The False Safety of Crowds

Most of us feel our safest when we are in crowds, and our most at risk when alone. The nightmare scenarios we all fear, usually involve us being followed or approached at night, in a deserted location, when nobody else is around. We often work to the assumption that predatory and other individuals wouldn't threaten and assault us when others are there because there would be witnesses to the offense - unfortunately predators and highly emotional/angry individuals don't have the legal consequences at the forefront of their mind. Having done door security for a number of years I've seen plenty of attacks that have been made when other people have been present, and I have also seen many individuals feel socially pressured to initiate an assault because other people were present.  

It always amazes me the number of people who engage in trash talking as a way of life: saying what they will or should do to certain groups of people, without directly engaging with them etc. Maturing to the point where you don't express your anger through threats and intimidation is a big part of self-protection and personal safety. If somebody keeps saying what they want to do, somebody will eventually call them on it. The playground/schoolyard can always be extended to adult situations and it is wise to leave all options of conflict resolution open rather than painitng yourself into a corner where your peers accept and anticipate one.  

In crowds we can actually lower our own awareness. As a social creature, human beings, will rely on others to spot danger for them. The more eyes there are to look out for danger, the less individual responsibility we feel to look out for it ourselves and as a result we switch off. If we also work with Models of Violence that suggest that violence doesn't occur in crowded places, we may enter a situation or place with our awareness levels turned down to zero. Muggings and street robberies occur in crowded shopping malls, busy parking lots and transit stops, all the time. Financial predators go where the prey is; they want a rich selection of their particular prey i.e. people with money, and busy crowded places give them this. We need to be equally aware when in a crowd as when on our own. 

Most of us are aware of the Bystander Effect, yet we don't believe that it would happen to us. The Bystander Effect was first picked up on in 1968, when two psychologists, Darley and Latane, who were interested in why neighbors didn't fully intervene to prevent the murder of Kitty Genovese (the Bystander Effect is also referred to as Genovese Syndrome), who was repeatedly stabbed to death in plain sight of a number of people. Through a series of laboratory experiments, where the two social psychologists, replicated crisis situations where crowds were present, they found that the greater the number of people present the less likely anyone was to act on behalf of the victim. One of the reasons for this is a diffusion of responsibility - where each bystander convinces themselves that it is the responsibility of the others to intervene and act, or they believe the others have already acted in some way. It would be naïve and dangerous to believe that anyone would step in and help us if we were in trouble - unless perhaps they were friends or people who know us. Darley and Latane's study indicated that the more information bystanders had about a victim, the more likely they were to intervene. 

Being in a crowd, or being surrounded by people does not increase your survival opportunities/potential. Recognizing how it may detract does. Next time you are in a crowded place understand that you are still at risk and that you must act accordingly.