In social situations, what effect describes how the presence of others can lessen individual responsibility?

The concept of diffusion of responsibility refers to the phenomenon where individuals feel less responsibility to take action or help when in a group compared to when they are alone. This occurs because people may assume that someone else in the group will take charge or respond to a situation, leading to a decreased sense of personal obligation.

In social psychology, this effect is often discussed in the context of emergency situations, where individuals may hesitate to intervene if they believe others will do so. The well-known example is the bystander effect, where an individual's likelihood of offering help diminishes as the number of bystanders increases. This underscores the idea that in group settings, responsibility is perceived as shared among all members, which can lead to inaction.

The other concepts, while relevant in social psychology, focus on different aspects of group dynamics. Social loafing pertains to tasks where individuals contribute less when working in a group compared to when they work alone, often due to the perception that their efforts will not be individually recognized. Social facilitation involves improved performance on tasks in the presence of others, whereas social comparison is about individuals assessing their own abilities or opinions by comparing themselves to others. These concepts do not directly address the reduction of individual responsibility as seen in diffusion of responsibility.