09 Nov, 2008
5 Psychological experiments that expose the dark side of humanity (Part 3)
Posted by: Marcelo Galvani In: General
I found this article in English and I am translating.
Sources: Cracked.com and Mindpowernews.com
[Part 3]
Psychologists know that they have to be careful when exploring the human mind, because you never know what you'll find. A series of psychological experiments over the years have yielded terrifying conclusions about the issues.
Oh, we're not talking about the occasional psychopath. No, we're talking about you. The experiments speak for themselves:
# 3. Apathy of the experiment Espectador (1968)
The Preparation: When a woman was murdered in 1964, newspapers disclosed that 38 people had heard and seen the attack but did nothing. John Darley and Bibb Latane wanted to know if the fact that these people were in a large group played any role in the reluctance to help.
The two psychologists invited volunteers to take part in the discussion argued that the theme for being very personal, should be discussed with individuals separated into different rooms chatting with each other by an intercom.
During the conversation, one member would have a false seizure, which could be heard by others.
The result: When those who believed they were the only other person in the discussion, so that the staging of crisis began, 85 percent were heroic enough to leave the room and seek help others. So that's good, right?
Well, they had not finished. When the experiment was changed so that the participants believed that four other people were in the discussion, only 31 percent seek help so that was staged by the crisis began. The rest assumed that someone would take care of the problem. So the sentence: "The more the better" somehow got lost in translation because the correct term should be: "The more, the greater the likelihood that you'll die if you have a seizure."
What this says about you: It is clear that if there is an emergency situation and you're the only one present, the pressure to help increase dramatically. You feel 100 percent responsible for what happens. But when you're with 10 other people, you are only 10 percent responsible. The problem is everyone sits only 10 percent responsible too.
This experiment gives a different perspective on our previous experiments. Perhaps the drivers who deviated from the woman injured on the road would have stopped if they were alone on a deserted road (# 4). Or, perhaps they were also more likely to abandon it, because nobody was watching (# 5).
Or maybe it just comes down to how to be a plausible excuse to do by ourselves. "Surely someone will come to save the girl in the road," or, "Surely someone will do something about the environment," or "Surely the shark will be full and stop eating that guy."
We just need the smallest excuse for not getting anything.
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