Despite intense national and international media coverage, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the role of the many bystanders in the bullying and suicide of Rutgers University student, Tyler Clementi. This article examines the case as an exemplar for careful review of the discrepancy between academic literature and popular understanding of the role of bystanders in bullying processes, integrating research on bystander effect, bullying, and homophobia. The case reveals a process in which bystanders come to disavow their complicity by either denying the harm done or scapegoating the bully after the fact. Both processes may inhibit future educational efforts and bystander interventions. Implications for clinical social work practice in schools, university settings, and communities are discussed.
AtlasR. S., & PeplerD. J. (1998). Observations of bullying in the classroom. Journal of Educational Research, 92, 86–99.
3.
ButlerJ. (2005). Giving an account of oneself. New York, NY: Fordham University Press.
4.
ClarkR. D., & WordL. E. (1974). Where is the apathetic bystander? Situational characteristics of the emergency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 29, 279–287.
DarleyJ. M., & LataneB. (1968). Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of responsibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 8, 377–383.
7.
DarleyJ. M., TegerA. L., & LewisL. D. (1973). Do groups always inhibit individuals responses to potential emergencies?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 26, 395–399.
8.
DovidioJ. F. (1984). Helping behavior and altruism: An empirical and conceptual overview. Advances in Experimental and Social Psychology, 17, 361–427.
9.
EllisJ., & FoxP (2001). The effect of self-identified sexual orientation on helping behavior in a British sample: Are lesbians and gay men treated differently?Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 31(6), 1238–1247.
10.
FarringtonD. P., & TtofiM. M. (2009). School-based programs to reduce bullying and victimization. Campbell Systematic Reviews. doi:10.4073/csr.2009.6
11.
FischerP., KruegerJ. I., GreitemeyerT., VogrincicC., KastenmullerA., FreyD., … KainbacherM. (2011). The bystander-effect: A meta-analytic review on bystander intervention in dangerous and non-dangerous emergencies. Psychological Bulletin, 137(4), 517–537.
GabrielU., & BanseR (2006). Helping behavior as a subtle measure of discrimination against lesbians and gay men: German data and a comparison across countries. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 36(3), 690–707.
16.
GaertnerS. L., & DovidioJ. F. (1986). The aversive form of racism. In DovidioJ. F. & GaertnerS. L. (Eds.), Prejudice, discrimination, and racism (pp. 61–89). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
17.
GiniG. (2006). Bullying as a social process: The role of group membership in students’ perception of inter-group aggression at school. Journal of School Psychology, 44, 51–65.
18.
GiniG., AlbieroP., BenelliB., & AltoeG. (2008). Determinants of adolescents’ active defending and passive bystanding behavior in bullying. Journal of Adolescence, 31, 93–105.
GrayC., RusselP., & BlockleyS. (1991). The effects upon helping behavior of wearing pro-gay identification. British Journal of Social Psychology, 30, 171–178.
21.
HawkinsL., PeplerD. J., & CraigW. M. (2001). Naturalistic observations of peer interventions in bullying. Social Development, 10(4), 512–527.
KaplanB. K., & McClureJ. L. (2011). Brief submitted on behalf of state of New Jersey, State of New Jersey vs. Dharun Ravi, Defendant (Superior Court of New Jersey).
24.
KopelsS., & PaceleyM. S. (2012). Reducing bullying toward LGBTQ youths in schools. School Social Work Journal, 37(1), 97–111.
25.
KunstmanJ. W., & PlantA. (2008). Racing to help: Racial bias in high emergency helping situations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(6), 1499–1510.
26.
LevineM., & CrowtherS (2008). The responsive bystander: How social group membership and group size can encourage as well as inhibit bystander intervention. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(6), 1429–1439.
27.
MarkeyP. M. (2000). Bystander intervention in computer-mediated communication. Computers in Human Behavior, 16, 183–188.
28.
MasserB., & MoffatK. B. (2006). With friends like these … The role of prejudice and situational norms on discriminatory helping behavior. Journal of Homosexuality, 51(2), 121–138.
29.
MillerJ., DonnerS., & FraserE. (2004). Talking when talking is tough: Taking on conversations about race, sexual orientation, gender, class and other aspects of social identity. Smith College Studies in Social Work, 74(2), 377–392.
30.
MishnaF. (2003). Peer victimization: The case for social work intervention. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 84(4), 513–522.
31.
MishnaF., NewmanP. A., DaleyA., & SolomonS. (2009). Bullying of lesbian and gay youth: A qualitative investigation. British Journal of Social Work, 39, 1598–1614.
32.
NussbaumM. (2001). Upheavals in thought: The intelligence of emotions. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
33.
O'ConnellP., PeplerD., & CraigW. (1999). Peer involvement in bullying: Insights and challenges for intervention. Journal of Adolescence, 22, 437–452.
34.
OlweusD. (1978). Aggression in the schools: Bullies and whipping boys. Washington, D.C.: Hemisphere Press.
35.
OzugM. (Producer). (2004, March 14). Remembering Kitty Genovese: Friend recalls victim of infamous 1964 murder [Radio broadcast episode]. In Weekend Edition Saturday. West Rutland, VT: Sound Portrait Productions, National Public Radio.
36.
ParkerI. (2012, February 6). The story of a suicide: Two college roommates, a webcam, and a tragedy. The New Yorker, 36-51.
37.
PiliavinJ. A., DovidioJ., GaertnerS., & ClarkR.D.III. (1981). Emergency intervention. New York, NY: Academic Press.
38.
PiliavinI. M., PiliavinJ. A., & RodinS. (1975). Costs, diffusion, and the stigmatized victim. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 429–438.
39.
Polder-VerkielS. E. (2010). Online responsibility: Bad samaritanism and the influence of Internet mediation. Science and Engineering Ethics, 18(1), 117–141. doi: 10.1007/s11948-010-9253-z
40.
PoteatV. P., & EspelageD. L. (2005). Exploring the relation between bullying and homophobic verbal content: The Homophobic Content Agent Target (HCAT) scale. Violence and Victims, 20(5), 513–528.
41.
RosenthalA. M. (1964). Thirty-eight witnesses. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
42.
RossL., GreeneD., & HouseP. (1977). The “false consensus effect”: An egocentric bias in social perception and attribution processes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 13, 279–301.
43.
SalmivalliC., LagerspetzK., BjorkqvistK., OstermanK., & KaukiainenA. (1996). Bullying as a group process: Participant roles and their relations to social status within the group. Aggressive Behavior, 22, 1–15.
44.
SalmivalliC., VoetenM., & PoskipartaE. (2011). Bystanders matter: Associations between reinforcing, defending, and the frequency of bullying behavior in classrooms. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 40(5), 668–676.
45.
SchamessG., & ShilkretR (2011). Ego psychology. In BerzoffJ., FlanaganL. M., & HertzP. (Eds.), Inside out and outside in: Psychodynamic clinical theory and psychopathology in contemporary multicultural contexts (3rd ed.; pp. 62–96). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
46.
SchwartzS. H. (1980). Bystander anonymity and reactions to emergencies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(3), 418–430.
ShawJ. I., BoroughmH. W., & FinkM. I. (1994). Perceived sexual orientation and helping behavior by males and females: The wrong number technique. Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality, 6, 73–81.
49.
StaubE. (1980). Social and prosocial behavior: Personal and situational influences and their interactions. In E. Staub, Personality: Basic aspects and current research (pp. 236–294). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
50.
ThornbergR. (2007). A classmate in distress: Schoolchildren as bystanders and their reasons for how they act. Social Psychology of Education, 10, 5–28.
51.
TwemlowS. W., SaccoF. C., & WilliamsP. (1996). A clinical and interactionist perspective on the bully-victim-bystander relationship. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 60(3), 296–313.
