diffusion of responsibility

Examples of diffusion of responsibility in the following topics:

• Noninvolvement and the Diffusion of Responsibility

  • Diffusion of responsibility is a phenomenon in which a person is less likely to take responsibility for an action when others are present.
  • Diffusion of responsibility tends to occur in groups of people above a critical size and when responsibility is not explicitly assigned.
  • The bystander effect is another phenomenon that is closely related to diffusion of responsibility.
  • This type of positive diffusion of responsibility constitutes the basis of the Nazi defense in the international Nuremberg Trials.
  • Give examples of the bystander effect, diffusion of responsibility, and anomie in contemporary society

• Group Influence

  • Diffusion of responsibility (also called the bystander effect) is a social phenomenon which tends to occur in groups of people above a certain critical size when responsibility is not explicitly assigned.
  • Kitty Genovese's murder is widely cited as an example of the diffusion of responsibility as numerous people observed (either heard or saw) her murder but no one called the police immediately, allowing the murderer to leave the scene of the initial attack then return to track her down and kill her and still get away.
  • One mechanism which management consultants recommend to avoid groupthink is to place responsibility and authority for a decision in the hands of a single person who can turn to others for advice.
  • An example of the types of cards used in the Solomon Asch line experiments.
  • This is just one illustration of the influence of groups on individuals.

• Ogburn's Theory

  • He suggested that technology is the primary engine of progress, but it is also tempered by social responses to it.
  • Ogburn posited four stages of technical development: invention, accumulation, diffusion, and adjustment.
  • Diffusion is the spread of an idea from one cultural group to another, or from one field of activity to another.
  • As diffusion brings inventions together, they combine to form new inventions.
  • Ogburn posited four stages of technical development: invention, accumulation, diffusion, and adjustment.

• Mechanisms of Cultural Change

  • Prior to the introduction of the birth control pill, women were at a high risk of pregnancy as a result of sex.
  • Additionally, cultural ideas may transfer from one society to another, through diffusion or acculturation.
  • In diffusion, the form of something (though not necessarily its meaning) moves from one culture to another.
  • "Stimulus diffusion" (the sharing of ideas) refers to an element of one culture leading to an invention or propagation in another .
  • The symbol of the ankh has its roots in Egyptian religious practice, but the symbol diffused over time and was adopted by other groups, including pagans, as a religious symbol.

• Rumors

  • Media and particular cultural-historical conditions may facilitate a rumor's diffusion.
  • A crisis of verification.
  • "an unnamed advisor to the president"), which seeks to profit politically from the rumor bomb's diffusion.
  • A rapid diffusion via highly developed electronically mediated societies where news travels fast.
  • the alleged removal of weapons of mass destruction from Iraq to Syria

• Innovation

  • This system aids in better evaluation of policies and procedures with accountability and efficiency in terms of time and money.
  • This system aids in better evaluation of policies and procedures with accountability and efficiency in terms of time and money.
  • There are several sources of innovation.
  • This process can be described as using the "s-curve" or diffusion curve.
  • This is known as the process of diffusion.

• Cultural Change

  • Prior to the introduction of the birth control pill, women were at a high risk of pregnancy as a result of sex.
  • After the introduction of birth control pills, risk of pregnancy was substantially reduced, increasing heterosexual people's willingness to engage in sexual activity outside of wedlock.
  • For instance, in diffusion theory, the form of something moves from one culture to another, but not its meaning.
  • For example, the ankh symbol originated in Egyptian culture but has diffused to numerous cultures.
  • The symbol of the ankh has its roots in Egyptian religious practice, but the symbol diffused over time and was adopted by other groups, including pagans, as a religious symbol.

• The Evolution of Health Care and Medicine

  • All human societies have beliefs that provide explanations for, and responses to, childbirth, death, and disease.
  • Within a given culture, elements of folk medicine may be diffusely believed by many adults or may be gathered and applied by those in a specific role of healer, shaman, midwife, witch, or dealer in herbs.
  • Attention has been paid to the folk medicine of indigenous peoples of remote areas of the world in the interest of finding new pharmaceuticals.
  • Of concern is the extinction of many species by the clearing of formerly wild rainforests.
  • Proponents of alternative medicine say that people should be free to choose whatever method of healthcare they want, and Western Medicine proponents make the same argument, but each group tends to highlight the benefits of their approach (for example, alternative approaches to birth and hemophilia) and western approaches to infectious disease and immune deficiency) without regard for their tradition's faults and controversies (for example, alternative approaches to pain relief that offered no herbal or pharmaceutical relief or western creation and treatment of diseases that likely did not exist - like hysteria, which was ultimately a response to gender inequality with little to no biological basis or consequence).

• Introduction: Groups and sub-structures

  • One of the most common interests of structural analysts is in the "sub-structures" that may be present in a network.
  • This view of social structure focuses attention on how solidarity and connection of large social structures can be built up out of small and tight components: a sort of "bottom up" approach.
  • Divisions of actors into groups and sub-structures can be a very important aspect of social structure.
  • Where the groups overlap, mobilization and diffusion may spread rapidly across the entire network; where the groups don't overlap, traits may occur in one group and not diffuse to the other.
  • Actors #5 and #2 appear to be in the middle of the action -- in the sense that they are members of many of the groupings, and serve to connect them, by co-membership.

• Crowds

  • Blumer (1951) differentiated four types of crowds:
  • Collective behavior can also refer to behavior that is diffused or dispersed over large distances.
  • This also implies that the behavior of a crowd is an emergent property of the people coming together and not a property of the people themselves.
  • Blumer sees crowds as emotional, but as capable of any emotion, not only the negative ones of anger and fear.
  • Convergence theory argues that the behavior of a crowd is not an emergent property of the crowd but is a result of like-minded individuals coming together.