The effect of the emergency perception of bystanders of cyberbullying victims on helping behaviors is often neglected in research on cyberbullying. In this study, we explored the influence of this cognitive factor on cyber-bystanders’ helping tendencies as well as elucidated possible underlying processes. The results of two studies were reported. In Study 1, 150 undergraduates read a true case of a girl experiencing cyberbullying. The results indicated that when the participants perceived the victim’s situation to be more critical (i.e., higher emergency perception), their helping tendencies were stronger, partly through increased state empathy followed by feelings of responsibility to help. In Study 2, we randomly assigned 300 undergraduates to two groups. The low emergency group read the same cyberbullying case as Study 1, whereas the cyberbullying case read by the high emergency group contained additional emergency information of the victim. The results indicated that the high emergency group expressed stronger helping tendencies than did the low emergency group. This effect was caused by a stronger perception that the victim was in an emergency situation, which not only strengthened the participants’ helping tendencies directly but also indirectly through increasing their state empathy and feelings of responsibility to help.

对网络欺凌受害者的旁观者的紧急感知对帮助行为的影响通常在网络欺凌研究中被忽略。在这项研究中，我们探讨了这一认知因素对网络旁观者帮助趋势的影响，并阐明了可能的潜在过程。报告了两项研究的结果。在研究1中，有150名大学生读了一个女孩遭受网络欺凌的真实案例。结果表明，当参与者认为受害人的处境更为危急（即，对紧急情况的感知程度更高）时，他们的帮助倾向会更强，部分原因是通过增加国家同情心以及随后的帮助责任感。在研究2中，我们将300名本科生随机分为两组。低紧急状态小组阅读了与研究1相同的网络欺凌案例。紧急情况小组阅读的网络欺凌案还包含受害者的其他紧急情况信息。结果表明，高危人群比低危人群表现出更强的帮助倾向。产生这种效果的原因是人们更加了解受害者处于紧急情况下，这不仅直接增强了参与者的帮助倾向，而且通过增强他们的国家同理心和帮助的责任感而间接增强了参与者的帮助倾向。