English P101A
Essay #2
In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing “Monkey see monkey do” this is something that has been said throughout time, though originated in Jamaica in the 18th century but is this truly what drives people to help others? After reading Opening Skinner’s Box, chapter 4 entitled, In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing by Lauren Slater, it has come to my attention that this may be right. In that chapter Slater discussion was about Catherine Genovese gruesome murder that happen while 38 witnessed watched thru windows while Genovese was stabbed multiple times repeatedly. Then she was also raped an incident that took about 35 minutes before someone finally called the police. It has become common sense today to assume that we should feel safer in larger crowds. However, Slater writes that may not be the case. “Because response rate were so consistently tied to group size, Darley and Latane’ understood what no one else yet had: a phenomenon they call “diffusion of responsibility” (102). Here it is more than clear that this this not the case. In Darley and Latane’ theory it is safer to be with a smaller crowd who might take action quicker feeling responsible then bigger crowd who assumes someone else will step in and help. This how ever has been proved …show more content…
In fact, I am one of those people that feel more worried in large crowds. Large crowds make it easy for someone to come from behind stab you and walk away without even been seen. Since large crowds walk fast and go about their business assume someone else will deal with it. There is a lot more eyes to watch yourself from. This does not mean we should feel safe alone either. This is quite scary too especially walking at night or in an alley. A person walking alone is very vulnerable as compared to one walking with a few good friends. So if all this has taught me is that everything that I was taught about big crowds being safe is not