Attitudes: Why People Don't Help

It was a hard murder to forget. Thirty-eight people passively watched as a man stalked, stabbed and killed Kitty Genovese, 28, in the predawn darkness of the Kew Gardens section of New York City five years ago. All heard her screams; none came to her aid. Since then, the paralysis of the innocent by stander has spurred psychologists to in vestigate man's unfortunate proclivity for playing the Bad Samaritan.

Why do people fail to help their fellow man? Fear, apathy and indifference are not quite the answer. Instead, the scientists' experiments show...