IntroductionToday, many individuals are praised for their courage and heroism. Many of these people risk their lives to save or help others when they are in need. These people can range from firefighters who risked their lives to save innocent people from the September 11 attacks, to an ordinary person who helps an old lady carry her groceries home. Although there are a number of cases where people help other people in need, as mentioned above, there are also a number of cases where these same people avoid helping and getting involved, such as; ignore an old lady who slipped and fell in the middle of the road, avoid helping an old man pick up his change that fell out of his pocket, ignore the school fight between the two students, etc. The main purpose of this essay is to explain why and under what conditions some people are more likely to get involved than others. He accomplishes this by examining two opposing but related events in which people have a choice whether or not to intervene, then he tries to propose a legitimate theory to describe why some people are more likely to become involved than others, and finally it explains how the theory can be applied to events, as well as the flaws of the theory in relation to observed events. Description of Events The events described here come from my personal observations encountered during my early years of high school. The two events are somewhat opposite, and in both cases a third party has the choice to become involved or not. However, according to my observations, a third person intervened in one of the events but not in the other....... middle of paper ......008). Social psychology. Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company. Fischer, P., Greitemeyer, T., Pollozek, F. and Frey, D. (2006). The Unresponsive Bystander: Are Bystanders More Responsive in Dangerous Emergency Situations?. EuropeanJournal of Social Psychology, 36, 267-278.Garcia, SM, Weaver, K., Moscowitz, GB and Darley, JM (2002). Crowded minds: implicit bystander effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, No. 4,853. Latane, B. and Darley, J.M. (1968). Group ban on spectator intervention in case of emergency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 10, No3, 215-221. Latane, B. and Darley, J.M. (1970). The spectator who doesn't respond: Why isn't he helping? New York: Appleton Century-CroftsSchwartz, SH and Gottlieb, A (1980). Anonymity of spectators and reactions to emergencies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 39, no 3, 418-430.