eyebrow please somebody help me it's always very distressing to watch situations like this where people are obviously suffering and no one's actually helping them but what we have here is two conflicting rules one is the rule that we ought to help and the other is the rule that we ought to do what everybody else is doing and and here you have a a group of effectively a group of strangers who are exerting the pressure not to intervene not to help and it's very difficult to Rebel Ruth another actor takes Peter's Place how long before she receives [Music] help 4 minutes later and 30 four people have passed without stopping people don't really want to know that they just haven't got the time well they have got the time they just don't want to get involved unwittingly these strangers have silently formed a temporary group with a rule don't get involved they're afraid to stand out from the crowd and won't take action if no one else does this woman has clearly spotted Ruth but she conforms to the rule and does nothing Watch What Happens though when someone else helps you all right you all right yes thank you sure you look a bit clicky you know what she suddenly finds herself in a different group with a new rule to help well she you all right yeah yes you are first I thought she was dead then I sort of checked to see if she was breathing or not and I looked around and I couldn't believe that no one had noticed it cuz there was a blow sat there just absorbed in reading a newspaper this time Peter's dressed as a respectable gentleman now that his dress is in keeping with those around him how long before he's rescued hello sir how are you today I'm all right 6 seconds she even calls him sir and suddenly everyone's a Good Samaritan do you suffer from epilepsy no why you're lying on the floor in the rank because he's part of the right group everyone wants to help I would just ha to be in his position of feeling ill um and nobody helping and walking past so we just like to check that he was and I thought but it's wet so he must really be because he going to ruin his suit anyway