My latest piece for Skeptical Inquirer, “Kitty Genovese: Revising the Parable of the Bad Samaritan,” is up on the web. The 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese in the Kew Gardens neighborhood of Queens, New York, became the symbol of bystander apathy when the New York Times reported that 38 people had witnessed Kitty’s brutal stabbing without calling the police or taking action to help her. A new documentary film, The Witness, follows Kitty’s younger brother, Bill, as he investigates the case in an effort to find out what really happened. The story he uncovers is substantially different from the legendary version that became a standard feature of psychology textbooks.

The Genovese case inspired a long line of research into the factors that influence bystanders to help a person in need. That research continues to this day, and I summarize the results of some recent studies.

That’s all for now.

Happy Summer!

SV