In light of recent cases, the bystander effect has once again captured public attention.

A child wanders alone through a busy MRT station. A man collapses on the street. At Singapore Management University, a video went viral showing a woman kicking another woman on the ground, and bystanders watching, hesitating to intervene.

Dozens of people see, yet no one moves.

And even if the cameras are raised, eyes dart away, and the crowd waits for someone else to act.

Psychologists call this the bystander effect, the phenomenon where the more people present, the less likely anyone is to help.

But does the bystander effect reveal a lack of empathy? Or is it simply a human instinct to freeze in uncertainty, even when we care?

On The Hot Seat, Hongbin Jeong speaks to Dr Annabelle Chow, Principal Clinical Psychologist, Annabelle Psychology and Dr Razwana Begum, Head of Public Safety and Security Programme, Singapore University of Social Sciences, to find out.