Wiggin murder put 'bystander effect' to the test...

This article chronicles the horrific death of Castleton State College instructor Linda Wiggin who was beaten to death in her home by her boyfriend. No one called the police until days after, even though the college students who lived with her likely heard the fight. At least one admits to hearing the fight, stating hearing repeated please of "help please" or "help police." Still, no one called the police. Family and friends are wondering why no one called the police, however, social psychologists are not all that surprised.

Why did this happen? Social psychologists have the answer: The bystander effect. The girl in the apartment likely felt that someone else in the apartment would call the police. Darley and Latane, who analyzed the bystander effect after the brutal New York City murder of a woman named Kitty Genovese who was murdered outside her apartment for thirty five minutes while her attacker left twice and returned each time, and still no one called the police even though people watched from their windows. In order to turn this effect around, and to analyze what it took to get people to help, these two psychologists came up with a five step plan of how to get people to help and the obstacles that go along with each step. (Latane & Darley, 1970)

Notice there is an emergency. The example will be the situation of the instructor above.

1. Notice that something is happening

Obstacles: Distraction. (pay attention to event downstairs) Self-Concerns. (I need to leave the home in a minute!)

2. Interpret event as an emergency.

Obstacles: Ambiguity. (Is she just upset or does she really need the police?) Relationship between attacker and victim. (It's her boyfriend, it can't be that bad!) Pluralistic ignorance (No one else seems to be too upset)

3. Take responsibility for providing help.

Obstacles: Diffiusion of responsibility. (Maybe someone else in the house will get the police)

4. Decide how to help.

Lack of competence: (I do not know how to handle this. Her boyfriend is much bigger than I am. Who should I call?)

5. Provide help.

Obstacles: Audience inhibition. (I'll look stupid if I call the police and there is no big deal!) Costs exceeds rewards. (If I call the police, and she was just exaggerating, will she kick me out of my apartment?!)

It is important to educate others on how to get help by reducing all of these obstacles. One needs to reduce distractions, assert that help is needed, assert that one person is responsible for getting the help, explain the kind of help and how to provide it, and not have an audience impact the amount of help. Once people understand these factors, the more helpful they were.

Perhaps if the college student in the house had taken a class in social psychology, she would not have ignored the cues to call the police, and save the instructors life.

Brainstorming with 699 minds in Dubai...

This article discusses the place for design innovation in the process of reducing Climate Change. It outlines discussions in a meeting at the World Economic Forum Summit on the Global Agenda that took place in Dubai. The writer found that they found many ways to get started, and solutions to the problem. The author also comments that since the meeting took place with designers they were able to make more creative solutions, and even more than scientists and NGOs can come up with....the author chalks this up to the scientists and NGOs on one side, and the designers on the other. Either way, brainstorming with 699 minds in Dubai might not nearly be as effective as the author may think. Brainstorming is known as "a form of creative thinking in groups, using a procedure in which all group members are encouraged to generate as many ideas as possible." How could 699 minds really be generating ideas, getting all the ideas of 699 people in one day, seems to me to be impossible.

While brainstorming helps people enjoy the creative process more than they would alone, and evaluate their work more favorably upon completion (as more creative!) brainstorming is not always the most effective way. Brainstorming most often leads to a reduced performance, and especially with 699 people, brainstorming would not be effective. People would experience the the different phenomenons of brainstorming such as "production blocking" when people have to wait their turn to speak, so they lose their ideas or their interest in the topic at hand. There is no doubt that this happend with 699 people. The second phenomenon involved inb rainstorming would be free riding, in which as others contribute, some individuals feel less motivation to contribute. There tends to be a few int he group that take over. The third phenomenon is evaluatino apprehension, where in the presence of others some people may be hesitant to respond. There were likely people from all over the world, and contributing and being outgoing in a group setting would likely be intimidating for some. The fourth phenomenon is performance matching, meaning that group members only work as hard as they see other members work. So if not everyone is work at full capacity, the brainstorm is not going at full capacity. Who knows which ideas about design innovation regarding global warming were lost in this brainstorm? To make it better, all design innovation professionals should brainstorm first by themselves, and bring all of their ideas to the meeting, even if the ideas are not immediately practical or if they have many ideas. There should be no criticizing of anyones brainstorming ideas, and individuals should know they are free to take someone's idea and go off of it. This would then truly make an effective brainstorm.

Reaching out to at-risk men...

This article discusses African-American adolescents who apparently, "need to be saved from themselves" due to high dropout rates and their high percentage in prisons. There are "more African-American males in prison than in college," at the moment, and the article calls for a stop to this phenomenon. What exactly is this phenomenon of self-handicapping and stereotype threat? This is a strategy that is a coping mechanism for dealing with fears of failure. "Self handicapping has been defined as putting obstacles in the way of one's own performance, so that anticipated or possible failure can be blamed on the obstacle instead of on lack of ability." (Baumister & Bushman, 2008) These adolescents can be thought to self-handicap because of the negative stereotype and expectations of African Americans in the past. It is important as a society (particularly educators, social workers, and anyone who works with this population) to begin to combat this phenomenon. Luckily, social psychology has some answers. 

Stereotype threat: This theory says that members of stereotyped groups perform worse on dimensions surrounding the stereotype because of fear they will confirm the stereotype. What can be done about this? While most think that a healthy dose of self-esteem will help these students, (Cohen, Ross & Steele) discovered differently. They tested whether or not self-esteem and confidence helped reduce stereotype threat by giving tests to white and black students. The only way they could improve the scores of African -American students was by convincing them that the tests were racially-fair, and that they research that was put into making these tests was done by African-Americans. Their conclusions came to performances not up to the black students abilities being not about self-doubt, but about social mistrust after years of blacks being in the papers for bad test scores. What these social psychologists suggest for improvement? Setting high standards across racial divides. We need to tell these African American students, and all students, that we have high expectations and standards for them, and that we know they can reach them (because in studies, this motivates black students more than any other group). Reducing racial mistrust, even if it is bringing students of all backgrounds together for discussion and group activities, is likely to reduce stereotype threat, and help these African American students fill in the gap.

Two quotes by the counselor in the article strike me. Firstly, "And it is also based on how a person feels about himself, we have to track the causes of the behaviors that cause them to fail." The counselor before mentioned said he believes this self-handicapping to be a phenomenon. If it is a phenomenon, it is clearly more than how an individual feels about themself, the problem is clearly rooted deeply in the history and atmosphere of America, and racial mistrust these students encounter in the education system, and in the real world. Though Bryson's lecture seems promising and interesting, social psychology research has the answers, not personal opinions. 

Not only is this a problem in America, but stereotypes of Chinese, White, and particularly Caribbean Black students are taking tolls on students educations in the UK as well according to new race data in the UK and an article by the BBC. 

In conclusion,  anyone who works with male African-American adolescents (such as myself), or anyone in the field should certainly consider attending this event.