I read a lot and a wide variety of things interest me. Since the early 90’s I’ve been reading about different aspects of psychology such as motivation, influence, fear, love, relationships, leadership and so on. Some topics have come up so often that I mistakenly assume everyone is familiar with them.

BYSTANDER EFFECT

The first one is the “Bystander Effect” which goes along with “Diffusion of Responsibility.” Diffusion of Responsibility is when we transfer part or all of the responsibly for an outcome to others if we feel they are as capable as we are to respond. This dovetails with our willingness to submit to authority figures. If we perceive someone else as the authority in a situation then we will transfer responsibility for an outcome to them even though we are in a position to intervene. The Bystander Effect occurs when we see others ignoring a situation where someone is in distress when we would be more likely to intervene if we were the only ones around. This goes along with the behavioral concept of modeling and the desire to conform.

Dr. Phillip Zimbardo introduces this one. He’ll reappear a little further down. He delves into some of the darker aspects of our behavior.

If you find yourself in distress surrounded by a crowd then single one or two people out and give them specific instructions. “Lady in the yellow dress, please call 911. I need your help.” This will be much more effective than “Someone help” because the person will feel you have transferred responsibility to them to intervene. They may still avoid but your chances are higher if you keep using this strategy until someone responds.

THE MILGRAM EXPERIMENT
This one is really disturbing. It demonstrates diffusion of responsibility and submission to authority.

Some of the statements by participants really drive the point home:

“I don’t want to give pain like this.” – Then he continues on with the experiment anyway.
“Who’s going to take responsibility if anything happens to that gentleman?” – He is more worried about who will be held morally responsible.
“He signed his form and everything didn’t he?” – Again, making sure she is not morally responsible.

In the original experiment 2/3rds of the participants believed they had administered a lethal shock.

THE STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT
Dr. Zimbardo returns in this one. This shows how people arbitrarily placed in positions of authority and submission fall into roles of sadism and passivity. The one nicknamed John Wayne also demonstrates Dr. Zimbardo’s ‘Lucifer Effect’ where ordinarily good people become cruel when placed into a position of authority.