You may have heard about the bystander effect, or bystander apathy, in the context of the Kitty Genovese murder. In 1968, two researchers tested this effect by seeing how people would react to smoke slowly filling a room.
In the first part of the experiment, subjects were filling out a questionnaire as the room slowly began to fill with smoke. Over the course of six minutes, enough smoke entered the room that it became difficult to breathe or see. In 75% of cases, the subject left the room to let someone know about the possibility of fire.
The next part involved three test subjects, none of whom knew what was going to come. They were all filling out their questionnaires again as smoke began to fill the room. With three bystanders, only 38% of them reported the smoke. Others would wave it away from their face or open a window. When later questioned about the smoke, they would claim not to know anything about it.
For the last part of the experiment, one person who did not know about the smoke was placed in a room with two actors who did. When the smoke began to come under the door the actors pretended not to notice it. Only 10% of the participants in this part of the study reported the smoke.
These statistics show how much we depend on the approval of those around us. When questioned afterwards, the subjects said they thought the smoke was not dangerous and they didn’t realize it was part of the experiment. Other experiments have proved that in groups, people were less likely to be afraid and thus less likely to act.
Imagine it was you in there. The room slowly starts to fill with smoke, a white haze coming from under one of the doors. There could be a fire, but maybe not. Maybe it isn’t dangerous. It’s probably not part of the experiment and anyway, if it’s an issue, someone else will report it, right?
Based on these findings, that theory is wrong.
Some other researchers believe that part of the reason why fire alarms are so important is that they give us a socially acceptable reason to react to a potential threat, even though situations with smoke coming under a door are way more likely to involve fire than those with a fire alarm going off. All in all, what this really proves is that humans are weird, social creatures.