Initial: Frederick
Profession: Psychology Undergraduate
Birthday: days left
Height: 1.76m
Weight: 63kg
Blood Type: A+
Waist size: 29-30 inches
Hobbies: Blogging; Reading; Songs & Movies; Chill out
Talent: Writing; Acting; Singing; Accents
Favourite Food:
Italian Food;
Kimchi Chigae;
Roti Prata
Most Disliked Food: Anything crustacean - due to allergy
Favourite Songs to Sing to: For You (self-composed) & The Promise
Favourite Body Parts: Nose; Jaws
Schools: Pei Chun Public School (1989 - 1995); Chong Boon Secondary School (1996 - 1999); Nanyang Polytechnic (2000 - 2003); Monash University (2006 - )
Current Pursuit: Bachelor of Behavioural Science
Research Interest: Evolutionary Psychology
Other Interests: Evolution; Genetics
Contact:
frederikan@live.co.uk
July 22, 2006
Finally, the weekend has come. And it's time for me to sort of take a break from my first lesson at TMC. Overall, my first day at TMC wasn't so bad as I've made a few friends and the environment is condusive enough for me to concentrate in class. Also, I realized that lecture halls back in my polytechnic with the size as big as the theatre is not a suitable place for me to pay full attention to what the speaker is talking about. Whereas, here in TMC, the classes are held in classroom-sized tutorial rooms which make it easier for me to listen effectively.
That said, my first Psychology lesson is pretty interesting.
Imagine this: You were walking on the street one day, and along the way, from a distance, you saw a an elderly man suddenly collapsed at the side of the pavement. There're quite a number of people walking along that street but none offered a helping hand.
If this incident happened here in Singapore, you locals may be wondering, "Hey, this is Singapore. And Singaporean's attitude and behaviour is like that. They don't give a damn of what's happening to people around them. Let alone giving to charity or giving some elderly people a helping hand." But after this lesson, what I learned actually impacted me in my thoughts, believe system and corrected my baseless assumptions about people (especially most Singaporeans).
Now the reason about why people didn't help that elderly man who collapsed at the side walk is because of one term -
Bystander effect.
Bystander effect is the effect whereby the presence of others inhibits helping
(Brehm,S.S. & Kassin,S.M., 1996, 3rd ed).
Sometimes, with too many people around, it can distract us, and divert our attention from any indication of someone's plight. Thus, the lesser the people around, the more help will be on its way. Why? Because if you are encountering such incident alone, you assume full responsibility of the victim's plight. On the other hand, if there're more people around, there will be
diffusion of resonsibility.
Diffusion of responsibility often occurs whenever people are present at the scene of any emergency. It is the believe that others will or should intervene in times like this. But, it proved that no one stepped forward to offer a helping hand.
There're also many reasons which explains why people fail to help in any emergency. First, it is because emergencies occur very quickly and given the amount of time for one to define it, it is impossible to give immediate aid to anyone in times like this because we're all simply not prepared for it. Next, it is because by offering a helping hand, it could bring disruption to one's life. Nobody likes being disturbed by the police or the court. And nobody likes being a witness for something or someone they don't even know. Third, by helping, it could bring harm to oneself. Sometimes people are just afraid of getting involved in a fight themselves or even getting hurt when they choose to intervene a brawl or a heated argument. Lastly, people are also afraid of making a fool of themselves and therefore, avoid unnecessary embarrassment, and hence, refuse to help. Those who are worrying about making a bad impression on other observers will also be less likely to help, as they are under the influence of audience inhibition. They are just feeling socially awkward and embarrassed to act helpfully in public, thinking that others might scorn or mock them.
So when will people ever lend a helping hand?
There're two steps in the process of intervention. Firstly, they have to define the emergency, making sure that the elderly man is truly suffering instead of just lying around the street aimlessly. Also, they have to observe and perceive that victim's behaviour and reactions before jumping into any conclusion. Secondly, They have to assume responsibility to be able to report the incident. Unfortunately, when too many people are around, lesser help will be available to that poor elderly man. Instead, people might just be crowding around that poor guy and did absolutely nothing.
Of course, there're more from what I've learned so far. But all these are just the fundamentals. Interesting hur? Hehe.. you bet! And you know what? The next time round when you encounter such incident, don't think that only Singaporeans will crowd around the scene and do nothing to help. Don't be surprised to see
ang mos in the crowd also.
However, I still feel that many Singaporeans are still
UGLY in some ways. Maybe it's still an understatement.
I don't know. Hahaha... maybe
FUGLY??? lolz
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