Page 69 - The Social Animal

Conformity 51

she was the only one whose intercom was tuned in during the
seizure; in other conditions, each person was led to believe that one
or more people were tuned in also. Those who thought they were
the only listener were far more likely to leave their room and try to
help than were those who thought others were listening, too. As the
number of people listening increased, the likelihood of offering as-
sistance decreased.
The behavior of the onlookers in the Genovese murder case and
the participants in the Darley-Latane experiments projects a rather
grim picture of the human condition. Is it true that people avoid
helping each other if at all possible—that is, if someone provides a
bad example by not intervening or if the responsibility for action
seems the least bit diffuse? Perhaps not. Perhaps there are situations
in which people are inspired to come to the aid of their fellows. An
incident in my own experience may shed some light on this issue. I
was backpacking in Yosemite National Park several years ago. It was
late at night, and I was just dropping off to sleep when I heard a
man’s voice cry out. I couldn’t be certain whether it was a cry of pain,
surprise, or joy. I had no idea whether some people were just hors-
ing around or whether one of my fellow campers was being attacked
by a bear. I crawled out of my sleeping bag and looked around, try-
ing to shake the cobwebs out of my head and trying to ascertain the
place from which the scream had come, when I noticed a strange
phenomenon. From all over the area, myriad flickering lights were
converging on a single point. These were lanterns and flashlights
being carried by dozens of campers running to the aid of the indi-
vidual who had screamed. It turned out that his scream had been
one of surprise caused by a relatively harmless flare-up in his gaso-
line stove. The other campers seemed almost disappointed when
they learned that no help was needed. They trudged back to their
tents and, I assume, dropped off to sleep immediately. Not so with
me, however: I tossed and turned, unable to get back to sleep. As a
social psychologist with a great deal of faith in scientific data, I spent
the night puzzling over the fact that my fellow campers had behaved
in a totally different manner from the participants in the Darley-
Latane experiments.
Why had the campers behaved so differently? In what way were
the situations different? There were at least two factors operating in
the campground that were either not present or present only to a very