I thought I would share with you an excerpt from the book “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell which makes for interesting reading. It is the results of an experiment done in the USA by two psychologists for what they dub “the bystander problem”.
They placed people in a room and watched their reactions – when the people in the room saw smoke seeping our from under a doorway, they would report the problem 75% of the time when they were on their own. But when the person was in a group with 4 or more other people, the incident would be reported only 38% of the time. After further similar experiments, they concluded that when people are in a group they assume someone else must be taking action and as a result no-one rises to the call for action.
Whist this sounds an unrealistic and crazy outcome, it is in fact true. We have many terms for this phenomenon; ‘passing the buck’, ’safety in numbers’ or ‘the ostrich effect’, and if we are honest with ourselves we can all relate to the situation. We don’t really want to get involved unless it has direct bearing on our own lives. The irony of course is that it is because we don’t get involved that we experience a negative impact on our own lives, We rely on others to resolve issues, help our neighbours or lend a helping hand.
But the reality is that it is up to each and every one of us to get involved, whether it be with your local Community Policing Forum, a charity organization or addressing environmental issues. In other words it is up to each and every one of us use to ensure South Africa is Awesome!
Filed under: Being Awesome | Tagged: action, involve, participate, south africa, tipping point
Ja, I guess it’s time people started looking at what their contribution is – good or bad and then doing something about it to change it to a positive.
HI
Too many people are negative. If we all change our moods to positive thinking and positive talking at all meetings,parties etc this will spread around.