You' re rushing to work and a man ahead of you suddenly falls down. Do you stop to help? In a study of bystanders, it was found that some people look away or keep on walking rather than stop and get involved.
“There is an inclination(倾向) to decide that no action is needed," says Ervin Staub, a psychologist(心理学家) at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, who studies the role of bystanders.“The first thoughts that come into your mind often keep you from offering help."
Time and again, good and caring people fail to come to the aid of others. They know they should act and yet, for reasons they themselves don't understand, people sometimes don't respond. Longtime researchers of bystander behavior continue to struggle with the question,“Why?"
One thing we do know is that the more ambiguous a situation is, the less likely people are to help. Let's say you see vapors(水汽) coming out of a building. You ask yourself,“Is it steam or smoke?" If you are not sure, you look to other people for a clue about how to react.If you see other people doing nothing, you think,“Of course, that's just team." You don't want it to be smoke, because then you would have to do something about it.
Another one is known as“the bystander effect": This says that the more people there are observing an emergency(突发事件),the less responsible each one of them personally feels. For example, if you are the only person in the world who can act to save someone in a dangerous situation, you are more likely to act. However, if you are one of 100,000 people who could save the situation, you would be happier if one of the other 99,999 people did it!
"If you notice trouble, force yourself to stop and judge the situation instead of walking on," says Ervin Staub. Then try to involve other people; you don't have to take on all the responsibility of being helpful According to Staub, it is sometimes just a matter of turning to the person next to you and saying,“It looks like we should do something," Once you take action, most people will take their cues(提示) from you and also help.
3. According to Ervin Staub, when accidents happen, people's first thoughts______.
A.force them to give a hand | B.prevent them from helping |
C.often lead to embarrassment | D.depend on others' reaction |
4. What does the underlined word“ambiguous" in paragraph 4 mean?
A.difficult | B.dangerous | C.unclear | D.unpleasant |
5. The author uses“the bystander effect" to show that
A.many people have the same ideas |
B.more people carry out more responsibility |
C.people usually think a lot before difficulties |
D.people tend to behave in the same way as most other people do |