Domestic violence, bullying and big bank fraud are being fuelled by Australia’s ‘she’ll be right mate’ attitude and a fear of embarrassment.

September 18, 2018

Australia’s ‘she’ll be right mate’ attitude and a fear of embarrassing ourselves is fuelling domestic violence, bullying and even big bank fraud, a Queensland academic says.

It’s called ‘bystander apathy’ and it’s commonly understood as a type of personal paralysis that kicks in when we’re surrounded by people that prevent us from taking action.

CQ University Professor Matthew Rockloff says the age-old psychological phenomenon occurs on a daily basis and can have tragic consequences if the effect takes hold during an emergency.

“We usually see ourselves as the author of our own actions but often the people around us influence us in ways we’re often not conscious of,” he told AAP.

And it doesn’t just happen in crowds.

Behind closed doors and in the cyber community, if we sense a large number of people are aware of an incident, we’re also less likely to offer help.

He’s on a mission to educate Australians and says being aware when we become affected could help society better respond to everything from bullying and domestic violence to fraud and disasters on the scale of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

“We can learn to act against that initial impulse to just follow the crowd and do nothing,” he said.

But understanding our reluctance to get involved in a situation isn’t as simple as labelling the effect as peer group pressure, although fear of looking foolish if help is rejected is another factor.

Prof Rockloff says bystanders often evaluate each other instead of the incident and any victims who may need our help.

There’s also often doubt in their minds about whether anything can be done to help.

“If you think of the 911 disaster, people saw planes flying into buildings and they were confused, is this an accident or was it an attack?”

He said similar confusion might have afflicted some staff in Australia’s big banks when they witnessed the fraud highlighted during the banking royal commission recently.

“When people are unclear about a situation unfolding in front of them they tend to look around them to see how others are reacting,” he said.

“But if everyone is ignorant of the fact intervention is needed it will encourage a crowd to mimic one another and not act.”

It’s what Prof Rockloff did at a shopping mall when he ignored a staggering and distressed middle-aged woman.

“Turns out she was legally blind and had become disoriented, and actually needed help,” he said.

And once a bystander has conformed to the group, the likelihood any one person will step forward and become involved decreases as the size of the group grows and their moral obligation dilutes.