by Catherine Sanderson (Author)
‘Fantastic … It explains the
misperception of stacked odds and personal powerlessness that stops
individuals challenging bad behaviour. Stunning. Humbling.
Thought-provoking’
Kathryn Mannix, author of With the End in Mind
In the face of discrimination, bad behaviour, evil and abuse, why do good people so often do nothing?
Every
day, we see examples of bad or immoral behaviour – from sexual
harassment to political corruption, from negligence to bullying.
Why
did no one stop the abduction of Jamie Bulger, despite many witnesses
reporting they felt uneasy seeing the two-year-old's distress? How did
the USA gymnastics team doctor, Larry Nassar, abuse hundreds of young
women under his care for so long? Why didn't anyone intervene when David
Dao, an innocent sixty-nine-year-old man, was forcibly removed from his
seat on a United Airlines aeroplane and dragged down the aisle by
security officers? How did large crowds of men get away with sexually
assaulting an estimated 1,200 women in Cologne during the 2015 New
Year's Eve celebrations?
In The Bystander Effect,
pioneering psychologist Catherine Sanderson uses real-life examples,
neuroscience and the latest psychological studies to explain why we
might be good at recognising bad behaviour but bad at taking action
against it. With practical strategies to transform your thinking, she
shows how we can all learn to speak out, intervene, think outside the
group mentality and ultimately become braver versions of ourselves.
Courage is not a virtue we're born with. A bystander can learn to be brave.