In chapter 13 of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Pavel was mistreated when he accidentally dropped the bottle of wine on Lieutenant Kotler. No one at the table stepped in to stop Lieutenant Kotler punishing Pavel for his accident, perhaps because the bystander effect was in place.
The bystander effect refers to cases in which individuals do not offer any means of help to a victim when other people are present. Basically, when multiple people are present, and something bad happens to someone, each person believes that the other will step in to stop it, but as each person thinks this, nobody steps in at all.
Have you ever been guilty of this? Have you seen this happen? Or maybe, did you ignore the bystander effect and step in? Explain.
