to think some people are incredibly self-centred

[efera]

I was walking home from work tonight and about 30m in front of me a young lad out jogging fell over. Between me and him there were 5 people, he was clearly hurt and 4 of them just walked past him and one woman stepped over him. I went to him and he looked to have sprained his ankle (I'm no medical expert) fortunately he only lived a couple of hundred metres around the corner so I supported him home. I am totally aghast at how 5 people can just ignore a person who has fallen over whilst running and is obviously being hurt.

Yes, was going to say 'bystander effect' also. A lecturer in my university's sociology department used to introduce the concept to first years by apparently falling down in a faint in the middle of a lecture. Three hundred eighteen year olds looked on from their seats annually, apparently.

I do also think people are less likely to help a man, possibly because they are more likely to assume he is drunk. And I do think people are afraid of scams. Not that I've heard of scams where someone helping a fallen person has their pocket picked, but I know I got very cynical about apparently upset people outside stations after I had fallen for the 'I've lost my ticket, and have no way of getting home' scam more than once. I know it's different, but if think it fostered a culture of mistrust, especially if you didn't actually see the person fall off their bike or whatever.