Title: Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century
Author: Lauren Slater
Editor: W.W Norton & Company, 2008
Chapter 4: In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing
Summary
This chapter discussed the events and repercussions of Darley and Latane's experiments on social cues and the bystander effect. They conducted seizure and smoke experiments to test the likeliness of people to help others in a scenario of turmoil or danger.The results were that the larger the group, the less likely someone is going to help. The author discussed this, and Bearman's experiments about the reactions of those informed about these results.
Discussion
I think it is rather interesting that the larger a group is, the less likely someone is to call for help. However, I see how this could work, as one doesn't want to be the only person to cry for help, especially as it could be a false alarm, and many people would just assume that someone else had taken the initiative to help. I like the author's own comments about gas masks and such, and the fact that those people who had been informed of this bystander effect were more likely to help in a situation in the future.
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