How to Coach Yourself and Others How to Influence, Persuade and Motivate | Page 245

percent. If in that group two people encouraged the third person to do
nothing, reporting of the smoke dropped to 10 percent.[17]
Often we don't know whether we are really witnessing an emergency or
not. For example, if we see a man collapsed on the floor, we might waver
between two conclusions: Did he just have a heart attack or did he pass
out because he'd been drinking too much? So, bystanders may be
"apathetic" more because of uncertainty than insensitivity. And if they are
uncertain, then they often don't help because they don't know if they're
responsible for doing so.
Everybody else observing the event is also likely to be looking for social
evidence. Because most people prefer to appear poised and levelheaded
when in the presence of others, they are likely to search for that evidence
with brief glances at those around them. Therefore, everyone sees
everyone else looking unflustered and failing to act. When people clearly
know their responsibilities in a recognized and obvious emergency,
however, they are remarkably quick to respond.
De-Individuation
Social psychologists Festinger, Pepitone, and Newcomb coined the term
"de-individuation" in 1952.[18] De-individuation refers to how, when we
find ourselves in a group, we become less self-aware and also less
concerned with how others will evaluate us.[19] Think of all the people
you've heard yell obscenities at sporting events. Do you think they would
do that if they were in a small, intimate group watching that same event?
Basically, deindividuation means that when in a group, we feel more
anonymous and therefore less individually responsible for our actions,
often causing us to say or do things that we would not normally feel
comfortable with.
Diener, Fraser, Beaman, and Kelem conducted a study that showed how
de-individuation can lead to antisocial behavior.[20] On Halloween,
researchers evaluated 1,352 trick-or-treaters — either alone or in groups
— who had the chance to steal candy from twenty-seven Seattle homes.
The researchers figured that Halloween would be the perfect occasion to
conduct such a study because the children would be in costume, making
them more anonymous. When the children came to doors where they were
greeted by experimenters, they were told they could choose only one
piece of candy. In some cases, the experimenter asked the children their
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