John M. Darley (April 3, 1938 – August 31, 2018) was an American social psychologist and professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University.
This work stemmed from the tragic case of Kitty Genovese, a New Yorker who was murdered in March 1964 while 38 people either witnessed or heard her struggling with the assailant.
[5] Darley followed his father's footsteps and received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Swarthmore College in 1960 and a PhD in Social Relations from Harvard University in 1965.
After hearing of the tragic case of Kitty Genovese,[5] he was inspired to explore why people are less likely to intervene when there are other witnesses present, a phenomenon is the “Bystander effect”.
With collaborator, Bibb Latané from Columbia University, Darley developed and conducted experiments to explore the bystander effect and understand the circumstances that create it.