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8 - Social and Prosocial Behavior: Personal and Situational Influences and Their Interactions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2010

Ervin Staub
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
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Summary

As I crossed Harvard Square one day, I noticed a young woman waving her arms and shouting in the middle of the street. She was standing in front of a car, demanding that the driver run her over. Just before I reached her, a policeman appeared and escorted her to the sidewalk. She sobbed, said that she did not want to live, that life is miserable. A local professor-type tried to take her into the restaurant that we happened to be standing in front of, offering her a cup of coffee, presumably wanting to give her a chance to calm down. I was trying to talk to the policeman – who began to disentangle himself from this scene, busily giving information to a driver who stopped near us – telling him that we need to take some action, that the woman needs psychiatric attention. The woman suddenly turned, walked away and disappeared around the bend of the street. An older man and I started to walk after her. Not wanting to seem to chase her, we did not run; and by the time we turned the bend, she was nowhere to be seen. I looked into a couple of stores and a restaurant further down the street, but could not see her.

What happened to this young woman that led to her actions? How would other people, with different personal characteristics, have reacted to the same experiences?

Type
Chapter
Information
The Psychology of Good and Evil
Why Children, Adults, and Groups Help and Harm Others
, pp. 103 - 144
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2003

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