I think people need to be more aware of social psychology and the impact it has on our everyday lives. The more you understand how people influence you, the better you can assess the reality of a situation and make better decisions. Maybe you don’t agree that social interactions with others influence you as an individual. Take a gander into my blog and educate yourself.
Whether it’s subconsciously or on purpose, everybody conforms. The decisions you make with a group of people could be very different from that decisions you make if you were by yourself in the same situation. Why is this? People have a huge influence on people. Everyone wants to fit in, to belong to a group, and because of this we conform for fear of rejection. What about trying to blend in within today’s society? If you decided to do something out of the ordinary, such as deciding not to wear pants in public, you would stand out as an individual and not blend in with the rest of society because the general social norm is to wear pants in public. In which ways have you conformed?
I myself have even liked certain music just to fit into with group of people that all enjoyed similar genres of music. A good example of NOT conforming is the No Pants Subway Ride that was planned by Improv Everywhere in New York City. Earlier this year, they had 3000 individuals get together and take their pants off while they casually rode the subway. The people involved acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Check it out for yourself!
The Bystander Effect
Imagine you were at a concert among thousands of other people. Suddenly someone a few feet away from you falls to the ground and lays unconscious. Let’s say you know first aid, would you rush to help that person? Or maybe you think you have less responsibility in a huge group of people and decide not to get involved with the assumption that someone else will help the man. This scenario is called the Bystander Effect, which is the phenomenon that people are less likely to help an individual in distress when there are a large number of people around (in comparison little or no people). It’s no surprise that conformity and the bystander effect really go hand in hand.
Many people observe other people’s behaviour and respond to the situation in a similar way. This is more likely to happen when the situation is ambiguous. When people observe other people showing little interest in a scenario, they might assume, due to the reaction (or lack thereof) of the people around them, that the situation in front of them isn’t as serious as it actually could be.
The Reality
There have been many tragic events where the bystander effect played a large role. A recent example is the Richmond High incident where a girl got gang raped outside of her school’s homecoming while 20 other people watched. No one reported it or did anything to help while they watched, some even joined in. For more details about this story, the full article is HERE
I find this next bit a bit disturbing. There was an experiment set up to observe people’s behaviour towards a staged kidnapping. A little girl is by herself out in the middle of a public street and is then grabbed by a man. She screams at him to let her go and yells out that he’s not her father. You would be shocked to the amount of people that ignored the situation, refusing to get involved. You can see the experiment in more detail below
Conclusion
People need to take more time to really assess a situation before making assumptions. I know I would depend on other people around me to help me in a bad case scenario if it came down to it. Wouldn’t you? To think of the possibility that no one would help you is a scary thought. But understanding the bystander effect and the ways in which we conform everyday can help prevent distorted thoughts of less responsibility. Hopefully this gives you an insight of some of the social psychology you see in everyday situations.
image links used:
http://mpjtw11.wikispaces.com/file/view/142645273_fe49e4b601.jpg/74152583/142645273_fe49e4b601.jpg
http://www.units.muohio.edu/psybersite/Humor/farsd2b.gif
