The English words “everybody, somebody, anybody and nobody” are very reminiscent of multiple psychological phenomena in society and play a role in behavior and human interaction.
For instance, these words perpetuate the psychological idea of mob mentality in our society. Mob mentality is “the behavioral tendency of people (or other social animals) to act in unison with the group of which they are a part” (brainz.org). In present times, people tend to act as everybody or the rest of the group is acting for they have lost their assertion of individual beliefs due to the idea that everybody is doing something and thus they by default should too. In essence, individuals become part of the all inclusive “everybody” when they lose their morality in exchange for the unison of the group. The mob or group can act in extreme one-thinking ways as responsibility is diffused. Individuals act as the group they are part of acts once again based on the idea that if everybody is doing it, the activity must be correct.And, if the action of the group is incorrect, the singular individual can not be blamed due to this diffusion of responsibility. Unfortunately, this sentiment of the group acting as an everybody can result in gang rapes and riots. Examples of this loss of self to the mob were observed in everything from the Holocaust to the Salem Witch Trials. Although these people characteristically would not be this violent, the mob mentality and sense of everybody drove them to horrific behaviors. This mob mentality of everyone thinking and acting in unison can lend itself in the opposite way to the idea that if nobody is partaking in something,than people as individuals should not partake in these activities either. Sense of self is removed so that only the identity of the group exists; what the group likes, everybody likes and what the group dislikes, nobody likes.
Likewise, these concepts of “body” play out through the process of designating responsibility in society .People are aware that anybody can be responsible for issues in our community and that anybody can challenge these issues. However, society is often left with nobody dealing with issues because everybody assumes somebody else will take care of it. This is the phenomena of the bystander effect where, “the presence of others discourages an individual from intervening in an emergency situation” (psychologytoday.com) Basically, everybody witnessing an event or wrongdoing assumes somebody else will take care of the issue. This unfortunate trend of human behavior has been present throughout history. Anybody of the everybody viewing crime or conflict knows that help is needed but everybody always assumes somebody else will take care of the problem. Thus, nobody ends up helping. This was present historically present in the murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964. Kitty was murdered on the streets of New York City where many people were able to see that she needed help. However, all the witnesses involved assumed that somebody else would take care of the situation and thus it was not their individual responsibility. This event illustrated the volatile effect of losing responsibility when a person is a part of “everybody else” . Therefore, these words are incredibly dangerous as they take away human identity until we have no sense of self or sense of personal responsibility.
Bibliography
“Psychology Today.” Bystander Effect. Sussex Publishers, n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2015.
“What Is Mob Mentality?” Brainz. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2015.
Kelsey Kempner 