Review of ‘The Bystander Effect’, by Catherine Sanderson.
What’s it about:
Why often good people do not help people when in need.
What Lynn learned:
Group settings have a major role in influencing bad behaviour – there are many reasons why this is. But we can now use neuroscience and brain scans to help explain behaviour.
People are more likely to help out if the bad event happens in front of just that one person.
When situations lack clarity, humans struggle with the ambiguity which leads us to not help others.
Neuroscience has revealed that the same areas of the brain respond to physical pain as social pain. When taking painkillers, humans were found to estimate that other people were in pain, as compared to those who were not taking painkillers.
Fave quotes:
‘eating only salad, nonfat yogurt, and diet coke leaves you feeling pretty hungry later on’ – p. 87
‘if only about 25 percent of people in a group take a stand, that’s enough to create a tipping point that can relatively quickly lead to the establishment of a new norm’ – p. 208
Why relevant right now:
The world is a scary and hard place sometimes, and we always pine for better ‘community spirit’ – let’s look out for each other!
Interest factor: 2.5/5
Coffee table cred: 2/5
Ignorance of external world while reading: 2/5
Book cover design: 2/5
Help the existential crisis: 2/5
